Hereford United fought hard for their victory at Aldershot’s Recreation Ground on Monday afternoon with the goals coming from Stuart Fleetwood and Joe Colbeck moving them off the foot of the table.
Manager Jamie Pitman made just one change from the Torquay starting line-up with Kenny Lunt replacing Guillem Bauza while former Bull Darren Jones started for the Shots in the heart of their defence.
James McQuikin made his now traditional sortie into the opposition half straight from the kick-off but Jones cut out his attempted pass to Manset and the hosts made an early attack down the left. A couple of end to end moves avoided both midfields before the game was eventually brought under control by Kenny Lunt in the centre circle and he lifted a perfectly weighted ball over the Aldershot back line for Fleetwood to fire an unstoppable 20-yard drive past keeper Jamie Young to give The Bulls the lead in just three minutes. Kevin Dillon’s post match description of a “lash” downfield was hardly complimentary of Lunt’s controlled forward pass.
From the restart, the dangerous Jermaine McGlashan crossed from the right but Ryan Green rose majestically to head clear as Guttridge shaped to strike. Marvin Morgan was penalised for backing into Kovacs before getting away with a nasty elbow into the face of the Hungarian. Neat play between McQuilkin and Lunt almost put Manset in on goal but Jones stepped in with a timely clearance before Gutteridge headed just wide from a Morgan. The Shots continued to have the lion’s share of attacking possession with McGlashan, in particular, looking dangerous and giving Joe Heath a torrid time on the flank. Kovacs and Townsend both got in crucial last gasp tackles and Morgan went close when he headed just wide under pressure from Townsend.
Darren Jones blasted well wide from 30 yards and an audacious 50-yard chip from Quilks went narrowly wide before The Bulls should have been given a penalty for a clear foul on the rampaging Fleetwood. Manset had won a flick-on in the air and Fleets was bearing down on goal when he was pushed in the back and bundled to the ground with only the keeper to beat. We’ll have to assume that the referee was busy working out his travelling expenses at the time because he obviously wasn’t watching the game. Then, as the half drew to a close, Lunt produced another chip over the defence and Fleetwood’s 35-yarder was just inches off target.
HT Shots 0 Bulls 1
The hosts started briskly and an early goalmouth scramble saw Bartlett quickly into action after the halftime oranges. A deep cross from the right then brought The Bulls stopper into action again as he came to claim at the back post before a Featherstone/Lunt combination earned a corner on the left for the visitors. McQuilkin’s cross to the FAR POST (!) found Kovacs but the big defenders header was wide of the upright. At the other end, Heath was lucky to get away with some indecision when Rose was quickly across to block McGlashan’s attempted cross.
Aldershot continued to press and the hard-working Fleetwood was twice involved defensively within a minute. Firstly he was right back at the corner flag shepherding the ball out for a goal kick and then breaking up an attack and clearing from the edge of the United box. In a rare attack, Fleets and McQuilkin combined to put The Beast in on goal but the assistant’s flag brought the move to a premature end. The continued home pressure meant that Ryan Green was given little chance to attack but his calm, thoughtful defending was a welcome boost to The Bulls overworked rearguard.
Stratford replaced Lunt with just under 20 minutes of normal time remaining with Joe Colbeck joining the action in place of Fleetwood five minutes later and it was Colbeck that settled the nerves of the travelling Herefordians with he doubled the lead in the 82nd minute. Heath played a long ball out of defence which Manset controlled before feeding the onrushing Colbeck who burst into the box and slid the ball past Young into the corner of the net.
The four minutes of added time caused some nail-biting on both the bench and the visiting terrace but apart from a late strike from Guttridge seconds from the end, The Bulls held out for well overdue three points in front of 2767 including around 200 from The Shire.
FT Shots 1 Bulls 2.
Aldershot: Young, Herd, Jones, Charles, Straker, Harding, Guttridge, Panther (Ngo Baheng 46), McGlashan, Morgan (Connolly 65), Small (Morris 46). Subs unused: Hylton, Fortune, Randall, Clement.
Hereford: Bartlett, Rose, Kovacs, Townsend, Green, Featherstone, McQuilkin, Heath, Lunt (Stratford 74), Fleetwood (Colbeck 78), Manset. Subs unused: Heister, Weir, Evans, Gwynne, Bauza.
There were plenty of times when this was far from pretty but both goals were well crafted and the whole squad battled hard and deserved their reward. The marking at the back was tighter than of late although considerable improvement is still required in the distribution and calmness departments.
A win is a win and another on Saturday in The Cup will help the transfer window budget.
Fingers firmly crossed.