Son of Eric watched Hereford at Chester yesterday. Here's his report:
On a cold day with a bitter strong wind manager Gowling dropped keeper Hall to the bench bringing in Sondergaard. Pearce after his red card at Kidderminster was not in the squad. Captain Hodgkiss, Egan Pollock and Revan made the defence with Vincent and Patten sitting, Kouhyar Owen-Evans the three musketeers feeding Storey up front, Touray dropping to the bench alongside Pinchard, Gillela and Haines.
Chester had done well to get the game on with Morecambe fans attending after their match at Shrewsbury was postponed for waterlogging, and similarly Portsmouth fans abandoned their efforts to go to Crewe and sought out Hereford’s attacking football.
The Deva stadium is showing a bit of wear with rusty seats and missing signage outside.
Chester lined up with a 4 1 3 1 1 formation. Chester were one of the smaller teams in the division but were smarting from a very critical manager's column in the programme. Chester first threatened with right winger Apter shooting wide and then hitting a free kick well wide of the post when he appeared to not allow for the strong wind. Hereford attacked and Storey was fed through racing clear towards the box, goalkeeper Stanway rushed out of the box and cleared Miles out earning a yellow as it was on the edge of the box and there were two defenders nearby, but it could have been red. Referee McNamara had a poor game allowing too much physicality and being fooled by dives several times
Revan hit the free kick just wide of the near post. Left centre back Williams cleared out Patten in a very similar fashion to how keeper Stanway had taken out Storey. Clearly manager Watson had told his players to get physical. Dudley got down the left and fired in a crisp shot which Sondergaard acrobatically turned around the post. Chester’s playmaker Weeks was showing fast feet and beat Patten, drove forward, and fired a low shot which Sondergaard pushed round the post for a corner.
Weeks the outstanding player in the first half jogged over sent a corner towards the penalty spot, Burke arrived unmarked and caught the ball reasonably well but not fully cleanly and rather than being a bullet it arced and went in just under the bar in a fairly central position.
It seemed surprising that Sondergaard was not near it as Chester took the lead. Chester were the better side and Hereford not getting to grips with Weeks’ trickery. He played a lovely ball into the box and Dudley shot wide when he should have hit the target.
Chester paid Owen-Evans the compliment of marking him tightly and most of the time Burke’s main role appeared to be to stop Tom playing rather than actively participate in the game. A long ball fed Storey and he outpaced the backline firing at goal, Stanway blocking, and Miles hit the rebound into the side netting. Chester attacker Dudley had a strain and was substituted for Hardy.
Owen-Evans showed his game intelligence by moving wide and doubling with McLean or Kouhyar to get free of Burke. This led to an outstanding move for the first goal in time added on just before half time. Revan drilled a ball up to Tom, with a Chester player right up behind him. TOE half turned and with a back heel flick spun the ball past the defender into space by the touchline.Tom was clattered for his cleverness. Kouhyar strode onto the clever clip and crossing the halfway line started to cut in towards goal, with veteran Chester captain right back Roberts coming to close him down. Maz waited and then passed into space behind the old man, seeing Revan racing up the wing knowing he would blast past. Finding space Seb looked up and crossed low and hard across being the goal to the unmarked Hodgkiss at the far post to tap in. A superb team goal with full back to full back outflanking Chester.
Patten has a great engine on him, but he was finding Weeks a tricky customer and he was beaten again by the Chester player who shot at Sondergaard. Substitute Hardy looked to be Chester’s most effective attacker and he flicked Apter’s cross, Sondergaard palming out and then Weeks stabbed wide. Hereford started to draw Chester on to them sitting deep and passing the ball around before then hitting longer passes and using the pace of McLean and Storey to get behind the Chester backline. This tactic saw a longer ball to Storey who played a delicious through ball to send McLean through, and Ryan looked well set to score but Stanway did well to save.
A right-wing corner was taken by Apter and his deep ball found Williams unmarked, his header down appeared to be covered between a defender on the line and Sondergaard but it squeezed through for Chester to retake the lead. Hereford will be working o defending corners again in training this week.
Hereford hit back immediately to find Kouhyar on the left side just outside the box. Maz appeared well covered but he shimmied and then drove a pass into the far side netting. It seemed a goal out of nowhere and must have thread between several defenders, low into the far corner keeper Stanway who had a fine game and looks a good prospect was beaten by yet another fine Kouhyar finish.
The game was opening up and Burke started a long run from his own half with Patten struggling to keep up with him. As Burke got to about 30 yards out Keenan tactically fouled Burke to give a dangerous free kick which was wasted. Patten was struggling with the physicality of Chester and fouled again awkwardly. With the youngster on a yellow, Gowling wisely took him off bringing Touray on. Storey moved to the left wing and Kouhyar dropped back into a more defensive midfield position. Chester took off Apter who had shown several poor final touches and brought on Simmonds.
When Hereford looked to break away Kouhyar found space and out of position Roberts fouled him to stop the breakaway at the cost of a yellow card. McLean was substituted with a standing ovation from the Bulls fans as he walked around with Pinchard coming on. Hereford attacked down the left feeding Storey who burst past Chester captain Edwards who was beaten for pace by several Hereford players throughout the game. Miles got to the by-line and Chester’s young centre backs Williams and Okagbue who was making his debut both got sucked towards the near post just as happened for Hereford’s first goal. Seeing the space opening up captain Jared made yet another lung bursting run hoping for a second tap in. As Miles crossed substitute Simmonds saw this and ran back pushing Hodgkiss over to save the goal but at the expense of a clear penalty. Owen-Evans took a crisp confident strike medium height to the left sending Stanway the wrong way.
Chester took off their lanky striker Dackers who got a few flick ons but was well marshalled by Pollock and Egan. Waring came on and Chester pushed for an equaliser allowing Hereford to sit and break. This proved effective. There was a cameo where Touray was fed through behind the Chester defence. Williams who had struggled to keep up with the pace of McLean and Storey easily recovered and tackled Touray whose lack of pace was striking as he had not long come on with Williams having played from the start.
Hereford looked dangerous on the break with both Storey and Revan wasting opportunities to kill off the game. Haines came on for Owen-Evans with the Bulls fans singing Tom’s praises. Chester won a free kick by the box, but Fitzpatrick hit it hard and low, the Bulls part blocking it and Sondergaard getting his body right behind it. Luke Haines just back from injury was clattered by Simmons. He went down and realising he was just over the touchline, rolled back on to the pitch to take up a few more seconds. Inconsistent referee McNamara who allowed too much physicality failed to give the foul.
This was an entertaining game but also a bit scrappy and patchy with the strong wind making conditions difficult. Chester were the better side in the first half and Hereford conceded two poor goals from corners. Chester conceded two poor goals where their centre backs left space which Hodgkiss wisely exploited. In the first half Chester’s young midfield was full of brio and took control of the game, Lloyd was very missed.
However, the spirit and determination from the Bulls was impressive to come back twice and then take the lead. Pollock organised well at the back, had several crunching tackles and some surges up field. After Pearce’s red card Egan never hesitated to aim for row Z. Chester stifled Hereford but once Owen-Evans started moving wider the tactical balance went in Hereford’s favour. Kouhyar had another good game, and his goal was high quality. Pinchard looked in fine fettle for his fifteen minutes, which is very encouraging. Storey caused Chester’s back line constant questions initially down the middle and then on the left.
However, this win was grafted by Hodgkiss. He was up and down the touchline with Vincent slotting in to cover when necessary. He had no right to be free to score the first goal or win the penalty for the third. Yet he saw how Chester’s young centre backs were getting sucked towards the ball and leaving space. Most impressive though was the way Hodgkiss organised Hereford’s press telling players when to hold and when to go, go, go. This was a true captain’s performance. It was fitting the referee blew the final whistle as Hodgkiss headed clear a hopeful long ball from Chester.
Biggest praise goes to the 350 Bulls fans in the
crowd of 1889, buying tickets when they knew there was a storm and
every chance of a postponement but believing and constantly encouraging.
At the end there were just three quick renditions of “We are going up!”
Every week the odds improve, and with this sort of bouncebackability
everything is possible.