Son of Eric watched Hereford defeat Gloucester 2-1 at Edgar Street last night. Here are his thoughts on the game.Pushing for a play off position it was hail to the chief with
Krystian Pearce returning to the defence replacing the impressive Jamie
Egan who dropped to the bench. Captain Hodgkiss returned at right back
with Gillella a substitute, Pollock and Revan completing the left half
of the defence with Hall in goal.
Gowling has found a better
structure with dynamic defensive duo Lloyd and Vincent guarding the rear
allowing Kouhyar, Owen-Evans and McLean to provide the ammunition for
Gordon. Gloucester featured former Bulls Leadbitter at right back,
O’Sullivan in the middle of the park and taking most dead balls, and
former loanee Ollie Hulbert playing just off veteran striker Matt Green
making his debut up front for City.
1,790 braved a cold, dry,
still night with an immaculate pitch for mid-winter Hereford started
brightly but when Gloucester broke down the left the Bulls were exposed.
The ball was worked down the left to Green who outmuscled Lloyd and
found Hulbert on the edge of the box in space. As he pulled the trigger
Vincent appeared out of nowhere for a lunging block, a demonstration of
the outstanding form Jamie is showing at present.
Gordon chased
down a long ball and pulled back to TOE who shot over the bar. Kouhyar
broke down the right and heading towards the box his shirt was pulled
and he stumbled over when clear and ready to cross. Referee Pratt waved
game on but as for much of the evening he was too far away, clinging to
running his diagonal rather than adapting to play. He then gave a
similar challenge as a foul to Green. From the free kick on the left
edge of the box O’Sullivan whistled it just wide of the top left corner.
A veteran fan had looked at the Grimsby fan sites to assess
Sebastian Revan, and the consensus was that he was a quality player but
not yet ready for men’s football. Another interpretation could be that
Paul Hurst as manager of the Codheads did not set up to get the best out
of the young man, as they fade out of the National League promotion
race despite having one of the best budgets and some of the largest
crowds in the division. Grimbarian Gowling has assigned Lloyd to act as a
minder so that when the full back pushes forward Ryan drops in to cover
allowing Revan to rampage. Throughout the game he was a constant menace
rightly winning man of the match. He surges forward like a sports car,
with smooth acceleration, gripping close control and balance with game
intelligence beyond his years. Seb reminded me of young Tom Barkhuizen
and can go on and have a similarly successful career. If you have not
seen him in the flesh, come on down to Edgar Street, he will make a
memory or two for you.
Kouhyar as so often found space with ease
and another long perfect pass in behind the full back allowed Revan to
race on to the ball on the left. Before the Gloucester defence could
organise themselves, he put in a crisp cross, curling in behind the
centre backs inviting centre forward Gordon to head down hard and the
ball bounced up and into the top netting. Cross of the season so far. Is
there a term for a headed tap in? Whatever it is that’s what Revan
created for the Bulls to take the lead.
Gloucester did not learn
and Owen-Evans and Kouhyar combined to set up Revan racing into the
left corner of the box and his shot was tipped over by Cole for a
corner. Gloucester tried to get to grips with Hereford’s movement with
some fouls and a late challenge on Pearce by Dawson saw him booked.
McLean had been relatively quiet, but he caught out Leadbitter pressing
high up the pitch. He ran to the by-line and as he went towards the box
looked up and pulled back an inviting ball to Tom on the edge of the box. Owen-Evans is in fine form and struck the
ball hard across keeper Cole giving hm no chance so that the Bulls went
in two up.
Gloucester were sent out early by their manager and
made more of a fist of the game in the second half as Hereford tired a
little with their third game in a week. Kouhyar was showing his fast
feet and although his dead balls were not quite to his high standards,
he was Hereford’s most creative player. He made space down the right and
into the box he was taken down and referee Pratt was again too far away
from the challenge to see that a penalty was warranted. Gloucester
brought on Sheaf for King who had made a limited contribution. Hereford
replaced McLean with Storey. There was then a manic minute with
Owen-Evans having a shot well saved by Cole, Revan followed up, but his
shot was blocked and with the third attempt Gordon pulled his shot wide
when he should have hit the target from within the box. Gowling promptly
took Jaanai off and brought Touray on for his home debut. Hereford were
regularly working Revan into their attacks, and he beat two players on
the left before shooting and working Cole in the goal. O’Sullivan taking
most of Gloucester’s dead balls clipped a cross into Mensah who shot
but Pollock blocked it. The ball was not cleared, and another free kick
was conceded. Hereford were tiring and giving Gloucester chances to get
back into the game.
Another free kick saw Green shoot just over
the bar and City were building up a head of steam. Vincent had been the
best midfielder on the park with much fine defensive work, but also
quick use of the ball to get attacks going. He picked up a strain and
Forsyth came on. Gloucester got another free kick on the right and
O’Sullivan curled in a ball behind the line of defenders who pushed up
for offside but did not get the timing right allowing unmarked Green to
stab home an easy opportunity.
Gloucester now scented the chance
to get something out of the game and Hereford were hanging on a little.
Sheaf had a shot well saved by Hall and fortunately Hulbert did not
make the most of the rebound. Hereford broke away through Owen-Evans on
the right and he beat the full back looked up and saw Storey had burst a
lung to get up to the far post. Tom swung over an excellent high ball
which was dropping for Miles rising ready to nod in. Cole sprung
superbly and finger tipped the ball away from Storey’s head, quality
goalkeeping.
Storey got clear down the right and Touray was yards
offside. Storey saw this and held up waiting for Touray to realise but
the new striker was oblivious. He waited again and still Touray did not
check back to get onside. This was a shocking lack of awareness from a
professional who seemed more concerned as to why he had not received a
pass. Storey stopped and pulled back a deeper ball, but Touray’s
misjudgement had allowed Gloucester to get back and reorganise. The new
striker looked good at Farsley, but this was a disappointing cameo.
Storey had his usual chance where his pace gets him clear, but he fails
to work the keeper and his conversion rate is frustrating when his
talent and ability is clear.
Gloucester brought on Thompson for
Robert as four minutes were added. Hereford gradually faded through the
match and had patches of their recent form but were a little way short.
However, they are finally scoring when they are on top and Revan is an
outstanding creative force, a full back in the Cancelo or
Alexander-Arnold mould. Owen-Evans had yet another good game and must be
catching the eye of scouts. A good side wins when they are not playing
at their best.
However, one of the best players on the pitch was
veteran striker Matt Green brought in to keep Gloucester up. He was a
handful all night long and when he realised, he could take advantage of a
weak referee he was swinging arms and physically challenging like Mike
Symons of old and fully deserved his goal. Green would be more expensive
than Touray who was poor in comparison.
In the Premiership teams like Manchester City, Wolves and Liverpool which
have taken a strong line on Covid and vaccinations are doing better
than those like Arsenal and Chelsea which have taken a more relaxed
laissez-faire approach.
It is deeply regrettable that Hereford
had a widespread Covid outbreak before Xmas when they were in form and
lost tens of thousands of pounds of revenue from the Christmas games. If
they had that bit of extra budget to get a player like Green, it may be
the difference at the end of the season between making the play offs or
not.
