Grecians do the double over United
Exeter City completed a double over Hereford United with a 2-1 vicotry at Edgar Street this afternoon. Adam Stansfield's second half strike was sandwiched between two goals from free kicks for the Grecians who move to within a point of Hereford in the league table.
Hereford fielded an unchanged side from that which defeated Leigh R.M.I last Tuesday meaning no return for the injured Lee Mills or Danny Williams. Rob Purdie has now been added to the injured list after he pulled up with less than ten minutes of the game gone having sustained an injury to his hamstring.
After five minutes Stansfield thought that he should have won a free kick in a dangerous position when he tried to latch onto Mark Robinson's long header, but he felt he was being held back by Scott Hiley. Ryan Green was introduced for Purdie soon after. Paul Buckle forced the first save out of the game, but his shot from the edge of the area was easily gathered by Craig Mawson to his left.
Alex Jeannin was very lucky to remain on the field of play following an incident with Green. He slid in from behind on Green and then, as a few other players got involved, Jeannin raised a hand and appeared to slap Simon Travis in the face. Wayne Rooney was punished with a three match ban for a similar incident not so long ago when the referee had not seen what had happened. Jeannin was booked and Exeter were almost punished further when Green's cross was met by the head of Stansfield, but Martin Rice caught at full stretch.
Twenty one minutes were on the clock when Exeter went up the other end and won a free kick in line with the angle of the penalty area. Andy Talyor hammered the ball into the area and it took a deflection of the head of Stansfield, causing Mawson who had came out to claim, to miss the ball as it ended up in the back of an empty net. Dean Moxey was just inches away from doubling the lead with his thunderous volley that just went over from no more than twelve yards out.
Brown found Green's forward run with a well timed pass but there was nobody to meet Green's pass that went straight across the goal face. Mark Robinson went quite close just before half time with an effort from thiry yards that was assisted by a strong wind that had started to wake up around Edgar Street. This wind was very strong in the half time break and continued into the second half meaning conditions were awful for football.
The 538 away fans in a crowd of 3,978, thought that Steve Flack had doubled the lead when he touched the ball around Mawson as he met a cross from the left, but as he knocked the ball into the back of the net the linesman signalled for offside. Hereford failed to create much and the conditions did little to help this. Pitman played a couple of neat passes to the right but when Green found Brown the attackers cross was easily dealt with at the near post. Sean Devine got into a good position on the right and hit a cross that clipped off Robinson, causing it to spin awkwardly. The cross bounced in the area but man of the match Tamika Mkandawire headed out for a corner well.
Stansfield made amends for his earlier mistake by putting the ball in the net again, but this time it was the correct one. A mix up in the defence led to a header being played back towards Rice in goal, but Stansfield chased it down and beat Rice to the ball, touching it past him and then he had the simple task of netting into an open goal for the equaliser. However, the Grecians found themselves in the lead just five minutes later.
Graham Hyde was extremely harshly penalised for obstruction when he seemed to be in control of the ball on the edge of his own penalty area. The rules for this foul indicate that an indirect free kick should be awarded but the referee allowed a direct shot from the kick that Taylor hammered into the top left corner for the winning goal. Danny Carey-Bertram replaced Craig Stanley on the left soon after as Graham Turner looked for different attacking options.
Robinson crossed from a corner but Mkandawire's header was hooked away and out for another corner as United pressed for another equaliser. Brown had a good effort from the edge of the box but Rice palmed away low to his left. However Hereford could not find the second goal that they needed.
Hereford may feel slightly aggrieved that they did not take at least a point from the game that was played in difficult conditions for a large part. They will not be happy with the referee's decision to give a free kick that led to the winning goal as it was a very harsh decision against Hyde, who seemed to do nothing but open up his body. The Bulls will now have to regroup after this dissapointing festive period and try to string together some results in order to help cement their position in the play offs.
HUFC Team: Mawson, Travis, James, Mkandawire, Robinson, Stanley, Hyde, Pitman, Purdie, Stansfield, Brown. Subs: Tretton, Smith, Green, Scott, Carey-Bertram.
ECFC Team: Rice, Hiley, Sawyer, Gaia, Jeannin, Buckle, Martin, Moxey, Taylor, Devine, Flack. Subs: Jones, Sheldon, Edwards, Afful, Ibe.