Entertaining Draw for Bulls

Hereford travelled to the Cigg-e Stadium home of Southern League Division One South & West champions Merthyr Town, who are currently managed by Peter Beadle's good friend and former assistant Steve Jenkins.

Hereford's line up saw Joel Edwards, Tony James and Rob Purdie returning to the starting line up. Peter Beadle named 3 new trialists in the Hereford squad for the game - former West Brom youngster Aaron Birch, Malvern's Reece King and former Rochdale goalkeeper Rhys Lovett.

Merthyr had a couple of familiar faces in the squad with former Hereford United player's Ryan Green and Guillem Bauza in the squad. Former youth team player Cameron Clarke started in goal and former player Gavin Williams is now player/assistant manager but was sidelined following an operation on a injury.

Harvey Rivers denies Merthyr

Merthyr started with some early dominance getting most of the play and possession. Then Hereford started to get in to the game more with Joel Edwards and Sol Wheatley working well together.  Rob Purdie delivered a corner in to the Merthyr box that connected with Nathan Summers who headed it into the back of the Merthyr net. 

Nathan Summers sneaking in to head Hereford into the lead

Merthyr immediately went on the attack and within a minute they equalised. Harvey Rivers initially saved a shot but was unable to stop Jarrad Wright scoring from the rebound. Merthyr almost took the lead not long after but were unable to beat Rivers one on one. Around 20 minutes Sol Wheatley controlled a ball and ran with it down the wing before turning in beating 2 players as he fired the ball from outside of the area. The shot took a deflection off a Merthyr player which wrong footed goalkeeper Cameron Clarke and it slotted in to the top corner.

Cameron Clarke left stranded by Sol Wheatley's shot

Hereford tried to increase the lead with Rob Purdie having a shot well saved by Clarke in the Merthyr goal. Nathan Hughes also tried but was denied by the Merthyr defence and was beaten to the ball by the goalkeeper. Merthyr had their own chances with a shot going wide as Joel Edwards tried to close the player down. Merthyr broke down the wing and delivered a ball into the box that was met by  Ian Traylor's head and in to the back of the net.

Hereford started to play some good passing football as they created the best move of the game. Hereford played numerous passes before the ball broke to Ben Miller who mishit his shot from the edge of the area. Sol Wheatley continued to be the danger man with his runs down the wing, as he attempted to make another he was brought down from behind which led to some pushing between the players. No cards were shown and Beadle had a quick discussion with Wheatley. Just before the half come to an end Wheatley again broke down the wing before turning in and getting a shot away that narrowly went wide.

Sol Wheatley left frustrated as his shot goes wide

Half Time: Merthyr Town 2-2 Hereford

Merthyr started the second half very similar to the first with a lot of pressure and came close to take leading but the shot was turned behind by a Hereford player. The pace and the flow of the game changed following numerous substitutions. Sam Pearson came close to scoring as he headed wide a cross from Sam Hunt. 

Sam Pearson shot was saved by Merthyr keeper

Hereford started to push for another goal with Sam Pearson coming close with a shot but it was well saved by the Merthyr goalkeeper. Dale Hodge had played the ball to Pearson as he started to create chances for Hereford. Hodge and McDonald started to work together as they pushed for a goal. Hereford best chance of the second half fell to Dan McDonald who came close with a shot and Merthyr's best chance came when they hit the side netting late on.

Full time: Merthyr Town 2-2 Hereford FC
Man of the match: Sol Wheatley
Attendance: Estimated to be around 800

Some of the travelling fans

Hereford: Harvey Rivers, Max Kontic-Coveney, Joel Edwards (c), Aaron Birch, Tony James, Nathan Summers, Sol Wheatley, Dylan Bonella, Nathan Hughes, Rob Purdie and Ben Miller.
Subs: Matt James, Sam Hunt, Sam Pearson, Jamie Gregory, Callum Craddock, Dale Hodge, Dan McDonald, Reece King and Rhys Lovett

Merthyr:  Cameron Clarke, Dan Summerfield, Adam Davies, Jarrad Wright, Rhys Baggridge, Ryan Green (c), Kerry Morgan, Ashley Evans, Ryan Prosser, Kyle Patten and Ian Traylor.
Subs: Richard Evans, Guillem Bauzà, Kayne McLaggon, Chris Hugh, Andrew Jenkins, Tom Atyeo, Bloom and Bowen.

Beadle talks with Pearson after the game