Five Years Ago Today - Hereford FC's First League Fixture

It seems incredible to think that Hereford FC played their first 'League' fixture exactly five years ago today watched by 4060 spectators.

Here's a look back to August 8th 2015, firstly the match report and secondly the reaction from Rob Purdie and Peter Beadle.

Bulls Beat Boatmen

Joel Edwards Led Out The Hereford Squad

At a sunny Edgar Street this afternoon, Hereford FC won their ever first Midland Football League Premier game against Dunkirk. There was two changes from the starting XI that were defeated by Hull last weekend; Joel Edwards came back from injury to replace Will Haines and Ben Miller replaced Adam Page.

As Hereford kicked off towards the Blackfriars End, they created a few good, early chances. The first when Pablo Haysham’s cross into the 18-yard box was only cleared as far as Ben Miller, but his shot went wide of the target.

Max Kontic-Coveney had his ball deflected out for a Rob Purdie corner. John Mills’ subsequent effort also was deflected behind before a forceful Joel Edwards header was sent too wide to trouble Dunkirk keeper Jake Want.

Following the planned applause in the 9th minute as a mark of respect for former Hereford United player Adam Stansfield, Pablo Heysham created some well-worked chances from the right wing. Heysham’s cross didn’t quite connect with his striking partner John Mills as the ball trickled out for a goal kick.

Other than a low, driven shot from Will Coutts that was confidently saved by Harvey Rivers with a low dive to his left, Hereford’s defence had little in the way of chances to deal with in the first half.

In the 19th minute, Hereford’s John Mills avoided being caught in an offside trap which allowed him to break free from the Dunkirk defence; having more than enough time to compose himself in front of goal, Mills sent the ball low past Dunkirk’s Jake Want to score Hereford FC’s first ever competitive goal.

Mills's Shot En Route For The Goal

On the half hour mark, Hereford were unlucky not to grab their second. A ball forward found Purdie on the edge of the box who crossed to Wheatley; as the crossbar denied his effort, John Mills tried to score from the rebound with his heel, but the ball was smothered by Want on the line.

The Bulls doubled their lead before the end of the first period. Again, it was Mills who broke away from Dunkirk’s defensive line, but despite his initial shot being parried, Mills managed to poke the ball back to Heysham who headed the ball into net past two defenders on the line. 

Haysham Scores Hereford's Second

HT: Hereford 2 – Dunkirk 0

The Bulls restarted after the break pushing for a third goal. Their first chance fell to Mills when his header was denied by a good save from Want. Minutes later it was Miller who came close to scoring. A headed clearance from Dunkirk’s stopper only reached as far as the midfielder, whose volley left Want well beaten but the ball bounced high over the crossbar.

Mills did well to intercept a pass back to Jake Want within the 18-yard box, he tried to set Sol Wheatley up at the far post but his cross was deflected out for a fruitless corner. Minutes later Wheatley left the field of play to make way for Adam Page.

Both teams then created good chances for themselves. First, a scuffed kick from Jake Want found Hereford’s Aaron Birch. His shot from the edge of the area was saved down low to the left of the visiting keeper. At the other end of the field, Jarrod Westcarr kept Hereford keeper Harvey Rivers on his toes when his snap shot from 25-yards out lead to a fine fingertip save to deny Dunkirk their first.

In the 80th minute Bulls fans witnessed Hereford FC’s first league goal in front of the Meadow End. A well-worked move saw Rob Purdie play a lovely through ball to Mills. Showing the same composure as his first goal, he slotted the ball into the back of the net to give the Whites a 3-0 lead.

Celebrations For Mills' Second Goal

Substitute Phil Massingham beat Rivers before beating a further two defenders on the line to get a late consolation goal for the Boatmen.

Almost as soon as play restarted, Hereford had got back their three-goal advantage. John Mills headed the ball in from close range after good work on the left from Adam Page to round the game off and send 4,000 Hereford fans home happy.

John Mills With Adam Page After Hereford's Fourth Goal

FT: Hereford 4 – Dunkirk 1

Sponsors’ MotM: Aaron Birch

Att: A Midland’s League Premier record attendance of 4,060 including around 30 from Dunkirk

Hereford: Harvey Rivers, Max Kontic-Coveney, Joel Edwards, Aaron Birch, Tony James, Nathan Summers, Ben Miller, Rob Purdie, John Mills, Pablo Haysham, Solomon Wheatley

Subs: Dylan Bonella, Dean Lee, Nathan Hughes, Jimmy Oates, Adam Page

Dunkirk: Jake Want, Kieren Kenton-Bradshaw, Lee Potts, Lee Stevenson, Ryan Hastie, Daniel Dixon, Tristram Whitman, Martin Ball, Mark Green, Kevin Hemagou, Will Coutts. 

Subs: Phil Massingham, Lewis Wilcox, Jarrod Westcarr, Joe Bloomfield, Samuel Osbourne.

The Butterflies Are Out Of The Way - Purdie

Rob Purdie was glad the game was over but felt the team can play better.

"I think we've got the butterflies out of the way and everything, first time a lot of us have played in front of that sort of crowd so hopefully that's out of the way," Purdie told BN

"I think the most pleasing thing about the performance is that we can play better.

"I don't think we played well today. We were 60/70% the whole game.

"So first game out of the way, we've got a win and we look forward to Tuesday.

"There could be 850 away fans on Tuesday which will be huge, huge for Stourport as well, but we've got to make sure we do our job on the pitch.

"The fans are doing their job off it, the club are doing their job to make sure we are sustainable and we've got a chance of winning the League so it's down to the players on Tuesday to put on a performance."

The Stourport pitch might not be as good as Edgar Street?

"To be honest our pitch isn't the best at the moment, it's the worst I've ever seen it which is obviously because it was left so long.

"So Stourport might be a little bit better. Pegasus's pitch was probably better and Brinscombe and Thrupp had a good surface as well.

"We might struggle on the tighter pitches because we've got quite a wide pitch here but as for quality of the pitch, I don't think ours will be a lot better than many others especially this time of the season."

Purdie wasn't pleased with his performance this afternoon.

"I was disappointed with myself today I don't think I played particularily well. I was frustrated apart from the last twenty minutes.

"Didn't really get my game going but I'll work on that."

Beadle Pleased With Striking Pair

Peter Beadle Talking To Former Manager Graham Turner Before Kick-off

"It wasn't a complete performance but it was a winning performance," said Hereford FC manager Peter Beadle in his post match interview after his side defeated Dunkirk 4-1.

His striking pair of John Mills and Pablo Haysham scored all four Hereford goals with Mills getting a hat-trick.

"Fantastic for them, they are a good combination, a good pair but even if one of them was missing I still think we would have created chances to score goals.

"It was their day today going forward and they probably could have had a couple more each if their finishing had been a little bit better.

"But they are part of a team and couldn't do that without the rest of the players. Fantastic cross for the last goal.

"We're pleased with what they've done today and I'm sure they will be as well."

Keeper Harvey Rivers had little to do but then made an amazing save.

"Fantastic save. I'm quite crictical of the players sometimes and Harvey's kicking wasn't great today but his save was fantastic."

Adam Page came on for Sol Wheatley in the second half.

"He did very well but that's what we've talked about, the depth of our squad. 

"The impact he had, his cross was an absolutely fantastic cross. To skip past his marker and hit the cross at the pace he was running at with the quality he did was fantastic."

Beadle felt at times his players were sloppy.

"I said to the players after the game that I'm really glad we got the result but that's the one game I will give them with how sloppy we were.

"We showed a little bit of fear which is understandable so I'll give them this one. 4000 people, the first official game of the season, there was a lot writing on it for the players.

"Hopefully on Tuesday we'll be a bit more relaxed. And as we get more relaxed we'll play much better for longer periods."

Dunkirk scored a consolation goal.

"It wasn't a plus point, I'd rather have won 3-0 than 4-1. I was looking at my watch thinking let's finish it now, clean sheet, that would  done their confidence the world of good.

"We are going to come up against teams who will defend well against us and if we don't score we did to make sure we get a clean sheet ourselves.

"Dunkirk were a credit to their club today, they worked their socks off, they got their goal and at times they had some good play.

"Ultimately we just edged it with our technical ability and how much better we were with the ball.

"I'm glad this game is out the way and we move on now and the more games we play the more relaxed we will become and the performances will get better and better.

"Today we were probably about 60% but it was understandable the reasons why, but no excuses going forward."