Seventh heaven
Hereford United recorded their second 7-1 win of the season away at Forest Green Rovers.
Paul Parry netted a hatrick, Ben Smith got two, and Rob Purdie and Jamie Pitman also found the net.
Another
cracking win for Hereford
Forest
Green Rovers 1 - 7 Hereford United
Almost 700 Hereford
fans were in attendance as their side swept Forest Green away at
the Lawn.
The result equals Hereford's record post-war league win, which
was set just a few weeks ago as they beat Halifax Town at Edgar
Street by the same score.
This outcome, though, cannot have come at a better time. United
slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Tamworth last weekend and, having
collected all three points, are now just a point behind leaders
Chester City having played the same number of games.
Graham Turner's men were without striker Steve Guinan again, and
new signing Mark Beesley was not registered in time to play in
tonight's encounter. Nevertheless, they were not needed. Paul
Parry's performance buoyed the team on to victory. The Welshman
was being watched by Cardiff City, with whom he recently spent a
trial spell, and boss Lennie Lawrence can only have been
impressed with what he saw.
But what of Forest Green, who will be naturally disheartened by
such a hammering? Colin Addison suggested before the match that
United were ready for promotion, and so it proved. The gap
between the top teams and those at the other end of the
Conference can be huge, but as Tamworth proved last week, this is
not always the case. Hereford have now scored twelve goals
against their Gloucestershire rivals this season, but they do not
look like one of the three worst teams in the league.
United started well, as Parry linked with Ben Smith after just
ninety seconds to fire wide of Steve Perrin's goal. The same
goalkeeper was forced to save from Smith a few minutes later as
he was stung by a strong shot. It was the sign of things to come.
Smith, Rob Purdie, Danny Williams and finally Ryan Green all
linked for Parry netted his first on the thirteenth minute at the
far post. So, Hereford had the lead, but they almost lost it two
minutes later when Steve Cowe's cross from the right flank found
Martin Foster behind the United back-line. His shot sailed over
Matt Baker's goalframe. Jamie Pitman later blocked a Cowe shot a
minute before Parry doubled his tally. He cut in from the left
channel to feed onto a Purdie ball and put Hereford further
clear.
By half time, it was 4-0. Ben Smith struck from outside the box
with ten minutes of the half remaining, giving Perrin no chance,
and two minutes later Rob Purdie was played through and chipped
the ball over the sprawling goalkeeper to give United a huge
half-time advantage.
After the restart, United continued in the same vein of form and
two goals in a minute made it 6-0. A Danny Williams free-kick on
fifty nine minutes from the edge of the centre circle found Parry
in the box, who had broken free to beat the offside trap. He
controlled firstly with his chest, and then struck the ball,
which bounced in off the far post. From the kick-off, a free-kick
was swung in from the right channel which was spilled by Perrin,
and Smith was on-hand to hammer it home.
With United sailing, Turner made changes, bringing off the
influential Tony James, Ben Smith and Danny Williams. Paul Parry
took over as captain, but he couldn't find another goal. Jamie
Pitman could, though, as he back-footed the ball into the net
with eleven minutes left. It wasn't all one-way traffic though.
Forest Green continued to battle, with Scott Rogers' shot being
cleared by Anwar Uddin and Matt Baker called into action on a
couple of occasions. At the other end, Ben Smith struck the
crossbar before Addison's men found a consolation. Matt Baker
missed a punch, and Damon Searle struck with five minutes to go.
It was, though, a matter of much too little, much too late.
Hereford go into the next few games full of Christmas cheer,
while Rovers will hope that Telford eat too much turkey and slump
in their Boxing Day meeting.
Written by Terry
Goodwin - 19th December 2003.
Forest
Green Rovers |
Hereford
United |
Steve Perrin |
Matt Baker |
Denny Ingram |
Ryan Green |
Martin Foster (captain) |
Michael Rose |
Steve Cowe (off, 87 minutes) |
Jamie Pitman |
John Cant (off, half time) |
Anwar Uddin |
Sam Bowen |
Tony James (captain, off, 66 minutes) |
Richard Kennedy (off, 66 minutes) |
Danny Williams (off, 77 minutes) |
Damon Searle |
Ben Smith (off, 82 minutes) |
Lee Phillips |
Rob Purdie |
Darren Jones |
David Brown |
Alex Meechan |
Paul Parry |
Subs |
Subs |
Alex Sykes (on, 66 minutes) |
Ben Scott |
Scott Rogers (on, half time) |
Richard Teesdale (on, 66 minutes) |
Luke Jones (on, 87 minutes) |
Jordan King (on, 82 minutes) |
Adie Adams |
Danny Carey-Bertram |
Chris Giannangelo |
Dean Craven (on, 77 minutes) |
Yellow cards |
Yellow cards |
Darren Jones (foul, 20 minutes) |
Jamie Pitman (foul, 27 minutes) |
Richard Kennedy (foul,
53 minutes) |
Ryan Green (foul, 71
minutes) |
Red cards |
Red cards |
- |
- |
Scorers |
Scorers |
Damon Searle (85 minutes) |
Paul Parry (13, 25, 59 minutes) |
- |
Ben Smith (35, 60
minutes) |
- |
Rob Purdie (37 minutes) |
- |
Jamie Pitman (79
minutes) |
- |
- |
Man of the Match |
Paul Parry |
Attendance |
1,576 |
Referee |
Mr. K. Stroud (Bournemouth) |