.png)
Bulls robbed by fortunate Cobblers
It was a night of high drama at Edgar Street, where Hereford United's Chucki Eribenne (two) and Paul Parry held Northampton Town to a 3-3 draw in the LDV Vans Trophy. In the golden goal extra time that followed, a dubious Northampton penalty saw the second division side through, 4-3.
Bulls robbed by
dubious spot-kick
Hereford
United 3 - 4 Northampton Town (after extra time)
A penalty in golden goal extra time was
the deciding factor between Hereford and Northampton Town
in the LDV Vans Trophy first round encounter at Edgar
Street, in front of 1,087. But Hereford showed up the
Second Division side a lot during the match and can be
proud of the performance they gave.
The match got off to the perfect start for the visitors as a cross from Gill found its way to Jamie Forrester, who lashed the ball home from 14 yards after 30 seconds. They could have even been two-nil to the good as a shot by Marco Gabbiadini flew past Baker’s post.
But with their first attack of the game the Bulls drew level as Nathan Abbey dropped what looked like a simple cross by Danny Williams to the feet of Chukki Eribenne, who forced the ball home in the fifth minute. Only five minutes later and Northampton found themselves 2-1 up as Paul Rickers fired home from the edge of the area after United’s defence had failed to clear.
The next twenty minutes saw the game swing in an exciting match between two sides willing to attack. Hereford forced Abbey to spill another ball as Tony James fired in a thirty yard shot. Mick Galloway and Paul Parry had a couple of chances each, with Derek Asamoah and Ian Sampson having efforts for Northampton. But it was Hereford who next scored as a lovely pass by Paul Parry sent Michael Rose down the wing, who cut inside Asamoah and crossed to Eribenne who stabbed the ball home to bring the scores level again on the half hour.
Hereford kept up the momentum going as John Frain almost headed into his own net, Matt Clarke had a header on target and Paul Parry had a shot go wide of the post. It should have been 3-2 to Hereford at the break as Abbey yet again spilled a thirty yard shot, this time from Pitman, into Eribenne's path who fired home, but the offside flag was raised and the goal not given. He also had another chance before the half was out as he made a powerful run at the Northampton defence, only to put his shot just wide.
The match got off to the perfect start for the visitors as a cross from Gill found its way to Jamie Forrester, who lashed the ball home from 14 yards after 30 seconds. They could have even been two-nil to the good as a shot by Marco Gabbiadini flew past Baker’s post.
But with their first attack of the game the Bulls drew level as Nathan Abbey dropped what looked like a simple cross by Danny Williams to the feet of Chukki Eribenne, who forced the ball home in the fifth minute. Only five minutes later and Northampton found themselves 2-1 up as Paul Rickers fired home from the edge of the area after United’s defence had failed to clear.
The next twenty minutes saw the game swing in an exciting match between two sides willing to attack. Hereford forced Abbey to spill another ball as Tony James fired in a thirty yard shot. Mick Galloway and Paul Parry had a couple of chances each, with Derek Asamoah and Ian Sampson having efforts for Northampton. But it was Hereford who next scored as a lovely pass by Paul Parry sent Michael Rose down the wing, who cut inside Asamoah and crossed to Eribenne who stabbed the ball home to bring the scores level again on the half hour.
Hereford kept up the momentum going as John Frain almost headed into his own net, Matt Clarke had a header on target and Paul Parry had a shot go wide of the post. It should have been 3-2 to Hereford at the break as Abbey yet again spilled a thirty yard shot, this time from Pitman, into Eribenne's path who fired home, but the offside flag was raised and the goal not given. He also had another chance before the half was out as he made a powerful run at the Northampton defence, only to put his shot just wide.
The second half took a little longer to
get going as Marco Gabbiadini headed a free kick into
Baker’s arms five minutes into the half. Then
Hereford should have taken the lead as Andy Tretton
headed over a Jamie Pitman cross when well placed and
unmarked in the area. It was Pitman himself who had the
next shot firing straight into Abbey’s arms.
Then Northampton forced a corner after Paul Harsley had made Baker pull off a good save. The resulting corner came in and was cleared to the edge of the area where Asamoah fired at goal only for Baker to pull of another save and the rebound fell to Forrester, and with an open goal, fired onto the bar, before it was finally cleared.
Hereford then took the lead as Parry fired home a eighteen yarder, after being played in by Galloway, past Abbey. It could have so easily been four as Galloway had a shot just scrapped the outside of the Northampton post. Then with five minutes remaining Hereford took off Parry for Guinan and Northampton threw on extra attackers in search of an equaliser which they got. Paul Trollope floated a freekick, from the centre circle, into the Hereford area where Asamoah managed to steer the ball over Baker for three apiece.
The extra time period saw the end to end action continue as first Morrison fired wide for Northampton and then Hope almost turned a Guinan cross into his own net, before the penalty was given. It is not clear what it was given for, but Forrester stepped up, and even though Baker got a hand to the ball, it scrapped home.
This was a good open match and with Hereford doing themselves no disgrace at all; let's hope United can keep the momentum going for the Arlesey game on Saturday which is going to be a totally different encounter.
Then Northampton forced a corner after Paul Harsley had made Baker pull off a good save. The resulting corner came in and was cleared to the edge of the area where Asamoah fired at goal only for Baker to pull of another save and the rebound fell to Forrester, and with an open goal, fired onto the bar, before it was finally cleared.
Hereford then took the lead as Parry fired home a eighteen yarder, after being played in by Galloway, past Abbey. It could have so easily been four as Galloway had a shot just scrapped the outside of the Northampton post. Then with five minutes remaining Hereford took off Parry for Guinan and Northampton threw on extra attackers in search of an equaliser which they got. Paul Trollope floated a freekick, from the centre circle, into the Hereford area where Asamoah managed to steer the ball over Baker for three apiece.
The extra time period saw the end to end action continue as first Morrison fired wide for Northampton and then Hope almost turned a Guinan cross into his own net, before the penalty was given. It is not clear what it was given for, but Forrester stepped up, and even though Baker got a hand to the ball, it scrapped home.
This was a good open match and with Hereford doing themselves no disgrace at all; let's hope United can keep the momentum going for the Arlesey game on Saturday which is going to be a totally different encounter.
Written by Tim Ward - 22nd October 2002.
| Hereford United | Northampton Town |
| Matt Baker | Nathan Abbey |
| Matt Clarke (off, 90 minutes) | Ian Sampson |
| Michael Rose | Richard Hope |
| Andrew Tretton | John Frain (off, 88 minutes) |
| Richard Teesdale | Marco Gabbiadini (off, 85 minutes) |
| Tony James | Paul Rickers |
| Jamie Pitman | Paul Trollope (captain) |
| Paul Parry (off, 85 minutes) | Jamie Forrester |
| Danny Williams | Derek Asamoah |
| Mick Galloway | Chris Hargreaves |
| Chukki Eribenne | Jerry Gill (off, half time) |
| Subs | Subs |
| Steve Guinan (on, 85 minutes) | Paul Harsley (on, half time) |
| Ken Griffiths | Chris Carruthers (on, 85 minutes) |
| Rob Sawyers (on, 90 minutes) | Greg Lincoln |
| Rob Purdie | Steve Morison (on, 88 minutes) |
| Ben Smith | Mark Bunn |
| Yellow cards | Yellow cards |
| - | - |
| Red cards | Red cards |
| - | - |
| Scorers | Scorers |
| Chukki Eribenne (6, 31 minutes) | Jamie Forrester (1 minutes, 95 minutes (pen)) |
| Paul Parry (82 minutes) | Paul Rickers (10 minutes) |
| Derek Asamoah (89 minutes) | |
| Man of the Match | Paul Parry and Chukki Eribenne shared |
| Attendance | 1087 |
| Referee | Mr. S. Mattieson |