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With Hednesford the visitors to Edgar Street this afternoon a look back to January 9th 1999 and 0-0 draw between the two teams.
HEREFORD United 0 Hednesford 0 (report by Peter Povall)
Hereford started well against Hednesford and gained a corner against the visitors within the first couple of minutes. Hednesford cleared and then gave away a free-kick in the process. The kick being blasted and wasted.
The Hereford attack force has been strengthened by the new signing of Dean Martin. A small player at just 5'7" tall, but he's quick and skillful and made a difference today. He caused a few problems for the Hednesford defence and looks set to score a few during the remainder of the season.
United continued their attacks and gained another corner on 10 minutes. The ball was sent to the back post where it was headed just wide.
Hednesford made their first assault on Hereford's goal shortly after but were caught in the offside trap with ease.
United attacked again. I have to say it was nice to see the players having a run at the Hednesford defenders. Druce fluffed the resulting chance.
Again United pushed forward. Dean Martin was felled about 25 yards from goal after receiving a through ball from the midfield. The free-kick was deflected out for a corner giving United another chance.
The corner was played to the centre of the area and was poorly cleared during the scrabble. Rodgerson fell upon the chance and had his powerful shot saved by the diving Morgan.
Within the space of the next minute. Taylor had a chance to open the scoreline but hit his weak shot wide. The resulting goal kick bounced long and eventually fell to Carty who found himself one-on-one with Quy. He tried to catch Quy early and hit the ball clear across goal and out for a return goal-kick.
The majority of play went Hereford's way with rushes coming from Hednesford which kept the game alive. The next real chance came from Dennison who's shot on goal bounced lightly before reaching the keeper. As it reached Morgan though, it must have caught a rut as it suddenly jumped and hit him in the chin.
Five minutes later and Dennison was there again, Morgan again saving his effort. A play later and United gained another free-kick from about 25 yards out. Again this was pushed out for a corner. The ball was sent to the near post, flicked on and then headed down. Hednesford cleared from the line with half the crowd thinking the ball was in.
Collins came out with a shot late in the first half when his drive was blocked by Morgan. Hednesford made a final effort seconds before the whistle for the break when they gained a corner which Quy rose for but seemed to half fumble, half punch clear. Hednesford's shot was well wide.
The second half was much the same. Hereford held the majority of the possession but never managed to finish the frequent attacks off.
Clarke and Wright made attempts within moments of each other. Dean Martin also had a cracking effort which scraped over the bar from all of 18 yards out. Give the lad his due, he's willing to have a crack from almost anywhere.
Hednesford made a couple of good runs but never looked likely to finish the job. Attempts where being sent well over the bar from inside the area.
The final five minutes produced some good football. Parry worked hard in the corner, beating two defenders and still finding himself in trouble, he checked the players around him and back-heeled the ball into the space behind him. No United players read the play though as it rolled out for a goal-kick.
The dying moments saw Hednesford produce a brilliant run into the area complete with a neat turn of the ball to rid two defenders. The build-up was perfect but the execution of the shot was less so. Again the ball was blazed over.
Parry had a final dig when he chased a long ball down, trying to catch it before it reached the keeper, but met the goal post whilst the keeper made a simple save.
Not a brilliant performance but there is certainly a better chance of us scoring goals now that Martin is here. I only hope that Fewings will have recovered shortly so that they can use his size and Martin's speed to really give a defence problems.