A look back to Saturday April 7th 2007 and the visit of Swindon Town to Edgar Street.
Hereford dent Swindon's promotion push
The
fans were out in numbers for this sunny Easter weekend fixture that saw
Hereford United play host to Swidon Town, a side considered local
rivals, who started the day in third position in the league with
promotion hopes very much alive. When the two sides met earlier in the
season at the County Ground Hereford came away 2-1 victors, and so Paul
Sturrock's side were out for revenge.
They
first tried to upset The Bulls by switching ends from the start,
meaning United were playing towards the Meadow End for the first forty
five but this had little effect as Hereford, with an unchanged starting
eleven, excelled and all but dominated the opening half. Early on Tamika
Mkandawire forced Paul Smith in the Swindon goal in to a top save as he
headed a Danny Thomas cross from the right towards the bottom corner.
The resulting set play fell to Andy Williams and he tried an over head
kick, which was wide of the mark.
United
continued to pin Town back in their own half and a well worked throw in
almost broke the deadlock. Steve Guinan turned well and crossed for
strike partner Alan Connell, who did well to get away a low volley but
Smith grabbed hold of it. Swindon had a rare attempt at the Hereford
goal midway through the half as Barry Corr headed against the post and
wide at the back stick from a corner but United were soon back on the
attack with Connell, who fired over with an opportunist strike. The
chance of the half, and probably the game, fell to Williams late in the
half but he eventually fired just inches wide. Connell had lifted the
ball on for him and Williams had passed both centre backs before sliding
his shot past Smith, who came out to meet him.
Hereford
continued to build the pressure before the break, and Simon Travis'
looped cross needed to be tipped over by a busy Smith in the goal, and
Guinan's header from the resulting corner was headed off the goal line.
The second half was a different story though, as Swindon started to show
a little more why they're where they are in the league, but The Bulls
backline stood strong after a quiet first half. Swindon had come into
the game more, but were by no means over running United as they proved
their worth but it was Town who were carrying the attacking threat.
Dean
Beckwith, who had an otherwise impressive game, gifted possession to
his opponents but Rob Purdie tracked back to prevent the immediate
danger. A cross did arrive from the right though, and Wayne Brown had to
be alert to deny Michael Pook from the edge of the area. A ball was
played over the top of the defence for substitute Michael Timlin however
Travis was back to stop the danger, but conceeded a corner in doing so.
Town continued to push more men forward and Mkandawire got a vital
touch with his head on Jack Smith's cross, which was destined for Corr
at the back post.
With
fifteen minutes left on the clock Graham Turner decided to freshen
things up by introducing an all new strike force of Tim Sills and
debutant Marcus Palmer in place of Connell and Guinan, but things didn't
go quite to plan. Just four minutes after his introduction the
ex-Oxford striker Sills pointed to his name on his shirt having been on
the receiving end of a chant from the large Swindon crowd of 1,756. The
ref, who had a good game, booked him for this and when Sills argued back
a second yellow was dished out and Sills received his marching orders.
Not all bad for The Whites though - Sills is now banned for at least one
game!
Swindon
though couldn't make their numerical advantage count and the game ended
in a 0-0 draw. Hereford will be happy with the point against the high
flyers and, as against MK Dons last week, will have plenty of positives
to take from the game. Some close attention needs to be paid to the
striking department though, as now Hereford have gone five games without
netting. Hopefully that'll change at Walsall on Monday.
HUFC:
Brown, Travis, Mkandawire, Beckwith, Purdie, Thomas, Smith, Webb,
Williams, Connell, Guinan. Subs: Rose, Thompson, Jennings, Sills,
Palmer.
STFC:
P Smith, J Smith, Zaaboub, Vincent, Nicholas, Westwood, Pook,
Jutkiewicz, Peacock, Corr, Roberts. Subs: Timlin, Gnapka, Brown, Grimes,
Sturrock.