Hereford were left to rue a number of missed chances in this evening’s encounter with Crewe Alexandra at Edgar Street, eventually having to settle for a point in an entertaining game. A sparse crowd tried to recall what their heroes looked like before the big freeze deprived them of live football, and were interested to note Trewick’s inclusion of Richard Rose, Jamie Tolley and Matty Done in the starting line up.
The game began quietly, with Leon Constantine cleverly playing Marc Pugh in and the shot cleared for a corner, the first of many forced by the Bulls. Adam Bartlett spilled an effort from distance by Matt Tootle, and there was some danger before an offside decision was made. Beastie boy Mathieu Manset made a marauding run, but again the shot was blocked for a corner. From this, Manset failed to connect when well placed in front of goal. Pugh had two chances in rapid succession and on both occasions Alex defenders achieved vital blocks.
On 42 minutes, Hereford took a deserved lead, albeit in slightly fortuitous circumstances. Pugh clearly controlled the ball with his hand initially, before embarking on a jinking run and passing to Constantine to slam it home. Despite Crewe’s protestations, the goal stood, and the home side reached the interval with a narrow advantage.
HT: HUFC 1 CREWE ALEX. 0
The teams emerged into plummeting temperatures, and the Bulls had two golden opportunities to extend their lead in the opening two minutes of the half. Firstly, Constantine’s neat flick left Pugh with only Phillips to beat, but a woeful shot went wide. Then Manset used his strength to rob a defender and set up Kenny Lunt, but again the shot was wide of the target. As the game opened up, Crewe were also looking more of a threat. A lack of communication between Bartlett and Darren Jones almost ended in disaster, but the keeper saved the day by pouncing on the loose ball. Shortly after this, however, with the half still barely 4 minutes old, Crewe had their equaliser. A whipped cross from Shaun Miller was expertly dispatched into the far corner by Clayton Donaldson, leaving Bartlett with no chance of making a save.
Hereford returned to the attack, with the energetic Jamie Tolley controlling much of the build up play. Rose limped off to be replaced by Sam Gwynne. Done’s free kick found Manset’s head, but the attempt was deflected wide. Some determined and tenacious tackling from Lunt and Lowe saw Gwynne surge forward to force yet another flag kick. Manset’s tasty backheel found Done in the box, and a bout of pinball never really bounced kindly for the home side to make the pressure tell. Jones upended Donaldson in a dangerous position, the free kick was cleared and Manset went on a powerful run but delayed his pass to Done and the chance was gone. Constantine’s through ball to Pugh once more deserved better than the weak shot on goal.
A feature of this season, the concession of a late goal, almost reared its ugly head again. Some sloppy defending and failure to clear resulted in a shot which, to the audible sighs of relief from the assembled throng (if a mere 1200 home fans can be thus considered), cannoned back off the woodwork. Highlights of the remaining minutes, including the four added, were a rather half- hearted penalty shout as Done tumbled in the area, Crewe’s No.23 “Tootling” off, and a cameo appearance from Edrissa Sonko.
FT: HUFC 1 CREWE ALEX 1
Attendance: 1367 including the 131 from Gresty Road.
HUFC: Bartlett, Valentine, Lowe, Pugh, Jones, Rose (Gwynne53), Lunt, Tolley, Done (Sonko87), Constantine, Manset (King72).
CREWE: Phillips, Brayford, O’Donnell, Mitchel-King, Westwood, Tootle (Martin83), Schumacher, Murphy, Walton, Donaldson, Miller (Moore72).