Hereford United surrendered their winning away run last night at Southend where the hosts ran out comfortable 4-0 winners with Shrimpers' strikers Barrie Corr and Harry Crawford each bagging a pair and Bulls' winger Joe Colbeck receiving his marching orders to compound the misery.
Jamie Pitman gave a start to newcomer Steven Leslie and recalled the fit-again Joe Heath for the long trip to Essex.
Both sides started brightly with play switching from end to end and The Bulls forced a corner after good work by Leslie down the left flank but the flag kick was easily cleared. For Southend, Grant fired wide before Leslie's crossfield ball found Colbeck in space on the right but his ball into the box was over hit and went through for a goal kick. A better cross from Colbeck was turned away for a corner, which, again, failed to produce an effort on goal. A long ball from Ryan Green found Fleetwood on the edge of the box but the striker's shot was easily collected by Glenn Morris in the home goal. Then Kenny Lunt picked out Fairhurst with a precision 40-yard pass and Morris had to go full length to turn the striker's effort round the post. A typical driving run down the right by Colbeck produced another corner but the tall home defenders dealt with both situations. Then Richard Rose showed his defensive attributes when tracking a dangerous run by Lee Sawyer.
Barrie Corr received a deserved yellow card for a late challenge on Ryan Green just after twenty minutes and should have had a red ten minutes later when he went straight through Kenny Lunt with a dangerous studs-first challenge but referee, Evans, inexplicably chose to just issue a few words of rebuke. It was a decision that was to prove costly to The Bulls as Corr went on to make a major contribution to the result.
Townsend was penalised for a clumsy challenge on Corr and although Chris Barker's free kick caused no initial problems, the attempted clearance rebounded into the path of Harry Crawford who netted from close range with Bartlett having no chance of a save. Home defender, Coughlan, got away with a nasty challenge from behind on Fairhurst that left the Bulls' striker limping and probably having a set of stud marks for a few days as a memory. The half finished with Leslie having a shot blocked after he tried his luck from the right.
HT Southend 1 Bulls 0
Whilst the hosts had shaded the first half, The Bulls had shown good effort and produced a few promising moves of their own despite being guilty of some woeful distribution from the back. The second period was to see the visitors put to the sword.
An early Bulls' corner saw Townsend head horribly wide when well placed before Bartlett had to be quick off his line to beat Blair Sturrock to a through ball. Fleetwood fed Fairhurst as he made ground into the left of the box but the supporting Richard Rose sliced the pullback wide. Then Fleets was impeded just outside the area and Lunt's flighted free kick was met by a header from Kovacs but the chance was scrambled clear before the Shrimpers doubled their advantage.
Sturrock gratefully collected Michael Townsend's hapless clearance and he slipped a pass to Corr who slotted home. Just two minutes later it was three and, again, questions must be asked about the marking and lack of concentration. A free kick from the right was met with a free header back across the goal to the unmarked Corr who buried his header into the net with Barts once again having little chance.
All the half-time talk in the visiting fans canteen had focused on the chance to get back into it in the second half but also on the number of occasions when we were just giving the ball away far too often even when not under pressure.
A few opportunities did present themselves late in the game but first Colbeck and then Townsend blazed over from 15 yards. Townsend, playing up front towards the end, was on the end of another chance after Green and Patulea combined but screwed wide from 8 yards when right in front of the goal.
Joe Colbeck received a straight red for his miss-timed tackle that gifted the fourth goal from the spot with Crawford getting the conversion.
FT Southend 4 Bulls 0
The first half goal was maybe a tad fortunate but the second half performance from the Bulls deserved no more than they got…a sound beating. At times, Hereford played some quite tidy football, particularly in the first half. It was certainly more purposeful than it was against Barnet. However, the self-destruct switch was full on during most of the game as possession was lost cheaply all over the pitch with the central defenders being the main culprits. All opponents will produce chances during a game; it isn’t necessary to help them along by sending seven consecutive clearances straight to the other team. The 123 Bulls' fans in the crowd of 5046 were not impressed although some did enjoy the trip through Whitehall, Trafalgar Square and Kensington on the way home!
Hereford: Bartlett, Green, Kovacs, Townsend, Heath, Colbeck, Rose, Lunt (Featherstone 66), Leslie (McQuilkin 66), Fleetwood, Fairhurst (Patulea 80). Subs unused: Hoult; Preston, Stratford, Purdie.
Southend: Morris, Clohessy, Coughlan, Grant, Corr (Soares 88), Sawyer, Hall, Herd (Crawford 18), Sturrock, Barker, Ferdinand. Subs unused: Bouzid, Evans, Nesbitt, Asante, Woodyard.
Sorry the report is late, I couldn't face it last night ;)