25 years ago this week Hereford were back in the Conference but supporters still had memories of the game against Brighton which relegated the Bulls the previous spring.
So when the draw for the first round of the FA Cup was made there was a possibility that Hereford could play Brighton.
But first the Bulls had to defeat Sittingbourne.
A look back to October 28th 1997.
Oct 28th:
HEREFORD United 3 Sittingbourne 0 (report by Peter Povall)
A completely different performance by United sealed this match within
the first half and Sittingbourne can consider themselves lucky not to
have been beaten by a much higher margin.
The goalkeeper errors of the first match had vanished, but this could
have been due to the fact that Andy Debont had hardly anything to do
during the match, let alone make a testing save.
The first goal came after just 2 minutes when Chris Hargreaves completed
the work of both Jamie Pitman and Ian Foster who had already made
attacking plays, only to have their shots saved and returned immediately
back into play.
Ian Rodgerson confirmed the dominance of United 5 minutes later after
driving his shot through a thick defence. It clipped one innocent
defender and moved just of the the Sittingbourne keepers reach.
United were looking to their next match in the FA Cup against Brighton
as they piled on even more pressure causing confusion in the
Sittingbourne defence. One back-pass was hoplessly underpowered and
allowed Chris Hargreaves to collect the ball and drive it past the lone
keeper to seal the match.
The second half was much the same except that further goals were just not forthcoming, though not for the want of trying.
The result pleased the fans and the final whistle blew to a chorus of "Bring on the Brighton".
And below is a match report from Sitttingbourne of the game.
Sittingbourne's sojourn in this seasons Littlewoods FA Cup ended at Hereford
United's impressive Edgar Street Ground when the home side comfortably beat
them by three goals to nil. This was always likely to be the case as
Sittingbourne's injury and suspension list was added to with the non appearance
of Saunders and Ponsford after injury in the first game. Added to this, Walker
and Pearson were carrying injuries previously sustained and would surely
not have played if there was any other choice.
About 50 die hard Sittingbourne supporters made the long trip to "wildest" Herefordshire including a contingent of four Plymouth University students sporting the "Bourne" colours. There was much amusement as the Sittingbourne supporters were led to their own private enclosure with its own personal "Burger" bar.
The game started brightly for the Bourne when with just 40 seconds on the clock, Lloyd Hume burst through the Hereford defence only to shoot wide. This was encouraging, however, as it was one more shot than they had managed in the whole of the first half in the first tie! Any joy was short lived however, for with less than two minutes gone Hereford attacked the Bourne end in numbers and Hargreaves, who turned in a "man of the match" display scored with a low shot that deceived Hough in the Bourne goal.
Just eight minutes later, Rodgerson burst through from defence and hit a shot that rebounded off Darren Smith into the Bourne net leaving Hough stranded. So 2-0 with only eight minutes gone. Things were not looking good for the "Bourne"!
Hough was in action again almost straight from the re-start when he made an excellent save from that man Hargreaves. It was by no means one way traffic though and efforts from Haylock, Miller, Overton and Hume came from Sittingbourne. Haylock saw his shot rebound off a defender but unfortunately for the Bourne, the outcome was not the same as the earlier effort from Rodgerson. This time the ball deflected harmlessly wide. Miller drove the ball across the Hereford goal only for it to evade all the Bourne attackers. Overton was just beaten to the ball by De Bont in the Hereford goal and Hume, when in a good position hit the ball wide. Hereford hit back with a free kick, after a Walker foul, which was punched out by Hough whilst he was standing right on the goal line. Hough was again in action, when in the 28th minute, Haylock lost possession of the ball to a Hereford attacker and the result was another fine save.
Herefords third goal came in bizarre circumstances. In the 43rd minute a Hereford player was injured near the Bourne penalty area. The referee, Mr French, thought the injury was serious enough to stop play. From the resulting bounce up Hereford played the ball sportingly back to Hough. Hough kicked it out in the general direction of Haylock. Unfortunately for the Bourne it was not accurate or powerful enough and was easily intercepted by Hargreaves who gratefully kicked it into the net. A very poor goal to give away.
Sittingbourne started the second half with substitute Seager on for Hume. I assume Hume was another injury victim as Hume was one of Bourne's better players in the first half.
In the 51st minute that thorn in Sittingbournes side, Hargreaves, set himself up with a chance but his shot went wide. Shortly after, at the other end, Haylock, in an excellent position, shot wide from a free kick. Straight from the resultant goal kick the ball went up the Bourne end and was intercepted by Hodge. His lazy pass was intercepted by Hargreaves (good at interceptions is Hargreaves!) and with Hough stranded, shot wide of the Bourne goal. This was followed by Hargreaves passing to McGorry who in turn passed to Mahon. Mahon's shot was well held by Hough.
In the 67th minute, Hereford made their first substitution. Cork coming on for Foster. The same Cork who in scoring the equaliser at Sittingbourne with his first touch, bought this tie back to Edgar Street. It was the tall Cork who next tested the Bourne defence when, despite looking suspiciously off side, shot wide with only Hough to beat. One minute later a high shot from Hargreaves was left (admired?) by Hough but luckily for the Bourne it bounced harmlessly of f the top of the cross bar.
In the 76th minute, both teams made substitutions. Sittingbourne sent on Tyrone King for Rowlands (another who was injured on Saturday) and Hereford substituted Fishlock for Warner.
At the Hereford end, Miller was just beaten to the ball by DeBont after a good pass for Alan Walker. Walker, though, nearly made a costly mistake when Cook beat him to the ball only to see his shot pushed wide by Hough. Hereford then had a free kick in a dangerous position just outside the Bourne penalty area. Smith fouled Hargreaves, McGorry took the free kick and again Hough came to the rescue with a finger tip save.
In the 84th minute Hargreaves had a goal disallowed for off side. This was followed by Hereford's third substitution, Williams replacing Pitman.
In the 89th minute, Sittingbourne should have scored a consolation goal when Overton picked out Miller with a good pass but Miller hit his shot wide when in a good position.
The brave Pearson, still struggling with injury, was substituted by Tommy Binks and the final action of note was when Pavey's shot was well saved by DeBont.
The final whistle came with Hereford having shown their class and earning
a first round tie with Brighton and Hove Albion. Just the tie they wanted!
Sittingbourne fought well over both ties, particularly in the second halves,
but they always lacked the pace of Hereford's full time professionals. They
must now pick themselves up for Saturday's important Dr Marten Premier Division
away fixture with Halesowen.