A back log of games and a squad short of numbers means Youth Team need to pull through in the last few months of the season
Today's game at Cheltenham was off due to a waterlogged pitch, our third game in a row, it means we haven't played since our first league defeat to Burton which was on the 10th of December. We find ourselves with a lot of games to catch up on and that will make or break our season.
Having games in hand can go either way, if you get a good form of form going then you want them to come thick and fast as confidence is high, this can lead to a good point hall. However on the other side of that, some bad results and loss of confidence can really hit you hard and we can't afford that if we want to achieve our aspirations for the season.
With games in hand we can still go within 2 points of the league leaders and we also have the National Cup to look forward to. It will be hard as we have a very small squad. If today's game had been played then we would of travelled to Cheltenham with an 11 man squad of which 3 had not trained with the team on Monday and Tuesday and no subs being available to us as we would of been without 4 players and no U16s due to different reasons. This makes our second half the season tough, any injuries can harm us in our bid to reach the cup final and finish in the top 3 of the league.
In the 2 1/2 weeks since the Christmas break we have been doing a lot of fitness work, mainly on the training ground as the gym equipment which was so valuable to us was taken away when Hereford got wound up. We have also graced the hills at Haugh Woods and Credenhill, something the boys love to hate. In that time we could not have been happier with the effort levels put in. Myself, Steve Brotherwood, Jonny Evans and Josh Hunt have been delighted with both the performance and developmental groups with their attitude and application.
One thing that is spurring on the boys is the chance to be involved with whoever takes over the Edgar Street ground to become part of the new Hereford Football Team. Jon Hale along with the HUST have become front runners in that bid and everyone of the UITC players wants to be in with a chance to wear the badge next season with pride as we hope to be part of the set up. This brings us back to end of our season, we have 4 months to get them ready to put their case forward to a new manager and that will be part of our aim. Win, lose or draw they have to learn from every game and if their attitudes stay the same then we will be proud to put them forward for a chance to add to the history of HUFC as we knew it, and to start a new chapter in that history book.
We now have 3 home games in a row at Victoria Park starting next Wednesday when we take on a Chelsea side based in Darmouth in the league, before the quarter final of the National Cup against Oxford. All supporters are welcome and kick off times along with details will be posted on here.
Thankyou
Rob Purdie