It was a Manc Holiday Monday to forget for the Bulls as they lost their 4th game out of 5, a 1-0 defeat at Radcliffe. Not quite the reaction Paul Caddis would have wanted following the self-proclaimed ‘pathetic’ performance on Saturday against Chorley.
The Bulls lined up as follows: Richardson, Skinner, Preston, Howkins, Hudson, Richards, D’ath, Edwards, Nto, Sterling-James, Campbell
Once again Hereford started on the back foot and Radcliffe maintained the majority of possession in the opening 10 minutes or so without really doing much with it. It was on that 10 minute mark where the first shot of the afternoon was struck by Olly Thornley but it was straight at Richardson.
A couple of minutes later the Bulls threatened for the first time in the game as a beautiful flick over the defender from I-Lani Edwards allowed him to cut the ball back to Skinner on the edge of the box but his shot was poor to say the least.
A flurry of Radcliffe set pieces then came along which initially were well defended. But on the 17th minute an Anthony Dudley corner found the foot of Rick Smith who tapped home to make it 1-0 to Boro.
The Bulls needed a reaction but in truth failed to do so and Radcliffe looked more like making it 2 than Hereford levelling things up. That was until the 35th minute where Lawson D’ath used some tidy feet to get a shot off but it struck Remaye Campbell before trickling through to Hewelt in the Boro net, summing up Hereford’s first half in front of goal.
A couple of half chances then for Nto and Edwards saw a lacklustre first half peter out with the Bulls never really looking a threat.
The second half however began with the Bulls putting the ball in the back of the net through an Omari Sterling-James corner but Kyle Howkins was deemed to have fouled the keeper so that one was ruled out.
A few minutes later D’ath played a beautiful ball out wide to Nto who beat his man and put in a pinpoint cross to substitute Andy Williams who chose to go for a diving header which was wayward.
Radcliffe then reduced the Bulls to long range efforts mainly, with Richards and Osborne both firing over, but there was a real struggle from Hereford to create anything clear cut, a theme of the season so far.
On the 87th minute the home side almost doubled their lead when a low cross from Sargent was played across the Bulls box as Matt Preston was down and David Ball got a deft touch on it but it just went wide of the post.
Ball then had another chance two minutes later when he took a long ball down and drove towards goal but Richardson was equal to the effort.
The Bulls continued to huff and puff looking for that equaliser and in the 96th minute Sterling-James had a free kick in a great position, but unfortunately his effort went high over the bar, causing him to be frustrated.
Only a minute later though he got another chance which ended up being the best one of the game, when a loose ball fell to him on the edge of the box and he caught a volley sweetly, forcing Hewelt into a great save. That was the only shot on target for Hereford in the whole game, worrying.
And that was all she wrote on another disappointing Hereford performance. They struggled to create anything of note yet again and still looked shaky defensively at times although better than Saturday.
Second half, Richards and D’ath controlled the game really well and were probably the two only bright sparks in the game. There was a real lack of composure in the final third, a lot of it felt rushed and desperate towards the end of the game. Also, Radcliffe just looked like they wanted it more than us which is concerning.
Not going to dwell on it too much as we all know changes need to and will be made. An interesting week ahead and hopefully we can get a result on Saturday as things will get very sour if not.
By Jack Pugh