Fifteen years ago today Hereford United played Chester City at Edgar Street. Here's a look back.
Jan 1st 2001:
HEREFORD UNITED 2 - 0 CHESTER CITY
After losing six days ago at the Deva Stadium, Hereford United were eager to gain revenge over Chester City in the return leg of the Conference game. After a postponement last weekend against Southport, United were playing their second consecutive match against the Cheshire side and were hoping for a better performance than the torrid one seen in the first half at the Deva.
Hereford hadn't won in the league since beating Forest Green in early November, whereas Chester's last win came in the 2-1 home result over the Bulls on Boxing Day. In the new years day clash, Tony James, Paul Parry and John Shirley were all missing from Graham Turner's side. Also missing was Steve Piearce who had moved on-loan to Tamworth, and John Snape returned in midfield. Rob Elmes started up-front in place of Kerry Giddings, and James Wall partnered captain Ian Wright in defence.
Andy Porter failed a late fitness test with a thigh injury, and also missing from Graham Barrow's side was Craig Gaunt (hamstring) and Mark Woods (fractured cheekbone). Therefore Chester fielded the same team that beat the Bulls on Boxing Day.
Early on, Gavin Williams was running at the City defence, and Wayne Brown had to pluck the ball from his feet after the striker had broken free. Despite that, Chester showed their attacking forces when Chris Blackburn hit at Cooksey before Scott Ruscoe drove the ball over from thirty yards.
A Lane cross on eleven minutes was turned goalwards by Gavin Williams, and Brown saved for a corner. From the set-piece, Ian Wright shot goalwards but Matt Doughty was on hand to clear on the line at the Blackfriars End.
The deadlock should have been broken on twenty five minutes when Chester midfielder Chris Blackburn headed just over Scott Cooksey's crossbar. The ball came as a result of a corner from veteran striker Steve Whitehall.
With ten minutes of the half remaining, Williams knocked a good ball to McIndoe, and the former Luton man missed the ball and Carl Ruffer cleared for City. Chester had a few attempts to break down United and when Steve Whitehall was left alone up-front as Beesley was taken off injured just before the break, it was increasingly hard for the away side.
The opening goal came early in the second half as Gavin Williams was up-ended by Darren Moss, the Chester substitute, on fifty three minutes. Williams was on a superb run and looked like shooting goalwards before being brought down, so a spot kick was fairly awarded. Chris Lane stepped up for the penalty and buried his second in as many matches to give United the lead. In fact, Lane's two penalties have both been scored against Wayne Brown due to a strange twist in the fixtures calendar!
A Michael McIndoe corner met Elmes on the near post, and the striker headed the ball past Brown to double United's advantage. From then on, the game lost much of its rhythm. As it progressed, tackles became dirtier but Chester still strove to equalise, making Cooksey pull off saves on several occasions. However, it was clear that United had gained enough to win, and played out the rest of the half with relative safety.
Referee Andy Williams of Kingstone had a good game considering the conditions. He made just one booking, Paul Sturgess thirteen minutes from time for a poor challenge on one of the Chester strikers. The pitch cut up throughout the game and passing at time was extremely hard, but United showed that they can play good football even when the conditions are not of a good standard. John Snape played particularly well and made many impressive tackles. Maybe the conditions were more helpful to the likes of him, the battlers, than to the more skillful players in the team.
The attendance of 2,321 was surprisingly low for New Years Day, and there looked to be a few more in the stadium from my position. A travelling support of around 300 boosted the attendance and improved the atmosphere, but whether their drum helped matters was doubtful!
A good win for United, and hopefully it will kick-start a good run taking us to the top of the league. However, Yeovil will have to slip up and that's not looking likely! They won 2-0 at home to lowly Forest Green Rovers today, and Rushden kept up the pressure with a 2-1 win against Nuneaton where former United man Chris MacKenzie was sent off. Southport won 3-1 at Morecambe, but most teams dropped points below the Bulls. Stevenage drew and Boston won, but Dagenham, Doncaster and Chester all lost.
Hereford - Cooksey, Lane, Clarke, Robinson, Wright, Wall, Snape, Sturgess, McIndoe, Elmes, Williams
Substitutions - None
Man of the Match - John Snape
Robin Elmes has been telling of his delight with the 2-0 home win over Chester City today.
"That was an important win for us," he said. "We needed to get back on track and are mindful of the fact we have drawn too many at home. Gavin did well to still earn the penalty and Chris put it away well."
Meanwhile, Chester manager Graham Barrow said they deserved to lose. "We got what we deserved," he said. "We missed the boat in the first half when we should have got something going downhill. There are no arguments about the penalty either but Williams was going nowhere and that's something Darren Moss must learn."
HEREFORD UNITED 2 - 0 CHESTER CITY
After losing six days ago at the Deva Stadium, Hereford United were eager to gain revenge over Chester City in the return leg of the Conference game. After a postponement last weekend against Southport, United were playing their second consecutive match against the Cheshire side and were hoping for a better performance than the torrid one seen in the first half at the Deva.
Hereford hadn't won in the league since beating Forest Green in early November, whereas Chester's last win came in the 2-1 home result over the Bulls on Boxing Day. In the new years day clash, Tony James, Paul Parry and John Shirley were all missing from Graham Turner's side. Also missing was Steve Piearce who had moved on-loan to Tamworth, and John Snape returned in midfield. Rob Elmes started up-front in place of Kerry Giddings, and James Wall partnered captain Ian Wright in defence.
Andy Porter failed a late fitness test with a thigh injury, and also missing from Graham Barrow's side was Craig Gaunt (hamstring) and Mark Woods (fractured cheekbone). Therefore Chester fielded the same team that beat the Bulls on Boxing Day.
Early on, Gavin Williams was running at the City defence, and Wayne Brown had to pluck the ball from his feet after the striker had broken free. Despite that, Chester showed their attacking forces when Chris Blackburn hit at Cooksey before Scott Ruscoe drove the ball over from thirty yards.
A Lane cross on eleven minutes was turned goalwards by Gavin Williams, and Brown saved for a corner. From the set-piece, Ian Wright shot goalwards but Matt Doughty was on hand to clear on the line at the Blackfriars End.
The deadlock should have been broken on twenty five minutes when Chester midfielder Chris Blackburn headed just over Scott Cooksey's crossbar. The ball came as a result of a corner from veteran striker Steve Whitehall.
With ten minutes of the half remaining, Williams knocked a good ball to McIndoe, and the former Luton man missed the ball and Carl Ruffer cleared for City. Chester had a few attempts to break down United and when Steve Whitehall was left alone up-front as Beesley was taken off injured just before the break, it was increasingly hard for the away side.
The opening goal came early in the second half as Gavin Williams was up-ended by Darren Moss, the Chester substitute, on fifty three minutes. Williams was on a superb run and looked like shooting goalwards before being brought down, so a spot kick was fairly awarded. Chris Lane stepped up for the penalty and buried his second in as many matches to give United the lead. In fact, Lane's two penalties have both been scored against Wayne Brown due to a strange twist in the fixtures calendar!
A Michael McIndoe corner met Elmes on the near post, and the striker headed the ball past Brown to double United's advantage. From then on, the game lost much of its rhythm. As it progressed, tackles became dirtier but Chester still strove to equalise, making Cooksey pull off saves on several occasions. However, it was clear that United had gained enough to win, and played out the rest of the half with relative safety.
Referee Andy Williams of Kingstone had a good game considering the conditions. He made just one booking, Paul Sturgess thirteen minutes from time for a poor challenge on one of the Chester strikers. The pitch cut up throughout the game and passing at time was extremely hard, but United showed that they can play good football even when the conditions are not of a good standard. John Snape played particularly well and made many impressive tackles. Maybe the conditions were more helpful to the likes of him, the battlers, than to the more skillful players in the team.
The attendance of 2,321 was surprisingly low for New Years Day, and there looked to be a few more in the stadium from my position. A travelling support of around 300 boosted the attendance and improved the atmosphere, but whether their drum helped matters was doubtful!
A good win for United, and hopefully it will kick-start a good run taking us to the top of the league. However, Yeovil will have to slip up and that's not looking likely! They won 2-0 at home to lowly Forest Green Rovers today, and Rushden kept up the pressure with a 2-1 win against Nuneaton where former United man Chris MacKenzie was sent off. Southport won 3-1 at Morecambe, but most teams dropped points below the Bulls. Stevenage drew and Boston won, but Dagenham, Doncaster and Chester all lost.
Hereford - Cooksey, Lane, Clarke, Robinson, Wright, Wall, Snape, Sturgess, McIndoe, Elmes, Williams
Substitutions - None
Man of the Match - John Snape
Robin Elmes has been telling of his delight with the 2-0 home win over Chester City today.
"That was an important win for us," he said. "We needed to get back on track and are mindful of the fact we have drawn too many at home. Gavin did well to still earn the penalty and Chris put it away well."
Meanwhile, Chester manager Graham Barrow said they deserved to lose. "We got what we deserved," he said. "We missed the boat in the first half when we should have got something going downhill. There are no arguments about the penalty either but Williams was going nowhere and that's something Darren Moss must learn."