No Walk Over At The Walks

Brandon Hall - Hereford's Man Of The  Match

 Gomez the Mexican Cat reports from The Walks.

King’s Lynn 0 – Hereford 0

When I saw the draw for the Trophy my heart sank. The draw gods had not been kind and a return to King’s Lynn, after the performance there earlier in the season, did not offer much hope. It’s a bit like last season against Brackley, you don’t want to face someone who has already got one over on you.

I’ve hardly seen Hereford this season. Two home games I’d have gone to were postponed and Tuesday nights at Edgar Street don’t really work for me. Of the away fixtures, I’ve already been to Tamworth (on that not to be forgotten scorcher on the first day of the 2003/04 season), Leamington (didn’t enjoy the experience and it was on a Tuesday evening), Southport (many years ago when I got my one and only parking ticket though we did win) and Darlington last year (and let’s face it Darlington away is not something you can face every season).

So this was my sixth game and my only previous away game was at King’s Lynn where I did the match report for Bulls News. It wasn’t an impressive performance, but I was surprised that Marc Richards was sacked just days after. If the board were going to get rid, then the summer would have been the time. Instead they allowed him to do pre season, get in new players and while the game at King’s Lynn was pretty grim, sometimes you just have to credit the skill of the opposition, who, unlike us, had the advantage of huge continuity of squad.

Once Richards left and Russell Slade came in, the inevitable merry-go-round of players started. The new manager doesn’t like what the old manager had brought in so players change/go out on loan/disappear without trace and what should have been done pre-season becomes a bit of a lottery during league and cup matches. Players who impressed last season, seem to be struggling this. Having exited the FA Cup early, suddenly the Trophy becomes more important, and yet here we are with a new squad being pitched against a well settled side who have the advantage of having beaten us easily just a few weeks before. Looking at the two match day squads, 8 of our players were present in August, while King’s Lynn had 14, which illustrates the issue. Add into that the fact we are the worst performing team in our league at present, and last week’s trouncing confidence from this supporter was not high.

There were five changes after last Saturday’s annihilation at Altrincham, out went Bodenham, Gowling, Dawson, Sodeinde and Nicholson, in came Hodgkiss, Riley, Owen-Evans, Styche and Mooney. Both Dawson and Sodeinde are carrying knocks.

Martin Riley (lt) and Tom Owen-Evans Were Back In The Starting Eleven

The first half was something of a scrappy affair with both sides gaining free kicks and corners, without much end result. King’s Lynn started the stronger with Carey shooting wide after 10 minutes. Hereford’s best chance of the half came after 16 minutes when Styche made room from the left hand side but his shot curled over the bar. 

Styche Fires Towards Goal

The home team's best chance of the half came when Hall used his feet to see a Gash shot away. On 41 minutes Barrow headed over from a free kick and the half ended goalless.

Hall Clears With His Foot

The second half was a more lively affair with Hall giving a man of the match performance in goal. After a couple of minutes a foul by Carey saw him and Pollock hit the floor with head injuries. The physios shot on to deal with the situation and both players were okay, with Carey booked. He was lucky to stay on after another foul on O’Sullivan at the 68 minute mark, the referee was lenient there. Hereford’s Mooney had a half chance in the 57th minute when his shot from a Owen-Evans cross was blocked. 

The home team then took charge and for around a 10 minute period, they peppered Hall’s goal with shots he made several saves turning balls round the post for a corner, blocking the resulting shot. On the 64th minute he made a one handed save and on 73 minutes Aaron Jones had a shot that bounced just wide. 

In the 80th minute Vincenti shot over from 25 yards.

And in the 87th minute we probably created the best chance of the game when an excellent cross from Rowan Liburd was put wide by Allen. 

In the four minutes of injury time, King’s Lynn gave one last effort, but a long range shot skimmed across the pitch and was gratefully gathered by Hall and the final whistle blew.

If you had offered me 0-0 at 3pm I would have snapped your hand off. This was an excellent result given recent form against a very well organised team. King’s Lynn play out from the back very effectively, they have the top scorer in the division in Marriott, and the ever dangerous Gash, and to keep them quiet is a real achievement. As I came away from the ground the locals were complaining about cheaters (not fair, just sour grapes there) and time wasters (perhaps at the end a bit, but within the normal bounds of what is reasonable) while the small cohort of Hereford fans celebrated behind the goal. 

Man of the match was Brandon Hall who made a string of saves but Jordan Cullinane-Liburd and Jared Hodgkiss were excellent and the whole team put in a real shift on a heavy pitch. This was the first time I’ve ever seen us get anything out of King’s Lynn. The replay is on Tuesday night, I can’t make it, but I will be living in hope we can get the job done. It won’t be easy, but at least we are still in the competition, something I wouldn’t have thought possible when I turned up at the ground.


COYB

Teams:

Hereford: Brandon Hall, Jared Hodgkiss ©, Jason Pope, Ben Pollock, Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, Martin Riley, Peter Vincenti (Jordan Nicholson 89), Tom Owen-Evans, Reece Styche (Rowan Liburd 76), Kelsey Mooney (Taylor Allen 68), Tommy O’Sullivan

King’s Lynn: Alex Street, Aaron Jones (Ryan Hawkins 78), Nathan Fox, Ryan Jarvis ©, Ross Barrows, Rory McAuley, Sonny Carey (Chris Henderson 74), Jordan Richards, Michael Gash, Adam Marriott, Sam Kelly (Alfie Payne 66)

Attendance: 846