If someone had offered Hereford United a mid-table finish on their return to the Football League at the start of the season they would have undoubtedly bitten their hands off; however with The Bulls well and truly safe from the drop in the top half of the table, there's a slight disappointment that they are just lacking what is needed to make the final step up to the play off places. Just a month a go the play offs were looking a real possibility, but a recent dip in form, which has co-incided with the absense of loanee Steve Jennings, means there is little to play for in the remaining games this season.
This afternoon Hereford made the long journey to the north east, to the impressive all seater 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena, but after a disappointing performance the journey home might have seemed even longer. Graham Turner made just one change to his side, with Luke Webb stepping into midfield at the expense of Andy Ferrell. The midfield was again lacking a dominant figure, and this proved costly as The Quakers were able to dominate possession. Early on Clark Keltie fired over before Wayne Brown was called upon to deny at the feet of Ricky Ravenhill, who'd worked some space in the box. This was a sign of things to come, though it wasn't one way traffic all the time.
However, it was the hosts causing most threat on goal and Scott Wiseman should have done better when a throw in picked a hole in the Hereford defence, but he fired inches wide of the far post before Steve Guinan went close, but his shot was tame, after good approach play and a decent cross from the, once again, impressive Danny Thomas. Rob Purdie forced Sam Russell into his first save on the break as Brown threw out to Alan Connell, who picked out the overlapping run from the full-back.
Keltie fired wide again for Darlington with a clear sight on goal from the edge of the box before Guinan and Ben Smith combined for the latter to cross for Connell, but his header was off target before Darlington had a final chance before the interval. Webb lost possession and Tommy Wright went through but shot wide. No changes were made at the break, and the second half, despite both teams showing intent (Thomas especially for United), didn't offer anything in the way of opportunities until after the managers had done some tinkering.
On fifty eight minutes ex-Premiership striker Julian Joachin was introduced for the home side, but it was Hereford who were next to go close. Thomas latched onto a loose ball in between two centre backs, but he had more time than he'd anticipated and rushed his shot, and consequently it was over the bar. Wright went close at the other end, forcing a low save following a cross from the left but he made no mistake a few minutes later, as the deadlock was broken on sixty seven minutes. The ball was returned into the box after a corner was half cleared, and Wright was first to the ball, looping a header over Brown and into the back of the net for the only goal of the game.
That shouldn't have been the case though. Turner introduced Ferrell for the injured Webb and then with eleven minutes left he replaced top scorer Connell with Tim Sills, who scores about as often as an eclipse of the sun. United didn't look like scoring until the eighty nineth minute, when they won a free kick for a foul on Simon Travis on the right. Purdie delivered the set piece to the far post, and Thomas hit the ball on the volley, but it was kept out by a good low save from Russell. Then, in the final of three injury minutes Sills managed to get run onto a Guinan flick on and with Russell approaching, just had to lift the ball over the 'keeper and into an unguarded net to net a point for his side. He beat the goalie with his shot, but put too much on it and it went over the bar, and that was that. The ref blew up with the score 1-0.
Although results aren't all that important now for United, they and their supporters will be disappointed with the level of performance that has been shown in the last few games, especially with standards set so high following such great results as the one and Lincoln. The Hereford side was crying out for Steve Jennings again today, as it was last week. With the ball winning midfield general sort of player out of the team Smith is restricted from his more attacking role, and it clearly has an adverse effect on the teams general play.
HUFC: Brown, Travis, Mkandawire, Rose, Purdie, Thomas, Webb, Smith, Williams, Guinan, Connell. Subs: Gulliver, Thompson, Ferrell, McClenahan, Sills.
DFC: Russell, Horwood, Wiseman, Miller, Wheater, Smith, Wainwright, Keltie, Ravenhill, Blundell, Tommy Wright. Subs: Stockdale, Armstrong, Rowson, Ryan, Joachim.