AFTER the disappointment of finishing bottom and relegation last season, Hereford are embarking on a season of rebuilding and stabilising at the club.

The team have enjoyed a steady, if not spectacular start, to the season, currently sitting in ninth position in the De Cymru and The Marches Division One, a position which is not too far off what they set out to achieve as captain, Mark Allen, explained.

“Last season was a very hard season for us," he said. "We’ve been playing a lot better so far and I’m very proud of the lads for what we’ve achieved to date.

"We wanted a solid mid-table finish, having lost a lot of players at the end of last year, so it’s the first year of a rebuilding process, we need to get ourselves set where we need to be and bring through some of our more promising youngsters.”

As part of the rebuilding process, Hereford had to drop the third team from their ranks, as they wanted to make sure that the firsts and seconds had plenty of competition of places and a squad capable of fulfilling their fixture commitments.

“As a club, towards the end of last season we were struggling to put out enough players for three full teams, for a variety of reasons," said Allen.

"Therefore we made the decision over the summer to cut to just the two teams to make sure we could fulfil all our fixtures. We are keeping our options open and if the rebuilding goes as well as we hope, then we will be looking to restart a third team in the next season or so”.

One of the main problems Hereford have faced in recent times is that a good group of players have been students who play for a couple of seasons and then move on, not enabling the team to get a good consistency going throughout the squad.

“We have lost a few players to other clubs, players that have gone on to play for better teams in better leagues and good luck to them," said Allen. "You can’t blame them for wanting to play to the best of their abilities.

"However, I would say the main problem we have is that, by the nature of Hereford, we have a number of students coming through the teams and then when they go away to university they often don’t come back, or they end up playing for the uni teams or local clubs.

"We lost a few pivotal players for that reason and I think it cost a little bit last season.”

One plus for Hereford this season has been the form of striker Stew Goodarzi who has scored nine goals this season, including two hat-tricks, something Allen is very pleased about.

“He’s been on fire this season, his touch has been fantastic and he’s smashed in some very good goals," said. "And that's been great for the team.

"He was leading scorer as well last year, in a difficult year. He’s been our leading light in front of goal and long may it continue.”

Unfortunately for Allen and his team, Goodarzi didn’t having the scoring touch in their game against Cardiff University A last Saturday when both teams were lacking the finishing touch in front of goal as the match finished 0-0.

In a scrappy, feisty affair, with four yellow cards being shown during the game, it was the first half that brought all the chances, with both sides having three or four half-chances which were thwarted by strong defending and good goalkeeping.

The second half was scrappier than the first and when the final whistle blew the 0-0 scoreline was a fair reflection of the game as a whole.