Teixeira’s late screamer wins it for the Bulls

Harwood Bull reports from Chester.

Last night in Chester Hereford FC achieved something which eluded them all last season – a win having gone behind in the game. Having had a lot of the play in the first half without ever really threatening the Chester goal, the Bulls went behind in the 35^th minute to a Declan Weeks penalty. They survived a long period of Chester pressure at the start of the second half before Caddis made changes that turned the game around, with Teixeira scoring a late winner that was one of the most spectacular strikes I’ve seen for a long time at any level of football.

This was the first time I’d seen the Paul Caddis incarnation of Hereford FC. First impressions were of just how big Pond is. The old rugby commentator Bill Maclaren once described a forward as being “built like a brick garage”. We all know what building he really meant but Bill was too much of a gent to say that. Whatever, that description certainly applies to Pond, and he used his size to good effect, but more of that later.

In front of Pond we had a back three of Southern on the right, captain Cameron on the left and the calming presence of Paul Downing in between. Fullbacks Skinner and Livinstone were pushed well forward to give width. There was a midfield three of Babos, Singh and Teixeira. Rooney led the line with on-loan Ryley floating about behind him.

Hereford started well with some good movement and crosses into the box but with no-one getting on the end of them. Singh had a good first 45, breaking up the play and then getting things moving, spreading the ball wide to the flanks. The Bulls made good use of diagonal balls out to the full backs, particularly to Livingstone out on the left, but the resulting crosses seldom troubled the home keeper, Stanway (Georgia’s kid brother).

Then after 35 minutes it all went wrong. Chester had shown a lot of pace down their right hand side, and Coates had the beating of Livingstone who dived in and brought him down as he entered the Hereford penalty area. The penalty was hotly disputed as they always are but you could tell from Livingstone’s gestures as he got to his feet that he knew he was in trouble. The Bulls did everything they could to disturb Weeks’ concentration, with Pond taking a couple of minutes to retie his boots, but it had no effect, and the penalty was struck home firmly.

A few minutes later Downing showed how it should be done, when Coates broke down the wing again, Downing stayed on his feet and calmly shepherded Coates into a harmless position before dispossessing him and clearing the ball.

Before the interval Pond made two good saves. First diving full length to push a free kick round the post, and then when the resulting corner dropped to Roberts, Pond used his considerable frame to block the close range effort.

Half time: Chester FC 1 Hereford FC 0

The second half opened with the Bulls under a lot of pressure from the home side. Downing continued to mop things up calmly and Cameron made an important block. The story at the other end remained the same, Hereford huffed and puffed without ever threatening. How we were missing Williams and Cowley.

On the 60^th minute Stanley came on for Ryley who had been largely ineffective. Stanley immediately started to run at the home defence and the momentum began to shift a bit. On 74 minutes Caddis made more changes, bringing on Mendes for Singh who had faded after his good first half, and Arthur for Livingstone. This required a reorganisation to four at the back with Skinner switching to left back. Mendes and Arthur followed Stanley’s example and ran at the Chester defence at pace, and things started to happen. A run by Babos resulted in the ball dropping to Mendes at the back post, and with the angle seemingly against him he scored, driving the ball into the roof of the net.

On 89 minutes Downing slid the ball through to Teixeira who advanced on the Chester goal before letting fly from fully 30 yards. The ball flew into the top corner triggering scenes of jubilation from the Bulls.

The fourth official’s board went up showing 6 minutes, but Hereford survived. They could even have made it three when Stanley released Koby Arthur who had Mendes in support, but he chose to shoot, with the ball sailing harmlessly over the bar.

Full time: Chester FC 1 Hereford FC 2

Hereford FC:  Pond, Skinner, Livingstone (Arthur 74), Teixeira, Downing, Babos, Ryley (Stanley 60), Singh (Mendes 74), Southern, Rooney, Cameron

Subs: Cranston, Hewlett

A few observations:

Caddis refused to take any credit for the comeback but it’s clear that the substitutions and the change of shape made a difference.

The Bulls have players who can create chances. We need Cowley and Williams back to take them.

Credit should go to the travelling supporters who created a great atmosphere, cheering, singing and abusing the opposition relentlessly throughout the game. They were backed by a drummer who played with the intensity, if not the skill, of Dave Grohl. The team certainly appreciated the support judging by the way they rushed to them after each goal and at the final whistle.

I’m always amused when watching players position the ball for a corner. It’s a current fad to try and gain a few inches by placing the ball as far outside the corner quadrant as they can get away with. I can’t see that it gives any advantage at all, but it forces the lino to scrutinise it to ensure that the minimum of the ball (officially the width of a gnat’s testicle) is over the line. We saw a new variation on this as the Chester keeper constantly placed the ball for goal kicks outside the 6 yard box, much to the outrage of two chaps in front of me who constantly berated the linesman for not picking him up on it. They clearly hadn’t forgiven him for the penalty decision.

Finally, the pies. Very mediocre. Some big chunks of meat in them but hardly any gravy and very dry. No more than 6 out of 10.