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| Josh Gowling Before Kick-Off |
Hereford went to play Farsley on a wet, boggy pitch with a limited amount of grass. Josh made two changes. Visser continued in goal, Lilly came in as left centre back to partner Pendley with Andoh on the right and Latty-Fairweather on the left. Captain Lloyd anchored the diamond with KTS on the right and Pinchard on the left. Jarvis returned at the tip with McLean playing off Oppong.
Amadi-Holloway was injured and out of the squad. Hanson dropped to the bench. He was joined by Hodgkiss, Derricott, Klukowski and Holmes. I did not hear a crowd figure announced but it looked like about 400 with around 50 or so from the Shire and a couple of scouts looking at either Farsley attackers or Hereford defenders.
Farsley shot out of the blocks. They were on the front foot and all over Hereford in the first ten minutes with Visser making one fine near post save. Gradually Hereford worked their way back into the game and showed that they had greater quality. As is the story of the season the Bulls could not convert their play into goals. Farsley looked strong on the right Syers and Scales combining to regularly put Latty-Fairweather under pressure.
Syers long throws were difficult to defend. The Bulls cleared one but a second one forced them to concede a corner. Butroid curled in a beautiful ball to the front, Ubaezuonu ran in front of his marker and flicked to the back post for central defender Allan to power home off the underside of the cross bar. Hereford had everybody back as Gowling prefers but whoever was supposed to be marking the back post area they were zoned out as Allan had far too much space to score.
The quality of Farsley’s right flank continued to trouble the Bulls. Lloyd tried to help out but pulling down a Farsley player on the half way line for a tactical foul resulted in a booking. Lloyd did not need to do this as there was plenty of cover. He had an uncharacteristically poor half with multiple misplaced passes. Latty-Fairweather brought down the raiding Scales and was booked.Hereford continued to work the ball forward but could not find a cutting edge and deserved to be a goal down at the break.
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| Chance For McLean But His Shot Was Easily Gathered |
Farsley shut down in the second half sitting on their goal lead they impressively kept Hereford out. Two defenders on Oppong at times, but seemingly no spare Hereford player in space. The impressive Scales played far more defensively and Celtic ground the game into a war of attrition. I do not think I have ever seen Pinchard head the ball so often.
Oppong worked hard and lasted longer but needs some specialist striker coaching, perhaps from Barnett or Amadi-Holloway. Too often his shirt was grabbed or held and he failed to go down or manage the referee. He also got some rough treatment which he took without complaint. By contrast Farley’s strikers Ubaezuonu and Mulhern were mouthy and malicious.
Mulhern liked to leave his foot in and ‘accidentally’ catch defenders. Both Lilly and Pendley stood up well to this. Referee Crusham had enough of his nonsense and gave him a long talking to after a nasty foul, calling over Farsley captain Syers and giving them a joint lecture. Talk finished, game back on Mulhern promptly went and stood within ten yards of the free kick to stop it being taken. Crusham shouted across but was ignored and did not book. Mulhern’s style was to play the man not the ball.
Mulhern sensing weakness escalated his hits to swing an arm in the face of Latty-Fairweather and finally saw red.
Crusham performed one of the best pieces of refereeing I have seen this season. A routine coming together saw Ubaezuonu fall to the ground and hold his head. A couple of his teammates tried to claim the game had to be stopped for a head injury as part of Farsley’s impressive timewasting. The game went on and Farsley decided they needed to defend. Ubaezuonu stayed down but the game went on. He rubbed his head, the game went on. He gingerly got up as if dazed, the game went on. Finally he came back to the real world looking very sheepish and not getting the yellow card his cheating deserved. If only more referees had the courage of Crusham to ignore the lengthy staying down of time wasters.
Twice Oppong was found in the box but he took two touches rather than shooting and each time was closed down and blocked away. He was increasingly isolated as McLean was struggling. Ryan is gambling on where the ball will drop but his guesses are going wrong and when he is presented with chances he looks like a man under pressure. Rather than the accomplished finisher he has shown flashes of becoming, he needs a plan to exploit his assets. When a goal behind he should be on the half way line at corners, not marking a zone. He was taken off and Holmes came on for another impressive cameo.
Hodgkiss came on for Lilly with Lloyd retaining the captain’s armband. Andoh moving to centre back. Zak played well and was unfortunate to be substituted. Jared brought his usual vim and vigour rampaging down the right. Pinchard played the pass of the day from deep in Hereford’s half diagonally in behind. Hodgkiss ran on to it and crossed when he might have shot himself.
Scales was booked for a foul and Klukowski came on for Pinchard. Farsley swapped Atkinson for Assenso. Hereford tried but too many crosses were blocked or there was only Oppong in the area well marked by two centre backs. Holmes wriggled through and got one of the two shots on target. Low down just inside the post it was turned away by Dearnley.
Pendley played well standing up to the gamesmanship, shouting and organising the team, he looks a natural leader. Andoh would be my player of the match good at both right and centre back, getting forward well. Organising a good defence has never been Josh’s weakness. The lack of incisiveness further up the field has cost him his job.