Hereford 2 - Boldmere St. Michaels 1

Pablo Haysham On Right With Joel Edwards And Adam Page After Haysham's Excellent Free Kick Gave Hereford FC They Win They Deserved

Following the confidence boosting 7-2 away win at Heanor last weekend, Pete Beadle named an unchanged starting XI when Hereford FC hosted Boldmere St. Michaels at Edgar Street this afternoon. Rob Purdie is still out after sustaining an injury on Bank Holiday Monday.

With Hereford attacking the Blackfriars End in the first half, 2 minutes into the game Sol Wheatley was fouled on the left wing. With Adam Page taking the resulting free kick, the Cheltenham loanee whipped the ball into the box. However Wheatley failed to test visiting keeper Sean Butler as his headed effort cleared the crossbar.

With the first of only two clear cut chances of the first half for Boldmere, Dylan Bonella was dispossessed in midfield, Andrew Lewis burst through the centre and his powerful shot from the edge of the area sailed over the bar for nothing more than a goal kick.

A chance to open the scoring fell to Adam Page early on the second half, after Pablo Heysham was awarded a free kick when he was upended just outside the 18-yard box, with Adam Page stepping up, his low drive was easily claimed by the visiting keeper.

Despite Hereford controlling the game for long periods, it was The Mikes who broke the deadlock in the 21st minute. Following some indecision in the Hereford defence, a stray ball was picked up by Jazz Luckie, with just Harvey Rivers left to beat his strike found the bottom right hand side of the net.

With the Bulls on the back foot, 8 minutes later John Mills almost managed to pull a goal back for the hosts. With Adam Page and Sol Wheatley switching wings, Wheatley's accurate cross into the box was met with the head of Mills, but his free header was caught by the well-positioned Boldmere keeper.

Sean Butler was forced to make another fine save from Mills just 2 minutes later. With John Mills getting onto the end of a Sol Wheatley cross, his shot from close range was again straight into the arms of Boldmere’s Butler. 

However a little more than 60 seconds later, another cross was whipped in from Sol Wheatley. With Butler unable to claim the ball, a goalmouth scramble ensued with Adam Page managing to get the final touch to force the ball over the line.

Adam Page Scrambles The Ball Past Keeper Robinson And Into The Net

As Hereford looked to push on from Page’s equalisier, Sol Wheatley made a darting run down the right flank, but his cross could only find Page on the opposite wing. With Page playing a low ball into the box, John Mills managed to turn and get a shot away, but his shot was deflected behind by Gould.

A Chance For John Mills

From Page's inswinging corner that followed, home debutant Jamie Willets failed to keep his powerful header down as the ball cleared the bar for a Boldmere goal kick.

HT: Hereford 1 - Boldmere St. Michaels 1

As the second half got underway goalscorer Adam Page played a nice ball through to John Mills. As Mills made good progress down the centre and into the box, his low drive was blocked by the keeper before Adam Robinson beat Sol Wheatley to the rebound.

With 63 minutes on the clock, John Mills failed to capitalise on Adam Page's pinpoint cross. As the high ball fell to the feet of Mills, the former Didcot striker mistimed his volley as his effort hit the ground before bouncing over the bar.

Joel Edwards Is Sent Flying

As Pablo Heysham tried to create a shooting opportunity for himself on the edge of the box, he was cynically brought down; with Heysham taking the resulting free kick himself, his curling effort cleared the Boldmere wall and found the top left hand corner of Butler’s goal to put the Lilywhites 2-1 up.

Video of Haysham's Goal From Hereford FC In Action : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0fZXf6DaKI&feature=youtu.be

As Hereford continued to search for another goal to make their lead more comfortable, a few half-chances fell to John Mills with the best of these coming on the 80th minute. Right back Jimmy Oates played a promising long ball up towards Mills, however, as he tried to get onto the end of Oates’ ball, he collided with the keeper before the ball was driven away.

Hereford were extremely unfortunate not to secure their 3 points with a 3rd goal 4 minutes from time. As John Mills managed to get a shot away in a crowded penalty area, the effort hit the inside of the upright before rebounding back to him. His second attempt hit the inside of the same post before bouncing into the arms of the Boldmere keeper.

FT: Hereford 2 - Boldmere St. Michaels 1

Att: 2,578

Sponsors’ MotM: Pablo Heysham

Hereford: Rivers, Oates, Edwards (c), Bonella, Willets, Summers, Wheatley (Hughes - 64'), Birch, Mills, Haysham (Miller - 89'), Page.

Subs not used: Gwynne, Kontic-Coveney, Moreira.

Boldmere St. Michaels: Butler, Gould, Robinson, Perkins, Birch, Singh, Wilkinson (Clarke - 60'), Palmer, Luckie (Gardner - 80'), Lewis, Donaghey.

Subs not used: Forde, Pattinsin, Skinner.

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