User:Pascopedral/2020–21 Hereford F.C. season

The 2020–21 season was the sixth season in the existence of Hereford Football Club and their third consecutive in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football. In addition to the league, the club also competed in the FA Cup and the FA Trophy.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on 18 February 2021, National League clubs voted to declare the season null and void. Hereford's final league position was 12th.

Pre-season
Hereford went into the off-season after the curtailed 2019–20 season having secured contracts for the core of their team; Brandon Hall, Lenell John-Lewis, Tom Owen-Evans, Jared Hodgkiss, Ben Pollock, Kyle Finn and Demetri Brown all committing to the club for the forthcoming season. Joining them were three new signings; midfielder Yan Klukowski, Irish goalkeeper Paul White and defender Daniel Jones, the latter signed from League Two club Cambridge United. The remaining players were either released or rejected offers to move elsewhere.

On 27 July it was announced that the upcoming National League season was to begin from 3 October, owing to the delayed end to the previous season for the Premier League, Football League, the National League itself and its play-offs. On 4 August Hereford announced the signing of Jamie Grimes from Ebbsfleet United.

Hereford's first pre-season friendly on 25 August was a 1–1 draw at local side Wellington, their first fixture since the final league game of last season on 14 March over five months ago. The next friendly saw League Two Newport County visit Edgar Street but the Bulls were comprehensively beaten 4–0 by a side already well into their pre-season schedule. They then visited Stourbridge who came from behind to beat the Bulls 2–1.

Hereford won their first friendly in their next fixture against Cymru Premier side The New Saints, beating them 2–0. The next three fixtures saw away trips to Halesowen Town, Weston-super-Mare and Solihull Moors, losing 3–1 and 2–0 followed up with a 1–0 victory over Solihull. Hereford then hosted Solihull themselves and it was again a win for the away side, this time Solihull winning 2–0. The final friendly was a narrow 1–0 defeat by Chippenham Town at Hardenhuish Park on 26 September.

Throughout pre-season Hereford added further new faces to their squad; Chris Camwell from Coventry United, former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Giles Coke from Oldham Athletic and former Oxford United defender Jake Wright all joined in September.

On 22 September it was announced that fans would not be allowed to return to stadiums as originally planned, meaning the season was to start with matches being played behind closed doors.

October
In what was a different start to a usual season, Hereford's opening match came in the FA Cup away to Gosport Borough, with the Bulls winning 3–1 on the south coast through Owen-Evans and a John-Lewis brace.

The delayed opening league fixtures began mid-week, with Hereford travelling to Southport on 6 October resulting in a 0–0 draw. Their following fixture at home to Bradford (Park Avenue) was the first of many throughout the remainder of the season to be affected by COVID-19, the game being postponed due to their opponents experiencing a positive case within their squad.

They next visited Stafford Rangers for an FA Cup third qualifying round fixture, exiting the competition with a 3–1 defeat to the lower-graded Northern Premier League Premier Division side.

On 16 October Kelsey Mooney was brought back to the club, this time loan from Scunthorpe United, to re-establish his partnership from last season with John-Lewis.

Back to the league and Hereford played their fourth away fixture in a row by beating Guiseley 1–0, John-Lewis' thirtieth-minute penalty the difference. Two further fixtures were postponed before the month was out. Firstly the home tie against York City followed by the away trip to Spennymoor Town, COVID-19 seeing both called off.

Hereford ended October with a 2–0 defeat in their first home fixture of the season on 27 October, the rescheduled tie against Bradford (Park Avenue). Oli Johnson scoring both goals in the first half.

November
Hereford completed four league fixtures throughout November, although a further three matches were postponed. Their opening match in the month at home to Kettering Town was postponed due to the Hereford squad having isolated as per COVID-19 guidance at the time due to the positive case that saw the earlier Spennymoor fixture postponed. An away trip to the Deva Stadium against Chester was due next but positive cases in Chester's squad saw it postponed.

Hereford did manage to get through their next three matches without any postponements, beginning with a 3–0 victory in the far north east against Blyth Spartans, but was followed up with a 1–0 home defeat by Gloucester City which saw Owen-Evans red carded for Hereford and Akwasi Asante for Gloucester, and a 2–2 home draw against Chorley in a game that saw three goals in the last five minutes. Hereford led 1–0 entering the eighty-fourth minute, before Chorley scored twice in the space of three minutes to turn the match around in their favour. Striker John-Lewis then equalised in the eighty-ninth minute to snatch a point.

The rescheduled York City home match was then due to be played the following Tuesday but was postponed due to COVID-19. The following Saturday saw the original Darlington away fixture postponed due to the home side's participation in the FA Cup and replaced with the rescheduled hosting of Kettering Town, an entertaining match ending in a 3–3 draw.

Hereford ended November in fifteenth place on nine points from their seven matches played thus far.

December
December saw the first two fixtures hit by COVID-19, both rescheduled games from earlier in the season. First was AFC Telford United on 1 December followed by the Darlington fixture that was postponed a week prior. Next came the rescheduled trip to Chester and ended in a 5–3 loss, although Hereford played in front of fans for the first time this season.

Four straight wins then followed for Hereford and remained unbeaten for the rest of the month. Their first home win of the season came courtesy of John-Lewis double as AFC Fylde were dispatched 2–1 in front of 800 fans, the match being used as a COVID-19 test event. This was followed up by two consecutive FA Trophy wins, firstly 3–0 at home to St Neots Town and then a 1–0 victory away to Nantwich Town seeing the Bulls progress to the fourth round.

Hereford then hosted Kidderminster Harriers on Boxing Day, winning their second league fixture on the bounce by winning 3–1 despite going a goal down in the seventh minute, with Harriers' Morgan-Smith receiving his marching orders mid-way through the first half.

A difficult year was seen out with a goal-less draw at the New Windmill Ground where Leamington were hosts. December and 2020 ended with Hereford in fourteenth on sixteen points from eleven matches.

January
January saw just two fixtures played, one in the league and one in the FA Trophy. The league match came on the New Year bank holiday on 2 January as Hereford visited Kidderminster Harriers for the return fixture of the Boxing Day clash. The match ended 1–1, both sides scoring a penalty in one each half. Unbeknown to Hereford at the time but they would only play one more league fixture this season.

The club's next three fixtures were all postponed due to COVID-19 against Spennymoor, Brackley and Telford. The tie against Alfreton Town on 16 January was rescheduled to accommodate Hereford's fourth round FA Trophy tie vs. Stamford, however this match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The game however did go ahead the following Tuesday, Hereford winning 2–0 thanks to two Owen-Evans goals in each half. This match also saw Hereford reduced to nine men, Ben Pollock and Luke Haines receiving second half red cards. As a result of this match, Hereford's rescheduled trip to Darlington was again rescheduled.

On 22 January, the National League board suspended fixtures in the North and South leagues for a two-week period effectively immediately, resulting in the postponement of Hereford's next four league fixtures.

February
The Bulls suffered a double blow coming into February, losing Coke and their talismanic striker John-Lewis, both taking a step up to join Grimsby Town of National League.

The league officially resumed on 6 February, but still fixtures continued to be postponed. Hereford's home match against Curzon Ashton and away match at Bradford (Park Avenue) were both postponed due to their opponents unwilling to fulfil their fixtures whilst a decision remained pending regarding the vote to declare the season null and void.

Hereford's FA Trophy run continued however, as they knocked Leamington out in the fifth round, Chris Camwell scoring the only goal of the game in just the fourth minute. The final league fixture of the season to-be was played on 16 February at Edgar Street against Brackley Town, winning 2–1 thanks to second half goals from new signing Michael Bakare and Camwell.

On 18 February, National League North and South clubs voted in favour of stopping the season and declaring it null and void. Subsequently, no teams were to be promoted or relegated and play-offs did not take place. At the point of which the season ended, Hereford's final position was twelfth, having earned twenty points from their thirteen completed matches. Some clubs had played as many as eighteen matches whilst others had only played eleven.

On 27 February, eleven days after their final league fixture on the season, Hereford contested their FA Trophy quarter-finals match away to Aldershot Town of the National League. Much like in the previous round, the Bulls went ahead early, this time through Bakare's sixth-minute goal. This time however, their opponents snatched a late equaliser, Josh Rees scoring in the fourth minute of second half injury time to take the tie to penalties. Hereford scored all five of their penalties, with Mohamed Bettamer missing the Shots' fourth penalty. Luke Haines then put away the decisive and winning penalty to send Hereford into the semi-finals.

March
Exactly one month since their last competitive fixture, on 27 March Hereford defeated National League club Woking in the semi-finals of the FA Trophy to reach the final at Wembley, striker Joey Butlin scoring the only goal of the game with a twenty-first-minute header.

May
On 22 May Hereford faced Isthmian League Premier Division club Hornchurch in the 2021 FA Trophy final, making their second Wembley appearance in five years. However much like their previous attempt, despite taking the lead in the match Hereford were again beaten, this time 3–1. Owen-Evans scored in the thirteenth minute, before Hornchurch produced a comeback with fifteen minutes remaining through goals from Ruff (75'), Nash (86') and a third in injury-time from Brown (90+4') to put the game to bed.

First-team squad

 * As of 22 May 2021

Matches
The league fixtures were announced on 8 September 2020, with the Hereford's season starting on 6 October.

FA Cup
Hereford entered the competition in the second qualifying round.

FA Trophy
Hereford entered the competition in the second round.

Appearance and goals

 * The plus (+) symbol denotes an appearance as a substitute, hence 2+1 indicates two appearances in the starting XI and one appearance as a substitute.
 * Italics indicate player is/was a loan player

!colspan="12" style="text-align:center" | Players who left during the season but made an appearance

Players with zero appearances were unused substitutes named in at least one matchday squad.
 * }