Zero Degrees, Zero Points

Unusually There Was A Hereford Mascot At This Away Game

Gomez the Mexican Cat reports from Basingstoke

Basingstoke 3 – Hereford 1

I have never been to a match where the temperature didn’t rise above freezing all game. Today was not the day to be at football; it was a day to stay in with the fire on and a box set to watch. At half time I was just willing us to get some goals and get to the final whistle asap. Having said that, apart from it being very cold, there was nothing to stop the game going ahead, the pitch was fine, although a few of our players had some problems keeping on their feet, the small amount of snow on the pitch didn’t cause any problems and the constant snow flurries were probably no worse than rain.

The game didn’t start well for Hereford, we were one down within two minutes. A long ball was sent forward and Argent beat our defence and sent a ball over a diving Horsell into the goal.

Billy Murphy With A Shot

After that set back things settled down with plenty of possession for us. A series of four corners finished with Symons hitting the bar, the ball coming down onto the line. Was it over? I couldn’t tell and the referee certainly didn’t give it despite Hereford appeals. In fact that was the pattern for the first half – lots of possession and corners for us, which we did not convert. Symons had another chance from a Haysham corner which went wide, Murphy hit one over into the carpark, Reffell had a shot deflected over.

Half time 1-0

The second half started with Horsell coming out and clearing the ball outside the box, going down injured in the process. Basingstoke had a corner which Horsell punched out and they had a through ball which was off side. At the same time Basingstoke seemed to be happy to waste as much time as they could.

Things perked up for Hereford when the substitutions were made, Mills and Smith coming on gave an immediate lift and we were soon on level terms with a cross from the right by Oates headed in by Liburd over the keeper in the middle of the goal.

Unfortunately this also made Basingstoke come out more and they were more effective in front of goal. A long range shot was well pushed over by Horsell, but from the resulting corner, Holla for Basingstoke scored, tapping the ball in at the far post, despite the efforts of our defence to kick if off the line, unfortunately the ball had just sneaked over the line. We had our chances, a cross from Mills was headed over and another shot from outside of the box by Murphy was palmed out by the keeper. But as we sought the equaliser, Basingstoke broke, a great cross left our defence exposed and their sub Smart shot across the box into the bottom corner of the net. That was the cue for some Hereford fans to go, we were never going to get anything out of this game. 

Substitute Smart Scored Basingstoke's Third Goal

A little like last week it was a case of the opposition taking their chances while we didn’t. While the defensive frailty will be of some concern, we were missing Green, O’Shea and Bowen, and with them back, we should be better. Our lack of fire power at times in front of goal is more worrying; we are not taking our chances, particularly from corners. We are still top with two games in hand and must make them count starting on Tuesday night against Frome Town.

The most welcome sight of the afternoon was as I got out of the ground, there was a number 1 bus waiting to whisk me back to Basingstoke Station in time to get a quick train back to London. By the time I got back to Waterloo I’d just about thawed out.

Hereford FC: Horsell, Oates, Liburd, Deaman, Pring, Reffell, Richards, Murphy, Myrie-Williams, Haysham, Symons

Subs: Purdie, Bird, Smith (for Haysham), Mills (for Richards), Puddy

Attendance: 704

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