Hereford lost 3-1 to Halesowen Town in their latest pre-season friendly. Terry Goodwin reports.
This was the second
friendly match on consecutive Tuesday evenings in the Black Country.
In
the starting eleven, there were ten trialists - and Toby Raison, who was named
as captain. There were more trialists on the bench, and Paul White, Jared
Hodgkiss, Jason Grimes, Demetri Brown and Rob Whitlock. So you’ll excuse the
lack of names in this report!
There
were some encouraging early moves from Hereford, but Halesowen had the best
opening when a shot from Jamie Molyneux went narrowly wide of the far post.
The
Yeltz play two divisions below Hereford, but looked sharp having played in the
FA Trophy semi-final last weekend.
Thirteen
minutes in, and a long-range low drive went narrowly wide from a Hereford
midfielder (trialist), then three minutes later Hereford made it 1-0. A good
ball was tipped by the goalkeeper, but it fell to a trialist at an acute angle
who drove home.
Then
there was a flare up after a foul by a Hereford player on the Halesowen
defender James Bowen, and Josh Gowling immediately dragged him off.
A
double save from Hereford’s on-trial goalkeeper (Rhys Lovett), including a shot
from Molyneux, kept Halesowen at bay after 25 minutes. And he saved again from
Jack Holmes minutes later, and stopped a Westwood effort too.
But
with five minutes of the half remaining, Halesowen equalised through Dan
Westwood, a curling effort beating the goalkeeper.
Just
three minutes into the second half under the lights, Hereford had a free kick
that was well cleared by McCone, while the home side created their own
opportunities, including a shot from Ashmore that flashed across goal. This
sparked changes by Josh Gowling, with five players coming on including
goalkeeper Paul White, and defenders Hodgkiss and Grimes, and trialist
McQuilkin. Toby Raison made a good block to prevent a chance from the home
side, in a pretty even spell.
Halesowen
took the lead on 63 minutes, after a good ball down the right and work from
Jamie Molyneux, then a James Ashmore strike from a wide angle to chip White in
the Hereford goal.
McQuilkin
looked lively when he moved to the left wing for Hereford, with some testing
crosses for the Halesowen goalkeeper Catlow to deal with. And the Bulls showed
creativity coming forward as they searched for an equaliser.
But
it was Halesowen who made it 3-1 with four minutes left, as substitute Robbie
Bunn’s low drive from outside the box beat White.
And
that was it - signs of encouragement at times, but lots of question for Gowling
over his trialists to consider against a Halesowen side who looked sharper
going forward.
Halesowen:
Catlow, Ashmore, Bowen, Carter, McCone, Parsons, Hawker, Holmes, Westwood,
Molyneux, Forsyth.
Hereford:
Raison (capt), and ten trialists. Subs: White, Hodgkiss, Grimes, Brown,
Whitlock and several trialists.