Hereford United creeped into the final 16 of the F.A. Trophy with a 1-0 victory against Halifax at The Shay this afternoon. A single goal seperated the two teams in an unentertaining cup tie which was probably not considered all too important by either side. The Bulls made a few changes to their side; Wayne Brown was out cup tied, and so Craig Mawson deputised, Craig Stanley missed out through suspension and Danny Carey-Bertram was dropped to the bench meaning starts for Andy Williams and Andy Ferrell.
Halifax started the better side with Danny Forest shooting over via a deflection winning a corner for the hosts, but United netted with their first attack of the game, inspired by Williams. The youngster played a neat ball down the left flank for Adam Stansfield who turned his marker and found Williams just inside the penalty area. Williams turned before driving in a low shot, which was pushed away by Adam Legzdins, but Stansfield was on hand to convert the rebound.
Lewis Killeen shot wide of the mark as Halifax tried to pull level while, at the other end, Williams played an inviting ball across the goal face which Stansfield couldn't quite stretch to before the first half was drawn to a close. The second period was perhaps more eventful, but still rather unentertaining, at least in the early stage. Dean Beckwith picked up a booking for a foul just outside the box, and Martin Foster struck the resulting free kick over the bar before Chris Senior saw a shot from a tight angle saved by Mawson.
Matt Doughty had a free kick saved as Halifax continued to dominate, restricting Hereford to rare attacks which more often than not came to nothing. Adam Quinn smashed an effort towards goal, but man of the match Beckwith got in the way of it and deflected the ball out for a corner. Daryl Taylor was replaced by Carey-Bertram, and Graham Turner switched to a 4-5-1 formation with Stansfield working alone up front.Alex Jeannin, who had a very poor match, struck a free kick over for The Bulls in what was a rare attempt at goal while Beckwith again blocked well, this time denying Killeen. Halifax tried lofting balls into Hereford's box but the defence seemed to deal with them fairly well, and as the game came to a close, United looked more and more likely to snatch a second on the break.
The performance seemed to resemble that of last weekends trip to Scarborough, where Hereford went 1-0 up and then worked hard to defend that lead, which they once again did sucessfully. However, it was not the most pleasing spectacle for the 100 or so supporters who made the trip in the crowd of 1,220.
HUFC: Mawson, Travis, Mkandawire, Beckwith, Jeannin, Purdie, Pitman, Ferrell, Taylor, Williams, Stansfield. Subs: Green, Gwynne, Evans, Carey-Bertram.
HTFC: Legzdins, Haslam, Doughty, Quinn, Foster, Killeen, Thompson, Atherton, Grant, Forrest, Prendergast. Subs: Bushell, Midgley, Senior, Young, Jacobs.