A Look at Hereford United

This article first appeared in this morning's Guardian Blog. It was written by John Ashdown.

Think of Hereford United and you probably think of cider and Ronnie Radford. Both are perfectly understandable. The club bought Edgar Street off the Bulmer cider family and the Len Weston stand is named after the long-standing club chairman of another dynasty of scrumpy makers, while Radford provided not only the finest moment in the club's history, but also one of the greatest moments in FA Cup history (he'd have been sent off for that tackle these days).

Many will also think of Graham Turner, and rightly so. The Bulls manager is the second-longest serving in the Football League – behind Sir Alex Ferguson – having joined the club in August 1995. He's guided them out of the league to the murky depths of the Conference and back up to League One, a level they had not reached since 1978. His record means that he has already written his name into the club's folklore, but if he can keep Hereford in the third tier this season, it will surely go down as his greatest achievement.

Turner has combined the roles of chairman and manager since 1998, when his purchase of the controlling shares of the club, by that stage they were a non-league side having been relegated – on goals scored – in 1997, effectively kept United in existence. Indeed, money has been so tight at Edgar Street that in his first 11 seasons at the club, Turner made only one cash player purchase. For £20,000. The nadir was reached in 2002 when they finished 17th in the Conference, below such luminaries as Nuneaton Borough, Margate and Leigh RMI and just eight points clear of the relegation zone, but life by the Wye has been on the up since then. A return to the Football League came in 2006, promotion to League One last year and victory in Saturday's West Country derby against fellow relegation battlers Cheltenham means the Bulls are just five points from safety at the foot of League One.

The details of the win make it all the more remarkable. Hereford had only scored seven times away from Edgar Street all season before the weekend – on Saturday they scored three. By the start of the second half, three centre-backs had succumbed to injury, leaving a midfielder and a right-back comprising the central defensive partnership. And with 30 minutes to go they were 2–1 down thanks to Lloyd Owusu's brace for the home side.

But two free-kicks from Sam Hewson (on loan from Manchester United), the first a screamer still rising as it went past Scott Brown in the Cheltenham goal, the second benefiting from a huge deflection, gave Hereford a second away win of the season and, most importantly, hope of survival. Leeds visit Edgar Street tomorrow evening with the home side expecting a bumper crowd that is likely to swell an average attendance that at 3,230 is comfortably the lowest in the division, and only better than eight League Two sides. A win against the Yorkshire club and the current Hereford set-up can start contemplating an achievement that would be up there with that of Radford and co.

---