Hereford United won the HFA Senior Cup once again with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Ledbury Town at Edgar Street this evening. Goals from Marcus Palmer, Stuart Fleetwood and captain Sam Gwynne were enough to overcome a resillient Ledbury side. As expected, mass changes were made, with Trent McClenahan and Phil Gulliver the only survivors from the weekends game.
The first half created few chances at either end; notable efforts included a Tim Sills flick and a Gulliver header, whilst at the other end, Luke Webb was on hand to clear a goal-bound effort off the line as Ledbury threatened from a corner. The only goal of the half came late on in the first half, when Palmer capitalised on a poor clearence to neatly volley past the helpless Ledbury keeper.
United upped a gear in the second half, and mid-way through the period, Stuart Fleetwood's pace got him in behind the Ledbury defence to meet a measured Gwynne through ball, before finishing with ease. Fleetwood added an assist to his earlier goal, when he returned the favour to Gwynne, by setting up the youngster with a chipped ball which Gwynne headed past the keeper despite being under-pressure from defenders. Youngster Craig Jones made his second appearence of the tournament, after his sub appearence against Westfields, as he replaced McClenahan with twenty minutes remaining. The Bulls created a shed load of chances towards the end of the game, with Fleetwood again going close on a number of occasions, whilst Fitzpatrick was excellently denied by the Ledbury goalkeeper.
Hereford took the cup, with much ease against their lower-graded opponents. With decent performances from Fleetwood, Palmer and Gwynne, all three will have done themselves no harm in their chances for first team action, with three games remaining. The man of the match however was the Ledbury goalkeeper, who consistently frustrated Hereford with a string of good saves, in front of around 400 supporters.
Hereford: Thompson, McClenahan, Jeannin, Rose, Gulliver, Webb, Fitzpatrick, Gwynne, Palmer, Fleetwood, Sills.
Subs: Brown, Travis, Jones, Williams, Connell.