A CORONAVIRUS case in Hereford FC’s squad has put the club’s two next games in doubt, but manager Josh Gowling is trying to look on the bright side.

His side were meant to travel to Spennymoor Town on Tuesday, but less than 12 hours before kick off the National League North clubs said the game would not go ahead as coronavirus cases had been confirmed in both camps.

Gowling admitted it does give the squad a rest, but he is now waiting to hear from National League chiefs on whether the next two games can take place.

On Saturday, the Bulls are meant to host Brackley Town, before a trip on Tuesday to Telford because, as an elite league, National League North games are allowed to go-ahead in lockdown.

But they could still be called off due to the case in the Bulls camp.

“It’s never a good time but at the end of the day it’s for the safety of everyone in the squad and the teams we play against,” he said.

“We have to make sure, first and foremost, we have followed all the protocols, and I’m sure Spennymoor have as well.

“Then it’s just about the health and safety of everyone. We’re going to have to wait and see to be honest, obviously it kills our momentum a little bit because we’ve been on a good run.”

Hereford would have gone into Tuesday’s game on the back of two wins and two draws from their last four league games.

“We’re six games unbeaten and we’re going really well, but we’ve had a really tough Christmas period so it gives the lads a chance to rest up and go again,” he said.

“You’ve got to try and take the positives out of it and I guess that would be the positive out of it.”

Gowling was pleased with his side’s overall performance over Christmas, securing eight points from 12 in December, leaving them 14th in the league.

“We had a pretty good return from our work, in the first-half at Kiddy I would’ve wanted us to play a little bit better, I thought we were off the pace.

“Whether that was because we played two games in 48 hours and going into that game not feeling too fresh, I don’t know.

He added: “Looking at the first half and second half it was a deserved point, but in the second half they looked like they were hanging on a little bit, so it would’ve been nice to get the win.

“It’s a good return, I think we would’ve taken that before the Christmas period, so we’re happy with it.”

While Gowling said the Christmas period can sometimes define the rest of a club’s season, the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the league, from the campaign’s late start to postponed fixtures, the table doesn’t show the full picture. If our games don’t go ahead on Saturday and Tuesday, if you look at Gloucester we’ll have seven games in hand over them, it’s pretty bizarre.

“We all knew it was going to be a bizarre season with Covid, which is why we take the attitude of not looking too far ahead and taking it one game at a time.”