 |
| George Forsyth With Mitch Hancox |
Harwood Bull watched Hereford draw at Bradford Park Avenue this afternoon.
Hereford FC earned their first point of the season from a 1-1 draw against Bradford (Park Avenue) on a dull and sometimes very wet day on a 4G pitch, the scoreline being a fair reflection of the balance of play.
With Joey Butlin departed, Miles Storey played as a lone striker supported by McLean on the left and Kouhyar on the right.
 |
| Miles Storey Gets Away From Bradford's Defenders |
The concussed Owen-Evans was replaced by George Forsyth and the two new signings this week, Ismail and Pinchard, were on the bench.
Both of the new boys have played at a much higher level than this and should be good additions to the squad. However we can all see (and Gowling says the same) that our priority now must be to find a centre forward. Storey is full of running and pace, and constantly harries the opposing defence, but leading the line in the way that John-Lewis did in his short time with the Bulls is not Storey’s strength.
There were early chances at both ends and the home side twice had the ball in the net in the first twenty minutes. Rawson turned in a low cross from the right wing in the twelfth minute but was given offside, and five minutes later dispossessed Haines on the edge of the area and shot into the bottom corner. Fortunately for the Bulls he was judged to have fouled Haines.
Hereford were stringing some good passes together without quite getting the final ball right. A lot were overhit, maybe due to the plastic pitch, which also seemed to have quite a high bounce. Excuses, excuses, I know.
On twentyseven minutes Storey was in possession out on the right. He played the ball square into Forsyth’s path and the number eight curled a beautiful shot into the top corner to give Hereford the lead.
Shortly after Hall made a good save tipping a chipped shot from Rawson over the bar. The final chance of the half fell to Hereford, McLean somehow contriving to miss with a close range header.
Half time: Bradford Park Avenue 0 Hereford FC 1
The second half started with new signing Ismail coming on for McLean on the right, with Kouhyar switching to the left flank.
Hereford continued to try and pass their way through the home side, tending to over elaborate sometimes when getting an early ball into the box might have paid off. Kouhyar had the chance to put Ismail into a scoring position but his low cross from the left was overhit. That was Kouhyar’s last act of the game and he was replaced by the other new arrival Pinchard.
Despite looking vulnerable on a few occasions the Bulls’ defence was holding out. Until, with nine minutes of normal time left, Windass made a good run down the right wing, beating several yellow shirts in the process before hitting a low cross which evaded everybody, and Hibbs who was unmarked on the back post, tapped home.
Overall, we can’t have too many complaints about the result. As someone on the forum neatly put it, we have an “extravagance of midfielders”, and only one striker. As we aren’t Barcelona or Man City I don’t think that will produce a winning formation for us. I’m sure Gowling is trying his best to get someone in, and the sooner the better.
Full time: Bradford Park Avenue 1 Hereford FC 1
Hereford: Hall, Hodgkiss, Hancox, Haines, McLean (Ismail), Forsyth, Storey, Lloyd, Storey, Lloyd, Pollock, Vincent. Kouhyar (Pinchard) Unused subs: Liburd-Hines, Klukowski, , Whittingham
Bradford (Park Avenue): Saltmer, Ross, Windass , Marriott , Havern , Lund , Dockerty (Johnson) , Hibbs, Rawson, Francis, Odunston (Guilfoyle) Unused subs: Toulson, Hill, Downing
Attendance: 490
Footnote (1): I’ve often wondered about the economics of running a club at this level on gates as small as that. I was chatting to a guy in the bar before the game who was there to watch one of his mates play for the home team. He said that he was paid £150 per game, £20 for a goal plus other bits and pieces I can’t remember. He also said that he was probably one of the least well paid in the team. You do the maths. How can that work?
Footnote (2): The 4G pitch was also marked out for rugby league. I can see that it makes economic sense to share the stadium with other sports, and a grass pitch couldn’t take the wear and tear, but I don’t think it’s a great surface for football. Does it give an advantage to the home side? Discuss.
Footnote (3): I saw former Hereford United centre back Keith Hicks walking about before the game and chatted with him for a few minutes. What a thoroughly nice bloke he was. The most surprising thing is (thinking back to Mark’s match preview) is that he wasn’t anywhere near as tall as I remember him. No taller than me and I’m a fraction short of six feet tall. Wide, definitely, and built like a brick outhouse (this is a family site, after all), but not tall. He reminisced about the back four of him, Mel Pejic, Ian Bray and Chris Price, and he said that none of them were big chaps but always up for a battle, and as often as not would win the second ball from knock downs and clear their lines. Mark was right about his chin though!