Bulls fall to three Card trick

Hereford United were defeated by three goals to nil this evening in a lethargic display at Kingfield.  First half strikes from Jack Marriott and Keiran Murtagh were followed by a late third from Josh Payne in a game where The Bulls rarely threatened.

The match saw a return to the starting line-up for Kingsley James and a first start for Jamie Edge.  The back four were unchanged with Frankie Artus completing a midfield three with Chris Sharp, Michael Rankine and Jon Brown spread across the front.

The Cards kicked off and were first to threaten as Murtagh broke from centre field but Don Collins made a timely interception.  The hosts signalled their intentions early on as fullback John Nutter got forward on the overlap to whip in a cross which Luke Graham cleared under pressure from Rendell.  A diagonal ball from the right found Nutter on another run but his cross cleared everyone and sailed out for a throw on the far side.

Jon Brown had to hustle back to concede a corner from which McNerney sent a header just over as Woking dominated the early exchanges and looked brighter on the ball.  Josh Payne ballooned a shot over the bar and when an attempted through ball from Artus was intercepted The Cards took the lead on 24 minutes.

The ball was worked across midfield to Nutter on his umpteenth overlap and his precision cross was headed home unchallenged by the diminutive Jack Marriott from 5 yards out.

Just two minutes later the hosts doubled their advantage when Keiran Murtagh was allowed to advance to the edge of the box without being closed down to strike home a low speculative drive past the unsighted Lloyd-Weston.

Rankine worked some space on the right but his cross was cleared without threat and Sharp was a little unlucky not to get on the end of a long clearance from DLW while Chris Bush fired over in a brief period of Bulls pressure.

Payne and Betsy both went close before the interval and the half finished with a shot from Rendell missing to the right of the upright.

HT Woking 2 Bulls 0  (Could have been four)

The first period had seen The Bulls outplayed as Woking used Marriott and Rendell as alternating strikers with the spare man dropping into midfield to create problems for United’s already shorthanded central trio as Sharpie and Jon Brown hugged the wide positions and Ranks was left isolated up top without support.

Sharpie made ground down the left and pulled back for Kingsley but his effort rose over the bar.  Then Brown switched a ball inside to James who, in turn, fed Artus but Frankie’s first time shot was just wide of the mark.  Rankine peeled off to the left and got in a driven cross but there was no Bulls’ player on hand to add the finishing touch.

Foyle made a flurry of substitutions with, firstly Walker replacing Artus and shortly afterwards Collins and Sharp departed to be replaced by Leadbitter and Sam Smith.

Sam Smith Came On As A Sub

The shape changed to 4-4-2 but the outcome was, sadly, the same….very little threat.

Rankine got past two defenders and cut the ball across the face of the goal but Smith hadn’t moved and the ball ran through to keeper Beasant.  Danny Leadbitter got forward to test the keeper and win a corner that came to nothing and Bushy pinged a ball in to Rankine but his shot on the turn was safely gathered before Besty drew a fine save from DLW.  As the final whistle approached, Josh Payne waltzed past a static Chris Bush to fire home from 15 yards.

Three added minutes failed to contribute any excitement for the 100 odd Bulls fans in a crowd of 1131.

FT Woking 3 Bulls 0

BN MOTM - DLW

Bulls: Lloyd-Weston, Collins (Leadbitter 62), Graham, McDonald, Bush, Edge, James, Artus (Walker 55), Brown, Rankine, Sharp (Smith 62). Subs unused: Evans, Purdie.

Woking: Beasant, Newton (Jones 75), McNerney, Johnson, Nutter, Payne (Beckles 90), Murtagh, Goddard, Betsy, Marriott (Sole 85), Rendell. Subs unused: Howe, McNamee.

This was a disappointing performance from a Bulls’ team that had previously gone five games without defeat.  The three-man midfield of the first period was undermanned and whilst it was good to see Kingsley back on the pitch, he looked some way from full match fitness.  Ranks battled well without support but when the change of shape arrived it did so without the recently successful partnership with Sharp and minus the creativity of Artus.

3-5-2 might have been worth a shot with fifteen to go and two goals down or was that what it was supposed to be?

It’ll be better on Saturday.

See you there.

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