This coming Tuesday evening sees St Neots Town at Edgar Street for an FA Trophy Tie.
The clubs last met on February 20th 2018 - a look back.
Match Report: Hereford 1 - St Neots Town 0
Hereford are now four points clear at the top of the table after their fifth win a row, beating St Neots Town 1-0 at Edgar Street on Tuesday evening.
There
were two changes to the side that leapfrogged King's Lynn into the top
spot on Saturday, with Pablo Haysham taking Lance Smith's place who's
struggling with a groin strain.
Attacking
the Meadow End in the first half, Hereford's first corner of the game
came in the second minute. Purdie's ball into the box from the right was
met with a thumping header from West Brom loanee Dara O'Shea, but a defender cleared off the line to prevent an early goal for the hosts.
Against the run of play, a St Neots free kick with 15 minutes on the clock failed to test Hereford's keeper Martin Horsell. Jack Bradshaw's low drive was straight at the five-man wall and the danger quickly cleared by Ryan Green.
The Bulls then had another effort cleared off the line, with Jimmy Oates unable to break the deadlock with his headed effort. The pressure continued from Hereford without many clearcut chances. A foul on Mike Symons saw Taylor Parr go into the referee's notebook, but Jamie Bird's free kick from the edge of the area was too high and wide to trouble the keeper.
The remainder of the first half was dominated by the Bulls, but still rarely threatened. On the stroke of half time Jamie Bird had a chance to gift his side the lead going into the break, but his glancing header was met with a strong pair of hands from visiting keeper Finley Iron.
HT: Hereford 0 - St Neots Town 0
The majority of the
2,402-strong crowd were beginning to get frustrated with St Neots at the
start of the second half as they were seemingly trying to run the clock
down. Four minutes after the restart, a corner was eventually taken by
the visitors but this was easily caught by Horsell.
Six minutes later
Hereford took the lead through Dara O'Shea. Similar to his chance right
at the start of the first half, O'Shea was able run onto the end of Rob
Purdie's cross to head it firmly past Finley Iron.
As St Neots looked to instantly reply, a snapshot from Lewis Irwin was palmed away by Martin Horsell. From the resulting corner, the ball flashed across the face of goal but Tom Wood tapped the ball wide for nothing more than a goal kick.
Back down in front of
the Blackfriars End, Pablo Haysham showed off his creativity by
drifting into the box with the ball. Hereford's number nine forced
the keeper into parrying his powerful shot, with Mike Symons heading
over after the ball was worked the ball back into the area.
In the 68th minute another chance fell to Pablo Haysham. After taking a free kick on the left wing, he played a quick one-two with Purdie before seeing his rising effort clear the crossbar.
As the
Whites searched for a second, two shots in as many minutes were kept out
from the back of the net. Firstly, Mike Symons burst into the box but
the keeper somehow managed to get his fingertips to the striker's shot
and push it around the post for a corner.
Pablo Haysham, who had been causing problems for the Saints' defence for much of the game, couldn't capitalise on the corner as he saw his shot blocked by Tom Bradshaw.
As the game entered
the final stages, Eliot Richard was bundled over in the box but the
referee was quick to wave play on. And despite a final chance for Rob
Purdie, the sliding Tom Wood prevented a late second goal.
FT: Hereford 1 - St Neots Town 0
Att: 2,402 with 9 in the away enclosure
Sponsors' MotM: Dara O'Shea
Hereford: Horsell, Oates (c), Pring, Richards, Green, O’Shea, Reffell, Bird (Murphy - 71'), Haysham, Purdie, Symons.
Subs not used: Bowen, Mills, Deaman, Puddy.
St Neots Town: Iron,
Bradshaw, Herd, Knight (c), Wood, Parr, Semble-Ferris (Broccoli -
73'), Wiltshire, Irwin, Shariff, Williams.
Subs not used: Buddle, Rudman.