Bulls flattened by Iron

Hereford United suffered a fourth successive defeat in last evening's encounter at Glanford Park. Manager Turner sprang a few surprises as he gave starts to Simon Johnson, Stephen O’Leary and Jack MacLeod. O'Leary was returning from injury whereas Johnson had made mostly substitute appearances and MacLeod had not been seen since the debacle at Bristol early in the season.

Both sides started brightly with the first real chance falling to The Bulls in the fifth minute. Richard Rose made good progress down the left before whipping in a low cross which was fumbled by Iron 'keeper Murphy. Febian Brandy was a little slow to react and the ball was scrambled clear at the expense of a corner. Johnson's deep flag-kick from the right was headed back across the goal by loanee Irishman Dennehy to Steve Guinan but the Bulls striker was only able to guide the ball the wrong side of the upright. This was followed by the first of three virtually identical Scunthorpe goals. On seven minutes Gary Hooper peeled away to make a trademark diagonal run across the box and strike partner Paul Hayes slid the ball between defenders for Hooper to fire home across Gulasci from the corner of the six-yard area. Despite having a pair of six-footers for strikers, it was the crisp interpassing along the ground that was causing problems for the visitors and it came as no great shock when the hosts doubled their lead on nineteen minutes. This time it was Kevan Hurst who had made the run and he finished with a shot across Gulasci from exactly the same spot. Both finishes were clean clinical strikes and the difference in the sides was emphasised when Johnson's attempted overhead effort narrowly missed the corner flag. Brandy did extract a fine diving save from Murphy when pushing the diminutive strikers 18-yarder around the post just before the welcome half-time break.

Seven minutes into the second period, the under pressure Dean Beckwith was unlucky to see his header from a Johnson free kick sale just over the bar with the keeper out of position. The Bulls also had a reasonable shout for a penalty when Mills handled the ball but the referee was unimpressed. Gulasci was quickly out to the edge of his box to foil Hooper in a rapid counter-attack while at the other end The Bulls were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position on the right. Beckwith and Dennehy lined up at the back post but Johnson's cross failed to beat the first defender. Steve Guinan then had a half chance but was hampered by an apparently acceptable shirt-pull and his effort went just wide before Scunthorpe produced the third goal of the game. McCann fed Paul Hayes who finished with another low shot cross shot from well inside the box with a little over 10 minutes of normal time remaining. Brandy did manage to bustle his way clear with five minutes on the clock but was unable to get a decent shot on goal and the ball was cleared. In the 87th minute, Turner threw caution to the wind with a double substitution bringing on Hewson and Done for O'Leary and Brandy. Hewson took up his familiar central position while Done played wide allowing Johnson to move to a striker role. Finally, in the shock move of the evening, Johnson remained up field while The Bulls defended the last Scunthorpe corner.

All in all, this was a comfortable win for The Iron and although Hereford did have a twenty minute or so period of pressure in the second half the real efforts on goal were few and far between. Once again, the long high balls up to Steve Guinan and the towering Febian Brandy were dealt with at ease by a pair of six-foot plus central defenders in Mirfin and Byrne. I counted only 67 Bulls fans in the visitors end but the small crowd made themselves heard throughout the game. Total Att. 3672.

Scunthorpe: Murphy Byrne Mirfin Pearce (Wright 73) Mills Lansbury (Trotter 80) Sparrow McCann Hurst (Woolford 76) Hayes and some other bloke. Unused subs Lillis and Odejayi

HUFC: Gulasci Rose Beckwith Dennehy Jackson MacLeod Diagouraga O’Leary (Hewson 87) Johnson Guinan Brandy (Done 87) Unused subs Veiga Broadhurst and Gwynne

Bring on The Magic Roundabout!

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