A pale peach of a harvest moon hung over Edgar Street tonight, and an autumnal breeze provided some tricky conditions. However, there was precious little mellow fruitfulness in evidence on the pitch as the Bulls stuttered to a woefully inept defeat. Yoann Arquin, Tom Barkhuizen and Joe Colbeck all started, with Danny Williams injured and Kenny Lunt and Harry Pell warming the bench.
An early free kick for Aldershot was headed back across goal and bundled into the net, but an offside flag saved the day. The tricky Jermaine McGlashan evaded Joe Heath’s challenge and fired into the side netting from an acute angle. Then the home defence made a hash of clearing a corner, and Will Evans had to block a goal-bound effort on the line. Barkhuizen had a shot beaten out by Shots stopper Ross Worner, and the ricochet evaded a lurking Delroy Facey. Arquin and Barkhuizen then combined, but the French striker took the ball wide, and his shot was cleared with ease by Old Boy Darren Jones. There seemed little understanding, and a lack of productive movement in much of United’s attacks, whilst the visitors’ crisp passing, particularly that between Danny Hylton and Michael Rankine, was much more incisive.
David Cornell made many fine saves to prevent Hereford from falling behind. First he palmed away a thunderbolt from Rankine, and then in rapid succession he collected a dangerous cross from McGlashan, and then got both hands to a terrific effort from Hylton. Other than Ryan Green, the back line looked jittery, and Michael Townsend almost let in an opponent as he slipped, but managed to recover just in time. The first goal, on 19 minutes, came as no surprise. Facey was penalised for a foul on Alex Rodman near halfway, and another free kick was then awarded closer to goal. Hylton wrestled possession and played in Rankine, who guided the ball into the corner of Cornell’s net.
Hereford created little in response, with Simon Clist’s pass to Facey, and the following cross for Arquin one of the few encouraging moves. Indeed, it was at the other end where chances continued to crop up. Another impressive stop by Cornell, this time from a long range Rodman effort, led to a corner. Woeful marking then nearly let Hylton stab the ball home, and he then turned creator, crossing for McGlashan, who should have scored but was denied by a fine block from Heath.
HT: HUFC 0 ALDERSHOT 1 (with more pitch watering- why?)
Although Nicky Featherstone played a couple of thoughtful passes, the lack of cohesion which characterised the home side’s play saw first Colbeck caught flat-footed, and then Facey slow to react. Colbeck again wasted a chance with a hugely over-hit cross. Arquin did well to float over a ball from near the flag, but Facey was not able to get in front of his marker. In another promising move, Barkhuizen was caught marginally offside, but these few moves apart, there was little to suggest that an equaliser was forthcoming.
The sparse crowd remained distinctly unimpressed by the lack of tactical awareness and teamwork shown by Jamie Pitman’s side, and began to voice their disapproval. Even the introduction of fans’ favourite Harry Pell made little difference, and in fact it was an Aldershot substitute who made the three points safe. Colbeck had fired just over, whilst Aaron Morris had smashed a shot past the post after some familiar bagatelle in the home area, when Peter Vincenti made his telling contribution. A long Rodman free kick seemed to have passed over all heads until a salmon-like leap and towering header from Vincenti made it 2-0 with only eight minutes to go. This was played out in a rather depressing atmosphere, with Bulls followers unsure where the next points are coming from, and expressing their desire for changes to be made.
FT: HUFC 0 ALDERSHOT 2
Attendance: 1599, including 166 Shots fans.
HUFC: Cornell, Evans, Green, Townsend, Heath, Colbeck, Featherstone, Clist, Barkhuizen (Pell 80), Arquin, Facey (Winnall 69).
ALDERSHOT: Worner, Herd, Jones, Morris, Straker, Guttridge, Collins, Rodman, McGlashan (Vincenti 60), Rankine, Hylton.
