Hereford United were bought back down to earth after their impressive showing against Swansea City, losing 4-1 at home to Swindon Town. David Ball opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Daniel Stratford equalised, on the day he signed a contract with the club. A second penalty, early in the second-half was converted by Keirnan Hughes-Mason before two headers apiece from Charlie Austin and Hughes-Mason completed the scoring.
Changes from Tuesday evening saw Dan Connor come in for Adam Bartlett, Michael Townsend replaced Richard Rose and the one enforced change saw James Mcquilkin miss out completely, Stratford deputised instead.
The opening exchanges saw little action, with Fleetwood failing to hit the target from 20 yards with a right-foot strike. In the 10th minute, Town took the lead through Ball. Lecsinel Jean-Francois saw a powerful burst from left-back into the box intervened by a clumsy tackle from Janos Kovacs. Ball stepped up and his penalty crept past Connor, who got a hand to it but couldn't quite keep it out. O'Neil Thompson sliced past the post after a corner wasn't fully cleared.
Stuart Fleetwood had two good opportunities to equalise for the Bulls; the first saw a block by Sean Canham deflect into his path but Fleetwood's left-foot shot rose over. A better chance followed, when a delicious through ball by Kenny Lunt found the former Charlton striker yet Fleetwood was indecisive, eventually attempting a lob which was easily gathered. At the other end, Ball teased Ryan Green with some tricky footwork before striking Connor's far post with a placed shot. As the half progressed to an end, United got themselves on level terms. A long punt forward by Connor was controlled by Fleetwood, who layed the ball off for Stratford to hit first-time and his crisp low drive beat David Lucas.
At half-time Bartlett came on to guard the sticks, with Connor making way. Soon after, Rose replaced Townsend at the back. There was little in goal mouth action in the early stages of the second-period; Simon Davey looked to address this by introducing Sam Malsom for Lunt. However, the attacking change back-fired as Swindon went two-one up. It came courtesy of another soft penalty given away; trickery on the edge of the box by Hughes-Mason saw him nut-meg Green, who in turn bought him down with an impressive rugby tackle. The winger picked himself up to score from the spot, although once again, Hereford's keeper, this time Bartlett, should have done better in his attempts to block the ball.
Mathieu Manset looked Hereford's most lively player on the night and a neat-turn and strike wasn't far off testing Town's sub 'keeper Phil Smith. The best move of the night came from the away side, when they tore their way through United's back-line; Ball found acres of room after a through ball found him on the left-hand side of the box and his precise pass picked out Hughes-Mason but the winger failed to add to his earlier goal, slicing horribly wide. Trialists Kane McLaggon and Samba Kanoute came on for Canham and Kovacs respectively as Davey had a look at the duo. Manset continued to threaten, heading wide from a whipped Fleetwood cross, before moments later battling his way past his man but tamely firing into the arms of Smith.
In the 83rd minute, prolific striker Austin grabbed Swindon's third of the evening. A pin-point cross from former Leeds midfielder Jonathan Douglas was met by the former Poole Town striker who headed past Bartlett. A break from the half-way line from McLaggon allowed him to find Manset, with the Frenchman striking inches past the post with a powerful drive from outside the area. Thompson was replaced late on by another trialist Jamie Sheldon. The victory for the visitors was made to look even more emphatic in the 89th minute when a similar move to the third goal led to the fourth. Nathan Thompson crossed from the right, finding an unmarked Hughes-Mason and he had no problem in heading past the helpless Bartlett.
After the encouraging result on Tuesday evening, Hereford were outclassed by League One's play-off finalists Swindon. The visitors have kept a similar team to last season and they looked a settled, classy unit. The Bulls, for all their endeavour, created few good chances. In my opinion, if the 4-4-3 is to kept, then more legs are needed in the middle of the park as it's too easily exploited. The attendance at Edgar Street was 1,157, which included 72 from Swindon (Or is that Shrewsbury Mr. Hall?). Next up for United is a trip to AFC Telford on Tuesday.
Hereford: Connor (Bartlett), Green, Kovacs (Kanoute), Townsend (Rose), Valentine, Thompson (Sheldon), Lunt (Malsom), Stratford, Manset, Fleetwood, Canham (McLaggon).
Subs not used: Edwards, Moore, Knight.
Swindon: Lucas (Smith), Amankwaah (Thompson), Cuthbert, Morrison (Rose), Jean Francois, Timlin (Boden, Hughes-Mason), Douglas (Evans), Prutton (O'Brien), Ball, Pericard (Austin), Arquin (Paul-McGovern).