Nineteen years ago today Hereford were away at Woking. And it was Tamika Mkandawire's first appearance for the Bulls.
In a reasonably equal first half that ended 0-0, Hereford had the best of the chances. Ben Smith almost opened the scoring when he hit the bar from 10 yeards and Steve Guinan would have scored if Woking 'Keeper A.Bayes had not pulled off a first rate save, tipping the ball over the bar.
Bayes rushed off his line to make another fine save when Danny Williams had beaten the off-side trap. Woking came close when Rafael Nade had a deflected shot saved as Matt Baker dived to his right. Geoff Pitcher shot just wide of the post from 20 yards as Woking threatened to break the deadlock.
Hereford began to dominate in the second half. They looked threatening when they attacked and were solid at the back. Tamika Mkandawire had a very impressive debut along side Tony James at centre back.
United almost had the lead early in the half from a free kick about 20 yards out, when David Brown was fouled by Ian Selley. Williams knocked the ball short to Paul Parry, who trapped the ball for Williams to strike. His curling effort hit the top of the crossbar.
Woking were limited to chances on goal in the second half but Nade came closest when he broke down the right wing and blazed his shot wide from 8 yards. Parry's dangerous crosses continued to cause problems for the Woking defence as Hereford searched for a goal.
It was in the 82nd minute when Steve Guinan managed to put the Bulls ahead. Parry spotted Danny Carey-Bertram, who had earlier replaced Brown in the Hereford attack, making a run, and played a perfect through ball. Carey-Bertram squared the ball to the six yard line where Williams was waiting. His shot hit 'keeper Bayes but the ball fell kindly for Guinan who placed the ball into the bottom corner.
Woking came back strong and tried to attack in numbers, but Hereford managed to contain them. Smith almost added a second for United with three minutes left after Guinan's low shot was briliiantly parried away by Bayes. The ball rolled to Smith who struck the ball powerfully from 15 yards, only to see it run agonisingly wide after Bayes had managed to get a another superb touch on the ball.
Hereford managed to give themselves a two point lead at the top of the league in front of an attendance of 2906, as Chester City only managed a 0-0 draw away at Dagenham and Redbridge.
| Woking | Hereford United |
| Ashley Bayes | Matt Baker |
| Ben Townsend | Ryan Green |
| Neil Smith (captain, off, 84 minutes) | Michael Rose |
| Jon Boardman | Jamie Pitman |
| Gary MacDonald | Tamika Mkandawire |
| Amos Foyewa (off, 79 minutes) | Tony James (captain) |
| Steve Ferguson | Danny Williams |
| Ian Selley | Ben Smith |
| Ian Simpemba | David Brown (off, 72 minutes) |
| Geoff Pitcher | Steve Guinan |
| Raphael Nade (off, 58 minutes) | Paul Parry |
| Subs | Subs |
| Chris Sharpling (on, 84 minutes) | Ben Scott |
| Scott Canham (on, 88 minutes) | Richard Teesdale |
| Davis Haule (on, 58 minutes) | Daniel Carey-Bertram (on, 72 minutes) |
| Liam Cockerill | Dean Craven |
| Ryan Northmore | Jordan King |
| Yellow cards | Yellow cards |
| Steve Ferguson (dissent, 27 minutes) | Tony James (foul, 47 minutes) |
| Ian Selley (foul, 49 minutes) | - |
| Neil Smith (foul, 52 minutes) | - |
| Ben Townsend (foul, 56 minutes) | - |
| Red cards | Red cards |
| - | - |
| Scorers | Scorers |
| - | Steve Guinan (81 minutes) |
| - | - |
| Man of the Match | Paul Parry |
| Attendance | 2,906 |
| Referee | Mr. M. Yerby (Ashford, Kent) |
Hereford are a yardstick
Hereford are a yardstick for us said the Woking manager, Glenn Cockerill, after the game this afternoon.
"I thought we matched them at times especially in the first half. I
don't like getting beat but we got beat the right way," he said. "They
have got a couple of quality players, particually Paul Parry down the
left hand-side. A quality winger who provided a string of crosses all
afternoon. But it's not a one man team. There's some good players in
that side."
Ben Smith told BBC Hereford & Worcester: "We knew it would be a
hard place to come to but we put in the sort of performance that we need
to do if we want to win the league. We managed to grind them down and
nick one with ten minutes to go.
Comparing the last couple of games when the Bulls have let in
several goals, Smith said: "We tightened up a bit today, still attacked
but did not go as gun-ho as we have been."
And Graham Turner told the NLP: "I thought we were worth the win
having produced one or two more chances and having hit the bar twice as
well.
"Woking may make it difficult for teams because of the way they put
pressure on the back four but I thought we coped with that quite well.
This was an important result for us. If we have asperations this season
we have to win at clubs like Woking."
There was a sizeable contingent from Hereford, probably about 450 in the 2906 crowd. There was no trouble at the ground.