PILGRIMS PROGRESS BUT LIKELY LADS SHOW PROMISE

Eric reports from The Jakemans Stadium'

After a gloriously warm October the thermometer kept on dropping as Hereford headed east to Boston. A community in many ways like ours with the kindly tractors and trailers pulling potatoes and cabbages to let the swede worshippers overtake. Lengthy traffic jams were not for hordes of locals going to the game as less than a thousand home supporters turned out for a team challenging at the top. One of the more awkward journeys in the most awkward period of Hereford FC, saw a respectable turnout of about 150 Bulls fans.
Boston have a wonderful mish mash of a stadium, better than Edgar Street with four sides open. We were placed in a corner with terracing and joy of joys bench seating with a great view at no extra charge. You had to be careful where you sat as several holes in the roof saw water pouring in. Bitterly cold many fans wished they had brought an extra layer and a pair of gloves.
It was good to see Hereford directors coming over to the fans to thank them for traveling and get their opinions.
The glossy three pound programme had a feature on Hereford FC asking When Were The Glory Years and featuring the 1970s, when more accurately they should have said pick of any of the last three Beadle years.
This was the clash of the Dirty Northern Bad Boys with Hereford’s four dismissals against five red cards for the Pilgrims. The first significant action was another sickening clash of heads. After McGrath and Horsell, Dinsley was the unlucky player. It is to be hoped that this only comes in threes. Boston’s Abbott recovered but Dinsley had to be helped off the pitch clearly in some difficulty. Th referee signalled early his inability to understand the game by restarting the game with Dinsley still being walked off the pitch, playing for seconds and then having to stop the game as Dinsley had stopped moving and was still on the pitch. Bearing in mind how important head injuries should be treated this was Sunday League refereeing.

McGrath came on and had a good game. O’Sullivan showed several decent touches early on and fired in an early shot for a comfortable save by Malkowski, but in the driving rain this was the right approach. Hereford were comfortably in the game and the new players quickly blended in. Greenslade crossed and Richards should have hit the target having made a clever run to find space in the box, only to fire wide. Hereford were getting shots in with Roberts shooting on target which was blocked and then the putting the rebound past the post.

Was Keiran Thomas Brought Down?

 When Boston attacked Greenslade sliced badly an attempted clearance and the ball fell to Hine whose powerful near post shot produced a reaction save from Yates. The ball was recycled, and Smith headed the resultant cross poorly. With the wet weather and Malkowski new to the team whilst Boston’s Number One is serving his suspension Hereford were shooting optimistically with Roberts hitting the ball over the bar. 

Eliot Richards Couldn't Control The Ball When Well Placed

Greenslade was helping Hereford attack well on the left with McGrath the next Hereford player to shoot with his shot being deflected wide. Green gave away a foul in a good central position and Captain Davies kick was thankfully was well over the bar. Hereford were the better side and manager Richards had clearly done some good coaching to get a side with so many newcomers looking so cohesive.
Roberts next surged forward with a great run, Hereford looking dangerous when breaking at speed. Boston got forward and Thomas was not quite tall enough to cut out the cross which fell to Abbott whose shot Yates tipped away. With Walker about to pounce Wassall reacted quickly to stab the ball away from danger. 

Boston had a big front unit. All front four players were six feet and front pairing Allott and Smith big lads with Smith showing potential to take up sumo wrestling as a hobby. Smith headed across to Allott who just headed wide. Smith surged forward and won a free kick as Hereford finished the half on top. 

James Roberts With A Chance

At half time the consensus was that this had been the best half Hereford had played for a couple of months, many experienced watchers were worried Hereford had not taken their chances and they were concerned to be going in on level terms.
Boston came out better in the second half but Hereford were holding them comfortably. Winning a cross on the right skipper Davies delivered a quality ball to the penalty spot with Allott rising unchallenged to head home, Yates having no chance.

Smith elbowed McGrath and the placed referee saw nothing in it. Smith had a series of sly tricks, on another occasion holding down Thomas in the box and the naïve referee was happy to buy the “its an accident ref, honest” line. 

With a team full of young likely lads Hereford needed to be managing the weak referee better and Boston won this battle comprehensively.
Roberts and Lloyd showed some good combination play, peeling off and finding space. A neat Roberts flick resulted in a shot straight at the keeper. Boston were getting forward more than they had in the first half and won a free kick wide right again. This time Davies’ sweet right foot drilled a delicious driven cross to the near post area, Hine darting forward clear of any white shorts and heading down into the ground powerfully the ball bouncing up into the net. 

Boston awarded Davies man of the match for the two free kicks which lead to goals and they were high quality deliveries but, on both occasions unchallenged headers were allowed in the box so there’s plenty of work to be done on the training ground.
Hereford did not let their heads drop but brought on another newcomer Evans Owen for Thomas who had been clattered a couple of times. Wassall moved to right back and Hereford chased the game going to 4-3-3. Greenslade crossed and Boston centre back Jones missed the ball, Lloyd seemed surprised and took two attempts in a golden place to get the ball under control the keeper having more time to react saving his effort.
Richards, wisely wearing gloves in the bitter cold, ran forward from the centre spot towards the left. He found the ever eager Greenslade overlapping on the by-line. With one touch he controlled it and then pinged the ball into the path of O’Sullivan making an inside forward run. With one touch he controlled it, drawing in two defenders and then he knocked it past them whipped in a low hard driven cross, Lloyd anticipating the movement slid in at the back post to shoot high into the net and Hereford were back in the game.

O’Sullivan then hit the pass of the day swivelling in the centre circle and with one movement hooking the ball down the inside right channel and over the Boston defence to Lloyd who crossed for Roberts whose shot was blocked. McGrath fired in a volley which was well saved as Hereford chased the equaliser. With Hereford pushing forward Boston took off Smith their slowest forward and brought on Slew the speedster. Hereford brought on White for Richards.
With Hereford pushing further up Yates came out to reach a weak back pass by Green, and horrendously sliced the ball to Allott who 30 yards out in the middle of the pitch had an empty net to fill. Desperate Dan Greenslade threw himself cross to try and make a desperate intervention but was just too late to get there, but his sterling efforts caught the corner of Allott’s eye and he hastily swung through the ball to send it over the bar and to win the Boston open goal miss of the season competition. 

Boston brought on Norris for Walker who had looked the best of Boston’s attackers, replacing him on the left. Another O’Sullivan run fed White whose cross went just over Lloyd’s head, when the ball came back in White headed just wide of the post. Greenslade fed White and he turned and shot just past the post. 

It felt like a goal was coming but a long ball from Boston found Allott on the half way line. He flicked it on into the path of Slew who found a gaping chasm on the left of Hereford’s defence. He ran on well outpacing the defence rounded Yates and killed off the game. 

Boston brought on Wright for Hine. Owen-Evans was beating players at will but not quite able to find a player to finish it off. White got another shot in, but it was deflected. McGrath crossed to Roberts whose volleyed shot was saved and Boston ran out winners.
This was a promising performance by Hereford’s Likely Lads but a combination of quality dead balls and Hereford losing markers lost the game.
Of the new players Yates made good saves but will want to organise the defence better from dead balls and got away with an awful mistake. Lloyd looked promising in open play but struggled to get free when marked up in closer positions. Roberts ran all day, he's not afraid to make a difficult finish look comfortable and offers a pacy threat. Owen-Evans looks to have an exceptional first touch and showed signs of being another South Walian to excite. It’s only a cameo from the bench but think Paul Parry and Gavin Williams and he is that kind of player, yes, he did lose the ball frustratingly a couple of times, but he put fear into the Boston defence. Best of all was O’Sullivan, finding space, running comfortably with the ball, some great passes and making the goal, this was a top-class debut, my man of the match.
However promising this attacking talent is Hereford are still giving goals away too easily. Two free headers from dead balls in the box. Manager Richards has taught some useful attacking ideas but until Hereford get back to being meaner at the back they will remain in danger of fulfilling the board’s promise to get Hereford out of this division, but in the wrong direction.

Hereford: Yates, Thomas, Greenslade, Green, Wassall, Smith (C), Dinsley, O'Sullivan, Roberts, Lloyd, Richards.
Subs: White, Owen-Evans, McGrath, Liburd, Jackson

Attendance: 1137 with 140 in the away area