Hereford United travelled north to Moss Lane, home of Paul Ince's Macclesfield Town, this afternoon for their League Two encounter in which The Bulls hoped to put last weekend's misery behind them. It was not to be however, as United's backline leaked another three goals, this time without reply.
United made changes from the woeful performance last Saturday, with Alex Jeannin and Stuart Fleetwood making returns to the side, and also boasting new loan signing Steve Jennings in the centre of midfield. Alan Connell, Tim Sills and Luke Webb were dropped to the bench.
The changes didn't have the impact Graham Turner was hoping for though as Macclesfield, who started the day in the drop zone, dominated early proceedings and took the lead after seventeen minutes. Hereford were lucky to hold out that long with The Silkmen pressing as early as the third minute when Matty McNeil blazed over from inside the box. Fleetwood got an early shot away for the visitors but Tommy Lee made easy work of it before Rob Purdie cleared two corners off the goal line in sucession. The second was half cleared before being returned into the box, falling to John Miles who forced Wayne Brown into a great save, and the rebound went out of the angle of the goal.
The Silkmen got their breakthrough though, and it was again a corner, helped by the strong wind, that caused Hereford problems. McNeil met this one with his head but Hereford seemed set to clear off the line again; however this time Andy Ferrell got his hand in the way and saw a straight red as Town received a penalty. Up stepped Kevin McIntyre who made no mistake firing into the right top corner.
Macclesfield sat back a bit once they broke the deadlock, and Hereford picked up their game with Andy Williams beating Lee to a Jeannin free kick, but a defender was well placed to hook clear. Jeannin then went close himself with a free kick before Town reminded United why they were so threatening in the opening stages. A free kick again caused problems for The Bulls as Danny Swailes met it, heading just wide of a now unguarded back post minutes before the half time interval.
The second half began much like the first; with the hosts dominating play and Brown had to be alert to deny Miles, who'd ran in from the right. Hereford broke immediately and Jennings did well, but couldn't quite get a shot away, before playing the ball to Williams in a great postition, but Swailes made a fantastic saving challenge to keep the scores level. McNeil hit a pot shot that was saved before stand in skipper Phil Gulliver had to head off the line. Town had attacked at pace before switching to the right where Carl Regan had plenty of space to run into. He crossed to McNeil who beat Brown with his header, but not the recovering centre back.
However on the hour mark Macclesfield made their numerical advantage count and put the game to bed. This time it was a free kick; a well worked one too. United lined up a wall, expecting a shot from a central position twenty yards out, but the ball was played to the right to Miles, who crossed for John Murphy to thump a header in for 2-0. Fleetwood almost netted a minute later, but his free kick was denied by the foot of the post.
Brown was called on again to make a save before, with nineteen minutes left, Sills and Connell replaced Fleetwood and Richard Rose, though to little effect. Hereford's misery was sealed with seven minutes left as Alan Navarro charged down the right and centred to Murphy, who tapped home his second and The Silkmen's third.
It's not been a good start to the new year for Hereford, who will need to change their fortunes sooner rather than later if they don't want to be looking over their shoulders. However, despite being a man down for the majority of the game and the final score line, in spells they didn't play too badly. In general, it was an improvement on the 3-1 defeat against Mansfield, but then again that was never going to be difficult to improve on.
HUFC: Brown, Beckwith, Gulliver, Rose, Travis, Ferrell, Jennings, Jeannin, Purdie, Williams, Fleetwood. Subs: McClenahan, Sheldon, Webb, Sills, Connell.
MTFC: Lee, Regan, Morley, Swailes, McIntyre, Heath, Tolley, Murray, Miles, Murphy, McNeil. Subs: Legzbiens, D'Laryea, Tipton, Navarro, Bullock.
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