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Bulls knock Railwaymen off the tracks
Hereford United swept aside Leigh R.M.I with a convincing 3-0 victory against the side bottom of the table at Edgar Street this afternoon. A clean sheet and a few goals were much needed following the hammering dished out to United by Exeter on Boxing Day, and the result should have been much more than 3-0.
Graham Turner had to make changes to the side following the poor performance on Sunday and made two in order to change the fortunes of his team. David Brown returned in the attack replacing Danny Carey-Bertram who dropped to the bench. Ryan Green, who has just returned from a long injury lay off, was started on the bench and Rob Purdie regained his place in the team.
Hereford underwent a nervey first twenty minutes before opening the scoring and from then onwards dominated the game. Leigh did not start badly when Tamika Mkandawire was forced to head a dangerous cross from Steve Smith over his own bar whilst under pressure from an attacker. Jamie Pitman found himself ahead of the defence thanks to a defence spliting pass by Purdie but Ryan Clarke made a crucial challenge. Chris Simm shot wide after dispossesing Tony James before he forced Craig Mawson to tip his cross-cum-shot over the bar. Michael Warwick then shot straight at Mawson before United began to take control.
Graham Hyde lifted a pass over the defence for Stansfield, who beat the onrushing 'keeper James Mann to the ball, and just kept the ball in play before crossing for Brown whose shot was blocked. The ball found its way to Simon Travis but his shot was saved and then the ball fell back to Stansfield who saw his shot from no more than two yards out tipped away by Mann. Former Bull Chris Lane was caught in possesion by Craig Stanley around half way as Stanley set off on a run towards goal, picked his spot from twenty five yards, and curled a brilliant right footed effort into the top corner for the opener after twenty five minutes.
Hyde showed some of his Premiership class with a first rate pass inside the left back for Travis, who then delivered a driven cross that somehow went through a crowd of players in the box when a touch would have almost certainly turned the ball in. Stansfield shot side after Jamie Pitman had crossed from the left as the Bulls searched for a second, and they got it five minutes before half time. Hyde played a pass to Brown who then threaded a superbly timed pass into the path of Pitman who had made a darting run and then Pitman notched his third of the season, lifting the ball over the advancing goalkeeper.
Hereford should have scored again in the two minutes of injury time but some great saves by Mann kept the scoreline at 2-0. Stansfield had a good run and then tested the 'keeper from twenty yards before Purdie's brilliant pass down the wing to Stansfield allowed the attacker to set up his strike partner, but Brown's dummy for Stanley was read well by a defender. Stansfield then delivered another cross from the right, this time to the near post where Travis hammered a shot towards the roof of the net, but Mann made a fantastic diving save, tipping the ball away.
Hereford started the second half as they had finished the first, raining shots on the Leigh goal. Stansfield collected a long ball from James and won a corner from his shot. Mkandawire bundled the corner just wide. Stansfield won the ball from Lane soon after but couldn't get a shot away although the ball rolled to Stanley who shot wide from inside the box. The eleven Leigh fans knew the game was over for sure with five minutes of the half gone when the Bulls netted their third. David Brown started the move by holding play up in the middle of the park and then layed the ball of to Purdie who played a long ball towards Stansfield. He won the header which fell perfectly for Brown, who had made a run to Stansfield's right, and he hit a great right footed volley into the bottom right corner from around twenty yards.
Purdie set up Hyde for a shot from just inside the box with a low corner but the ball, that had taken a deflection, was turned out for another corner by a defender on the line. A second corner fell to Hyde, who headed to his right where Stanley hit a half volley that was pushed away by Mann and knocked in by Brown, but the linesman deemed him to be offside. Another good move saw Hyde pass to Purdie on the right who delivered a cross to the far post where Brown nodded down for Stanley whose shot was deflected out for a corner. A first sub for United followed shortly with Green replacing Pitman who had been hurt in the first period.
Stansfield shot wide again from a Stanley long ball before Brown flicked on for Stansfield who once again missed the target. After a quieter period for the home side, Andy Tretton was introduced for James and Carey-Bertram replaced man of the match Hyde and played on the left wing. Green and Travis linked up well on the right and the ball, after a touch by Travis, was turned just wide by Carey-Bertram. Mkandawire was unlucky not to see his powerful header from a corner not go in, but it triggered a goal mouth scramble when Mann blocked it. The ball emerged on the right with Carey-Bertram, who passed to Green and won a free kick. Green layed the ball onto Carey-Bertram who took a couple of touches before forcing a low save out of Mann, turning the ball into the side netting.
Stanley had another effort spilt by Mann, who did well to keep out so many shots from his opponents, before Simm had a rare effort for Leigh on the break, forcing Mawson to dive low to his right and tip the ball out for a corner. Chris Lane then rattled the frame of the goal with a thunderous thirty five yard effort that fell to an attacker by Mawson did enough to keep it out the second time, although he did concede a corner. Green had the final effort of the game after good work by Stansfield on the right, but his shot from six yards was saved by Mann.
The result sees Hereford defeat Leigh for the first time in the Conference at Edgar Street and was a much needed three points following the defeat at Exeter. A reasonably good crowd for the festive period, and taking into consideration United's last result, of 3,014 were well entertained with some super football and could well have seen a much higher goal tally had there been some better finishing and if Mann in the Leigh R.M.I goal had not been on such good form.
HUFC Team: Mawson, Travis, James, Mkandawire, Robinson, Stanley, Hyde, Pitman, Purdie, Brown, Stansfield. Subs: Tretton, Smith, Scott, Green, Carey-Bertram.
LRMI Team: Mann, Smith, Lane, Clarke, Peyton, Roscoe, Stoker, Rose, Williams, Warrick, Simm. Subs: Ashmole, Coyne, Tench, Soszynski, Nayim.