With Hereford travelling to Tamworth for an FA Cup tie next Saturday BN looks back to August 2003 and the first game of that season.
Newly promoted Tamworth soon found out what life is like in the Conference.
Bulls slaughter Lambs in season opener
Tamworth 1 - 3 Hereford United - Saturday August 9th 2003
Hereford United got their 2003/04 Nationwide Conference campaign off to a good start with a solid 3-1 victory at newly promoted Tamworth.
A first half goal from Steve Guinan and two second half strikes from Ben Smith sealed the points, before Tamworth skipper Mark Cooper fired home a consolation free-kick fourteen minutes from time.
However, it could have gone very differently had Tamworth capitalised on their early pressure. Marc McGregor, a summer signing from relegated Nuneaton Borough, turned two headers narrowly wide while his shot on eighteen minutes also went off-target. Hereford, though, weathered the storm and should have gone ahead on twenty three minutes when a long-range Danny Williams shot bounced off the crossbar, and Rob Purdie's header on the loose ball bobbled off the post and away to relative safety.
Then the players stopped play and headed for the water bottles, such was the heat at the Lamb. When United came back on, they took control. On twenty eight minutes, Purdie cut in from the left, brought the ball back to Steve Guinan, and the striker fired home from twelve yards which crept inside the near post.
Hereford could have doubled their advantage a minute later, when Ryan Green sailed a ball in from the right channel from all of forty yards out. However, it dropped over the goalkeeper Phil Whitehead and onto the crossbar, missing the target by a whisper.
In the second period, Mark Cooper's free-kick hit Matt Baker's crossbar before a Ben Smith volley sailed wide just prior to the hour mark. Smith, though, made amends on sixty five minutes when a he nodded home a Danny Williams flick-on. Four minutes later, Steve Guinan's shot was saved by the feet of Whitehead, but the goalkeeper was stranded on the floor. Smith picked up the loose ball, and hit it home ro make it 3-0.
With fourteen minutes left, Mark Cooper gave Tamworth hope when his free-kick curled past Matt Baker, but it turned out to be a consolation goal. Despite Scott Rickards striking the post and Danny Williams clearing another effort off the Hereford line, Tamworth failed to find another two goals late in the match and United earned the three points.
A following of around a thousand spurred the Bulls onto the victory, and it is Hereford who head the table after the first day's results.
Written by Terry Goodwin - 9th August 2003.
Hereford United: Matt Baker, Ryan Green, Michael Rose, Jamie Pitman, Andy Tretton, Tony James (C), Danny Williams, Ben Smith, Rob Purdie, Steve Guinan, Paul Parry.
Subs: Ben Scott, Richard Teesdale, Danny Carey-Bertram, Dean Craven, Rob Sawyers.
Scorers: Guinan, Smith (2)
Man of the Match: Guinan
Att: 2250
