A look back to November 30th 2002 and a 4-0 for the Bulls over the Bees.
Barnet were the visitors at Edgar Street, and were duly overturned by a five-star United performance which included a hatrick from attacker Steve Guinan.
Manager Graham Turner made a bold move before the game. reverting to a 4-4-2 formation and dropping captain Ian Wright in the process. Danny Williams missed out with a knee injury, allowing Ben Smith to make his first start in United colours and John Grant to push into attack, leaving Paul Parry free on the left wing.
Barnet, managed by former Tottenham Hotspur Peter Shreeves, were two places above Hereford in the league but tonight lie below Hereford on goal difference.
It took just four minutes for Hereford to break the deadlock as Paul Parry fired a cross in front of defender Craig Pope over from the left for Guinan to head home at the near post.
The away side had few efforts, as Greg Heald headed over a corner from Mark Gower, and Ben Strevens also missed the target on another occasion. Paul Parry, at the other end on twenty four minutes, knocked over another cross from the left for Ben Smith to smash home from twelve yards to double the Hereford advantage.
Seven minutes later, it was 3-0. A John Grant shot was deflected over, and from the corner, taken by Mick Galloway, was headed down on the far post six yards out by Guinan.
After the break, Barnet made three changes in quick succession to stimulate some life into their team, but to no avail. Junior Agogo tested United stopper Matt Baker with a couple of chances by Hereford were brimming with confidence. It came as no surprise when Guinan headed home another Parry cross for the fourth on sixty four minutes, in what was a near replica of the first goal.
From then on, United continued to pressurise. Parry tested goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt, Michael Rose tried his luck from long range and, in the last minute, Ben Strevens' shot for a Barnet goal was stopped easily by Baker.
The change to 4-4-2 appeared to work well for United, as Parry was free to run the left flank and create three of Hereford's four goals. Everyone played well, to the extent that Barnet boss Shreeves labelled Tony James as the best defender in the Conference. Guinan's hatrick makes him top scorer this season with six goals, which really outlines Hereford's scoring difficultues.
There was no problem this afternoon though, as a first class performance swept aside Barnet.
Ben Smith helped
Steve
Guinan, whose hat-trick helped Hereford to their 4-0 win this
afternoon, spoke to BBC Hereford and Worcester after the game.
"I'm delighted, the ball landed in the right place at the right
time." he said. "I know we have been unlucky recently but there was
always going to be a team on the end of a thumping and once the first
goal went in today I think we knew they could be the tea.m"
He thought that Ben Smith starting today had helped. "We just
clicked and I am looking forward to playing with him for the rest of the
season."
Talking about the next few weeks he felt it was a pity there was no
game next Saturday. "We want the next game to come as soon as possible,
two weeks is a bit long for us".
"We got murdered," said Barnet boss Peter Shreeves in a blunt but
realistic interview. "There was not a lot for us to take out of that
game, but on that form Hereford were as good a team as we've played for
sometime."
| Hereford United | Barnet |
| Matt Baker | Danny Naisbitt |
| Matt Clarke | Craig Pope (off, half time) |
| Michael Rose | Michael Price |
| Andrew Tretton | Lee Pluck |
| Tony James (captain) | Greg Heald (captain) |
| Ben Smith | Mark Gower |
| Jamie Pitman | Ismail Yakubu |
| Mick Galloway | John Doolan (off, half time) |
| Steve Guinan | Frazer Toms (off, 54 minutes) |
| John Grant (off, 72 minutes) | Ben Strevens |
| Paul Parry | Junior Agogo |
| Subs | Subs |
| Rob Sawyers | Lee Harrison |
| Ken Griffiths | Wayne Purser (on, half time) |
| Rob Purdie (on, 72 minutes) | Lee Flynn (on, half time) |
| Richard Teesdale | Jason Soloman |
| Ian Wright | Neil Midgley (on, 54 minutes) |
| Yellow cards | Yellow cards |
| Lee Flynn (foul, 46 minutes) | |
| - | Frazer Toms (dissent, 53 minutes) |
| Lee Pluck (foul, 85 minutes) | |
| Red cards | Red cards |
| - | - |
| Scorers | Scorers |
| Steve Guinan (4, 31, 64 minutes) | - |
| Ben Smith (24 minutes) | |
| Man of the Match | Paul Parry |
| Attendance | 1471 |
| Referee | Mr. S. Brand (Wirral) |