Tonight’s top of the table clash at Alvechurch was the 3rd game in 5 days for Hereford, and manager Pete Beadle made only one change to the squad that beat Walsall Wood 2-1 on Tuesday; Anthony Robbins took James Bowen’s place on the bench.
Hereford started the clash brightly, within the first minute Alvechurch keeper Paul Evans was called into action to claim Mike Symons' header, after Joel Edwards did well to whip in a quick cross from the left.
Sirdic Grant continued to impress following his man of the match performance against Walsall just 48 hours previous, beating two men as he weaved his way into the box from the right, forcing the keeper into parrying his shot from 6-yards.
In the 10th minute Mike Symons was awarded a free kick after Luke Paskin felled him 20-yards out, but Mustapha Bundu’s curling effort was wide of the target.
Alvechurch looked dangerous on the counter attack, and had their fair share of chances throughout the half. Firstly, Jack Cresswell dragged an effort wide, before James Spray shot well over from the edge of the box.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Hereford managed to break the deadlock thanks to Rob Purdie. Pablo Haysham burst through the centre, but Paul Evans was on hand to scramble the ball away from his feet. With the keeper well off his line, Purdie managed to lift his shot over the covering defenders into the back of an unguarded net.
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| Rob Purdie Puts Hereford In The Lead |
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At the other end of the pitch, Bundu tried an ambitious effort from outside the area but the ball was too wide to trouble Evans.
HT: Alvechurch 0 – Hereford 1
7 minutes after the restart Sirdic Grant made progress down the right flank before trying his luck from the edge of the area, which Luke Paskin had little trouble in redirecting behind for a corner. Goalscorer Rob Purdie delivered the corner to Jimmy Oates at the far post, who headed the ball towards Pablo Haysham in the 6-yard box, finishing with a clever overhead kick.
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| Pablo Haysham Somehow Connects With The Ball To Score Hereford's Second |
Another Purdie corner 5 minutes later was played back to Jimmy Oates by Mike Symons, but his rasping shot from the edge of the box went high and wide for a goal kick. The next chance for the visitors fell to Sirdic Grant, after being set up by Mustapha Bundu his rising effort narrowly cleared the crossbar.
After the introduction of Dylan Bonella in place of Mustapha Bundu in midfield, a slight change to a more defensive formation invited pressure from Alvechurch. In the 72nd minute the Church capitalised on a mix up in Hereford's defence, as the ball fell to the unmarked Danny Ashton, he had little trouble in finding the bottom left hand corner of the net to pull a goal back for the home side.
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| Avlechurch Pull A Goal Back |
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, Haysham was adjudged by the linesman to have fouled a Church player within the 18-yard box, with the referee subsequently pointing to the spot. Jordan Nadat stepped up in front of a packed away terrace, but Martin Horsell saved the spot kick after diving low down to his right.
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| Martin Horsell Saves The Penalty |
FT: Alvechurch 1 – Hereford 2
Att: 1,645
Att: 1,645
Alvechurch: Evans, Field (Waite – 55’), Foster, Bellis (c) (Ashton – 67’), Parsons, Paskin, Winwood, Williams, Nadat, Spray, Creswell (Wright – 55’).
Subs not used: Smith, Sargeant.
Hereford: Horsell, Oates, Edwards (c), Purdie, Green, Summers, Bundu (Bonella – 64’), Birch, Grant (Tumelty – 79’), Haysham, Symons.
Subs not used: Laird, Robbins, Mills.