Hereford United came away from The Broadfield Stadium with an eventually comfortable 2-0 victory against Crawley Town. A generally poor first half lacked any real skill from either side, as the long ball tactic was adopted by both providing a frustrating spectacle.
Graham Turner made one change from the side that has started the last two games with Rob Purdie being promoted from the bench, swapping places with Andy Ferrell. Otherwise, The Bulls were unchanged.
Hereford started well and created an early opening after a good run to the corner by Adam Stansfield, who crossed to the far post where Ryan Green layed the ball on to Jon Brady, but his effort was drilled over the bar. Stansfield tested 'keeper Phil Smith with a shot on the turn but Smith gathered easily before Richard Hodgson was booked for the hosts. Jamie Cade went close to opening the scoring for Crawley after a free kick from the left led to a scramble in the box before Cade forced it wide with the goal gaping.
Stansfield supplied his strike partner with a ball through on goal but Ipoua was forced wide by Smith but, having rounded the goalkeeper, had to cut back as he fired a tame effort wide. Ipoua then danced his way between two defenders and saw his effort deflected safely into the 'keepers arms while, at the other end, Steve Burton smashed a twenty five yard effort towards goal that needed the fingertips of Craig Mawson to push it over the bar.
Burton then was gifted a chance to put the home side in front but was denied by the post after Stacy Coldicott was disspossesed and the ball was flicked through to Burton. Brady attempted an overhead kick from Stansfield's cross after Tamika Mkandawire had found the attacker, but it was off target as the half came to a close.
The game had faded towards the end of the first half and it also lacked incident until Hereford opened the scoring after fifty eight minutes. On one of the few occasions that The Bulls actually managed to get the ball on the ground and put together a series of passes, they tore Crawley apart and took the lead. Coldicott provided the defining pass after United had broke down the right, finding the run of Green in behind the defence and he slid the ball across the face of goal to give Ipoua the simple task of firing Hereford into the lead.
Brady then had a great chance to double the advantage but his bullet header at the near post, from Ipoua's cross, was the wrong side of the post. Craig Stanley was introduced in place of Coldicott with twenty minutes to go while ex-Bulls Danny Davidson came on for Crawley. Brady's free kick caused all sorts of problems in the home sides penalty area with two crucial blocks keeping the scoreline down before a break saw a good chance for Burton, but he smashed his volley wide.
First half sub, Stuart Douglas, shot on the turn but it was wide before Davidson almost equalised from the edge of the box. His low shot came off the foot of Tony James and totally wrong footed 'keeper Mawson. However, he managed to readjust quickly and throw himself down to tip the ball around the post for a corner. He then had to be alert as the corner dropped in the danger-zone and he was quickly down once again to claim.
Purdie fired over the bar from twenty yards after man of the match Stansfield had past two defenders and cut back for him before Danny Carey-Bertram replaced Ipoua. The sub was involved in the build up to the second goal for Hereford, as he won them a corner on the right in the eighty third minute. Smith made a mess of clearing Alex Jeannin's corner and the ball fell into the path of Mkandawire who fired into the roof of the net for 2-0.
Stansfield was blantantly brought down as United broke late on and Ian Simpemba saw yellow for this act. The resulting free kick, in injury time, was worked down the right where Stansfield eventually crossed for Jeannin but he fired wide at the far post.
Although the eventual outcome was reasonably comfortable for Hereford, there were stages in the game where the tactics appeared to be all wrong and it was difficult to see where a goal would come from. However, when decided to get the ball down it paid off. The first time they did this in the second half resulted in the opening goal. The overall performance was not the best, but the 300 or so travelling supporters in a crowd of 1,842 will be more than happy with the result.
HUFC Team: Mawson, Mkandawire, James, Beckwith, Jeannin, Green, Coldicott, Purdie, Brady, Stansfield, Ipoua. Subs: Blewitt, Brown, Ferrell, Stanley, Carey-Bertram.
CTFC: Smith, Judge, Simpemba, Hodgson, Elam, Wormwull, Cade, Blackburn, Woozley, Jenkins, Burton. Subs: Ward, Opinel, Douglas, Davidson, Brown.