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Hereford go out on penalties
Hereford United went out of the semi-finals of the Conference 4-2 on penalties against Aldershot this afternoon.
The Bulls went down to ten men in the first half when Andy Tretton was sent off, but held on through extra time with the score at 0-0.
The Bulls went down to ten men in the first half when Andy Tretton was sent off, but held on through extra time with the score at 0-0.
Penalty
heartbreak for Bulls
Hereford
United 0 - 0 Aldershot Town (Aldershot win 4 - 2 on penalties)
Hereford United
will be playing Conference football next season following their
defeat in a penalty shoot-out against Aldershot Town this
afternoon. Hereford, who finished 21 points in front of their
opposition in the league table, had to play over 100 minutes with
ten men, after Andy Tretton was dismissed midway through the
first half.
Graham Turner made two changes to the side from the first leg, Steve Guinan returned from a neck injury in place of Danny Carey-Bertram, and Rob Purdie missed out through injury so Danny Williams stepped in. Aldershot made one change, Aaron Mclean replaced Roscoe D'Sane in the attack.
It was an entertaining game, full of incident, in which Aldershot created the first opening when William Antwi shot narrowly wide from outside of the box. Hereford replied to this with a well worked free-kick, Pitman played it into the feet of Guinan who turned his marker, got a cross in, only to see it headed out for a corner by a defender under pressure from David Brown. The resulting corner was swung in by Williams and fell to Brown who hit a powerful shot on the turn, but Nicki Bull in the Aldershot goal was there to parry it away.
Shortly after, United's defence got itself into a mess. Tony James and Tom Smith had to get in good blocks before the ball was scrambled away to Brown. Brown layed the ball off to Pitman who found Ryan Green on the wing. He paced down the right, played a neat one-two with Guinan, curled in a decent cross only to see Ray Warburton beat a striker to the ball and head clear. Green crossed dangerously again just minutes after, but nobody could get the final touch to the ball which went straight across the goal face.
In the twenty first minute an incident that could well have changed the game occured. A long ball over the top of the Hereford defence found Mclean just outside of the Bull's area. Andy Tretton appeared to grab hold of Mclean's shoulder preventing him to go on, and Tretton was arguably the last man. The referee Mr. Woolmer saw it this way, and sent Tretton off. The free-kick was headed out for a corner and Aldershot had the best chance so far when Tim Sills headed inches over from the corner.
United almost took a lead when Williams arrived unmarked in the box, after Rose and Guinan had combined well on the left flank. The Whites created another glorious opportunity just before half time. A well timed through ball from Michael Rose to Simon Travis, whose cross found Guinan, but his header went just wide.
The start of the second half failed to create many clear cut chances, but Aldershot would have been one up if Matt Baker hadn't rescued Green and James after a mix up in communication let Mclean through, but his twenty yard drive was tipped wide by Baker. The officials, already not in the good books of the 6000 or so Hereford fans, did no favours for themselves when they waved away what appeared to be a blatant handball in the penalty area by Warburton following a Brown cross.
Terry Brown, the Shot's boss, made a change to put more pressure on the United defence, D'Sane replaced Lee Charles and Guinan also had to be replaced by Mark Beesley. Rose almost netted the opening goal from twenty yards, but his shot flashed wide of the far post and Jon Challinor volleyed powerfully from twenty-five yards at the other end, but Baker held well. Danny Williams chipped in a free-kick but Beesley's header was inches the wrong side of the post. Beesley almost found the net from the edge of the box after Rose had cut in from the left and appeared to be tripped in the area, but the ball fell to Beesley who smashed a shot just wide.
In the last minute of the game D'Sane almost scored. He'd collected the ball thirty yards from goal, ran at the defence, but his shot was deflected past the post by a last ditch tackle from James. Chris Giles rose above the Hereford defenders from the corner and his header just missed the target and so the game ended at 0-0 after 90 minutes, meaning extra time- silver goal- was needed as the teams were level from the first leg.
Both sides had one good chance in the first period of extra time, but neither capitilised. Firstly, Sills and D'Sane unhinged the Bull's defence with a good one-two, But man of the match Baker made a brilliant save, tipping the ball wide. Then Brown smashed a wonderful twenty-five yard effort an inch or two over the the bar with Bull beaten in the goal.
The main talking point of the second period was late on when James crossed for Hereford and Sills clearly handballed inside of the penalty area, but yet again the officials waved it away. This meant that the teams needed a penalty shoot-out to decide a winner, and to book a place in the Play Off final in Stoke.
D'Sane stepped up first but his penalty rebounded off the crossbar, but Brown couldn't take advantage of this and his shot was saved. Challinor then beat Baker and Bull was the hero for Aldershot again when he blocked Beesley's spot kick. Giles scored, as did Tony James, then Sills netted and it was down to Tom Smith to keep Hereford in it. He did so with a sweet shot into the top corner, but Antwi finished Hereford off with a well struck spot kick that Baker just got his finger tips to. It finished 4-2 on penalties and it sent the 1,036 Aldershot fans wild, and left a cold silence with the Hereford fans in an attendance of 7,044.
Graham Turner and Richard O'Kelly will have to lift Hereford up from this, hope that the majority of the squad re-sign for next season, and look to challenge for glory once again.
Graham Turner made two changes to the side from the first leg, Steve Guinan returned from a neck injury in place of Danny Carey-Bertram, and Rob Purdie missed out through injury so Danny Williams stepped in. Aldershot made one change, Aaron Mclean replaced Roscoe D'Sane in the attack.
It was an entertaining game, full of incident, in which Aldershot created the first opening when William Antwi shot narrowly wide from outside of the box. Hereford replied to this with a well worked free-kick, Pitman played it into the feet of Guinan who turned his marker, got a cross in, only to see it headed out for a corner by a defender under pressure from David Brown. The resulting corner was swung in by Williams and fell to Brown who hit a powerful shot on the turn, but Nicki Bull in the Aldershot goal was there to parry it away.
Shortly after, United's defence got itself into a mess. Tony James and Tom Smith had to get in good blocks before the ball was scrambled away to Brown. Brown layed the ball off to Pitman who found Ryan Green on the wing. He paced down the right, played a neat one-two with Guinan, curled in a decent cross only to see Ray Warburton beat a striker to the ball and head clear. Green crossed dangerously again just minutes after, but nobody could get the final touch to the ball which went straight across the goal face.
In the twenty first minute an incident that could well have changed the game occured. A long ball over the top of the Hereford defence found Mclean just outside of the Bull's area. Andy Tretton appeared to grab hold of Mclean's shoulder preventing him to go on, and Tretton was arguably the last man. The referee Mr. Woolmer saw it this way, and sent Tretton off. The free-kick was headed out for a corner and Aldershot had the best chance so far when Tim Sills headed inches over from the corner.
United almost took a lead when Williams arrived unmarked in the box, after Rose and Guinan had combined well on the left flank. The Whites created another glorious opportunity just before half time. A well timed through ball from Michael Rose to Simon Travis, whose cross found Guinan, but his header went just wide.
The start of the second half failed to create many clear cut chances, but Aldershot would have been one up if Matt Baker hadn't rescued Green and James after a mix up in communication let Mclean through, but his twenty yard drive was tipped wide by Baker. The officials, already not in the good books of the 6000 or so Hereford fans, did no favours for themselves when they waved away what appeared to be a blatant handball in the penalty area by Warburton following a Brown cross.
Terry Brown, the Shot's boss, made a change to put more pressure on the United defence, D'Sane replaced Lee Charles and Guinan also had to be replaced by Mark Beesley. Rose almost netted the opening goal from twenty yards, but his shot flashed wide of the far post and Jon Challinor volleyed powerfully from twenty-five yards at the other end, but Baker held well. Danny Williams chipped in a free-kick but Beesley's header was inches the wrong side of the post. Beesley almost found the net from the edge of the box after Rose had cut in from the left and appeared to be tripped in the area, but the ball fell to Beesley who smashed a shot just wide.
In the last minute of the game D'Sane almost scored. He'd collected the ball thirty yards from goal, ran at the defence, but his shot was deflected past the post by a last ditch tackle from James. Chris Giles rose above the Hereford defenders from the corner and his header just missed the target and so the game ended at 0-0 after 90 minutes, meaning extra time- silver goal- was needed as the teams were level from the first leg.
Both sides had one good chance in the first period of extra time, but neither capitilised. Firstly, Sills and D'Sane unhinged the Bull's defence with a good one-two, But man of the match Baker made a brilliant save, tipping the ball wide. Then Brown smashed a wonderful twenty-five yard effort an inch or two over the the bar with Bull beaten in the goal.
The main talking point of the second period was late on when James crossed for Hereford and Sills clearly handballed inside of the penalty area, but yet again the officials waved it away. This meant that the teams needed a penalty shoot-out to decide a winner, and to book a place in the Play Off final in Stoke.
D'Sane stepped up first but his penalty rebounded off the crossbar, but Brown couldn't take advantage of this and his shot was saved. Challinor then beat Baker and Bull was the hero for Aldershot again when he blocked Beesley's spot kick. Giles scored, as did Tony James, then Sills netted and it was down to Tom Smith to keep Hereford in it. He did so with a sweet shot into the top corner, but Antwi finished Hereford off with a well struck spot kick that Baker just got his finger tips to. It finished 4-2 on penalties and it sent the 1,036 Aldershot fans wild, and left a cold silence with the Hereford fans in an attendance of 7,044.
Graham Turner and Richard O'Kelly will have to lift Hereford up from this, hope that the majority of the squad re-sign for next season, and look to challenge for glory once again.
Written by Brian
Goodwin - 3rd May 2004
| Hereford United | Aldershot Town |
| Matt Baker | Nikki Bull |
| Ryan Green | Ray Warburton |
| Michael Rose | Dominic Sterling |
| Jamie Pitman | Will Antwi |
| Andy Tretton | Simon Downer (off, 60 minutes) |
| Tony James (captain) | Lee Charles (off, 70 minutes) |
| Tom Smith | Jon Challinor |
| Simon Travis (off, 80 minutes) | Jamie Gosling |
| Steve Guinan (off, 73 minutes) | Aaron McLean (off, 84 minutes) |
| David Brown | Tim Sills |
| Danny Williams (off, 109 minutes) | Chris Giles |
| Subs | Subs |
| Bertrand Cozic (on, 109 minutes) | Brett Johnson |
| Chris MacKenzie | John Nutter (on, 84 minutes) |
| Mark Beesley (on, 73 minutes) | Jason Chewins (on, 60 minutes) |
| Rob Betts (on, 80 minutes) | Richard Barnard |
| Danny Carey-Bertram | Roscoe D'Sane (on, 70 minutes) |
| Yellow cards | Yellow cards |
| Steve Guinan (dissent, 26 minutes) | Aaron McLean (foul, 50 minutes) |
| Michael Rose (foul, 26 minutes) | Lee Charles (foul, 52 minutes) |
| David Brown (foul, 45 minutes) | - |
| Rob Betts (foul, 105 minutes) | - |
| Red cards | Red cards |
| Andy Tretton (professional foul, 21 minutes) | - |
| Scorers | Scorers |
| - | - |
| Penalties | Penalties |
| David Brown (saved) | Roscoe D'Sane (hit bar) |
| Mark Beesley (saved) | Jamie Gosling (scored) |
| Tony James (scored) | Chris Giles (scored) |
| Tom Smith (scored) | Tim Sills (scored) |
| - | Will Antwi (scored) |
| - | - |
| Man of the Match | Matt Baker |
| Attendance | 7,044 |
| Referee | Mr. K. Stroud (Dorset) |