Two For Sorrow

Former Bull Harvey Smith Ahead Of Miles Storey

Harwood Bull Watched Hereford At Chorley Last Night.

The Bulls came away from the home of the Magpies without a point having conceded twice in as many minutes early in the second half. This came after a first 45 when although Chorley may have shaded it on possession, Hereford had by far the better chances and worked the home keeper pretty hard, which was borne out by Urwin winning the man of the match award.

The Bulls made one change from the previous game with big Ty Barnett in for Holmes. Otherwise it was the accustomed line up with Visser in goal, a back four of Andoh, Egan, Virgil, sorry Aaron, Amadi-Holloway and Latty-Fairweather. Hanson in the holding role, Thompson-Sommers, and Lloyd in midfield and the aforementioned Barnett up front supported by Maclean and Storey wide right and left respectively. Well, it wasn’t quite as simple as that, as my fellow BN contributor said in his report on Saturday’s game, it’s fairly fluid depending on whether or not we have the ball. Which, quite often we didn’t.

Chorley put a lot of crosses into the box, fortunately a lot were over hit early in the game, as it took a while for the Bulls to settle into the contest. As things improved the Bulls created some chances. On 14 minutes Lloyd hit a powerful shot on target but Urwin was equal to it. 

A few minutes later Barnett’s low shot was parried by Urwin but no-one was following in to seize on the loose ball. 

After 26 minutes Lloyd’s far post cross was cut out by Sampson but almost rolled into the net before being scrambled away.

Barnett Is Tripped? Worth A Free Kick?

Anither Hereford Chance As Barnett Heads Towards Goal

The best chance of the half fell to Maclean. He was put through by a fine pass from KTS and clipped the ball over the advancing keeper only to see it roll “agonisingly wide”.

Half time: Chorley FC 0 Hereford FC 0

The second half started with a mild degree of optimism which was soon extinguished. Two goals in quick succession put the Magpies in charge. Firstly John Ustabasi smashed the ball high into the net from Adam Henley’s cross – from my viewpoint it seemed that Visser could have done better although the ball did flash past a few ducking heads. 

Then only two minutes later Ustabasi was in on goal and the ball broke to Connor Hall who had an easy finish to double the home side’s lead.

It was effectively game over from then. We discussed at some length from the sidelines if the Bulls had ever managed this season to get a win having been behind, and concluded that they hadn’t. This evening showed no signs of breaking that record. Barnett went off for Jarvis and Lloyd for Holmes, with Miles Storey moving to a more central role. The only chance to pull one back fell to him when put through by Mclean but his shot from a narrow angle was dealt with fairly comfortably by Urwin.

Full time: Chorley FC 2 Hereford FC  0                                                                                 

Hereford FC: Hereford: Visser, Thompson-Sommers, McLean, Lloyd (Holmes 79), Amadi-Holloway, Storey, Hanson, Barnett (Jarvis 79), Andoh, Egan, Latty-Fairweather (Hodgkiss 50)

Subs: Lilly, Campbell

Attendance 731

What to say about this evening? In the first half we created some good chances, and Chorley had their fair share of possession but didn’t ever threaten to score. At half time we were all well aware that if you don’t score when you’re doing well then the game could easily slip away, which is what happened. Chorley didn’t look to be a particularly great team, but took their chances. As has been said many times, what Hereford lack is a genuine goal scorer, someone alive to the half chances in the box, always on their toes looking for the opportunity to pop one in.

Chorley is always a pleasant place to visit, a good old fashioned, slightly crumbly stadium. I didn’t have a pie myself this evening, but my two companions said that the butter pies (an interesting northern delicacy) were pretty good.

We’re already having the conversation “who would you keep for next season?”. I’m not going into that, I’m sure you all have your own opinion. Whatever is decided, I think that the Bulls will be playing at the same level as this season – realistically I can’t see us leaving this division in either direction this campaign.

Ah well. There’s always next time. But who will be in charge?