Brackley Town slow kick start to the 24/25 season.

A defeat to Scunthorpe and Kidderminster has slowed down Brackley’s kickstart to the season as they start today’s match in 10th position. Although things don’t really become more indicative as to what might happen in the league until at least 10 matches are played. Brackley according to past performance tend to play better towards the closure of the season and with six new players on board it’s going to take time for the new team to gel. Today they played Hereford at home and with a win against Spennymore, on paper , looked to be in ok form.

The pre- match toss put both sides playing into their supporters end in the first half rather than the more preferred second. With a drummer in a more noisey and packed Hereford end, the away side got off to a more sparky start with an early corner and some runs into midfield and the Brackley penalty area.

As the match moved towards half time and news that Oxford City were finally back on winning ways leading 2-0 against Chorley, Brackley started to get more possession and shots at goal. However, in the 39th min, a huge roar went up at the noisy Hereford end as a counter attack to alleviate the increasing Brackley pressure put them one nil up. As the sound of the victorious Hereford supporters increased , Brackley Town quickly silenced them with an equaliser by Matt Lowe towards the end of four mins of extra time.

In the second half, an early Brackley run on goal led to a Hereford defender hitting the ground and a considerable amount of loss of play as he nursed his injury. Another close Brackley shot on goal quickly followed as they stepped up pressure. With now only the sound of the drummer drumming solo amongst their silenced supporters end, Hereford on the pitch tried to hold on to the equal scoreline. In the 25th min, a Hereford striker went down after a good counter run. The free kick that followed just outside the penalty line went hugely wide off the left side Brackley post as Hereford missed another good opportunity. However, In the end, the Hereford step up in pressure got the result, the consistently noisey away supporters were chanting for as the ball hit the back of the Brackley net in the closing minutes of the match giving them a hard fought 2-1 victory. Good attendance accompanied an entertaining match with 1040 home supporters and 390 away. If Brackley are really serious about having a plan in place to finally go up this season, then they need to show better form than they did today for it to be working.