Peterborough Sports 0 Hereford 2 Match Report

Luke Haines With Orrin Pendley and Dan Jarvis

Nigel Preece reports for BN with a little help from Richard Tomkins.

An interesting one this. A game a long way from anywhere really, but a little bit of the gathering of the clans with Bulls congregating in the east of England from far and wide; for many of whom this was one of their easiest trips of the season. I bumped into travellers from various south east destinations as far as Southampton, plus others from Bristol, Sheffield, Leicester, Hamburg (yes you read that right), Lincoln and a decent contingent from Herefordshire and surrounds. 

Despite living a long way from Peterborough the above sort of applied to me. Cardiff to Peterborough, via London, is not much different than travelling to Telford or Chester on terms of time plus, in this case, I'd managed to source a decent advance train ticket, so costs were similar to the above too. 

Pre match beers were imbibed in the Oakham Brewery Tap, the Charters Barge, the Bumble Inn and, most oddly, the Hand on Heart on the way out to the ground. The landlord of the latter was like a modern day Basil Fawlty, insulting his customers, warning us of piles of dog poo in the 'beer garden', but his beer was decent so we put up with it. 

Arriving at the ground 5 minutes before kick off to be confronted by segregation at such a small venue was a little disappointing. Saying that, while I'd imbibed several pre match beers, there were a number in the away section (basically half of what was available) who'd clearly already had far more than enough. Didn't seem to stop them from being sold more though. 

Same team as Brackley, which seemed obvious, given the decent display last Monday, though a repeat of the outbreak of football in that game didn't seem too likely given the bumpy pitch; with that and the limited spectator facilities it really felt like a return to the Midland League. 

Thompson-Sommers Received A Yellow Card For This Challenge

A scrappy first half, Miles Storey perhaps had the best chance, typically outsprinting the defence but, alas, also typically, finishing poorly, the home keeper saving easily. 

Not long afterwards we took the lead, some head tennis in the home area and Pendley the poacher pounced to put us ahead, the sort of goal we've conceded far too often this season. 

 

Sports were of limited threat, I got annoyed with the pathetic screams from ex Bull, Jordan Nicholson, after a light foul, in terms of shithousery or goal threat that's about as much they offered. 

 

Second half we were a little more cagey, perhaps a bit too much for a while but, frankly, we never looked like conceding. 

Our second was, again, the sort of goal we've been more likely to concede than score. A corner from the left was swung over to the far post, Luke Haines ghosted in and must have been as surprised as anyone with a relatively simple tap in to seal the win. 

Jethro, Jarvis and Egan, the latter for the injured Hodgkiss, hope he's ok, came on to help us hold out comfortably. 

Jordan Nicholson's antics apart, Peterborough Sports came across as a welcoming and friendly place, cash only, did I hear they announced 126 away fans, there was at least double that. Not that I'm suggesting any correlation with the cash only bit. Nevertheless, I'd be happy to return again next season.