With a FA Cup game this afternoon it brings back memories that Hereford FC had to wait for their second season before they could enter the FA Cup.
Their first Cup game took place on August 20th 2016 with the visit of Alvechurch to Edgar Street. It was watched by 2624 spectators.
Hereford 4 – Alvechurch 2
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| Substitute Jamie Cuss Was Chosen As Man Of The Match - Click On Any Picture To Enlarge |
Ahead of this
afternoon’s Preliminary Round of the FA Cup against last year’s title
rivals Alvechurch, Hereford manager Pete Beadle made only one change to
the side that started at Shortwood United on Tuesday evening; with
Tristan Plummer suffering with fitness, Joe Tumelty started in his place
on the right wing.
With a strong wind
behind them, Alvechurch got proceedings underway attacking the Meadow
End in the first half; seconds after kick off, Jimmy Oates miscontrolled
the ball which was picked up by Jack Cresswell and then brought down by
Jamie Willets just outside the area. Cresswell stepped up and fired the
free kick over the six-man wall and into the top left-hand corner of
the net to open the scoring.
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| An Alvechurch Free Kick Sails Past The Wall |
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| And Into The Net |
Alvechurch continued to dominate the game and 10 minutes later they doubled their lead. Hereford lost possession in their own half, as Cresswell fed a neat through ball to Josh Sarmento. As Martin Horsell raced off his line to close Sarmento down, he clipped the ball over Hereford’s keeper with a right-footed effort.
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| Two To Alvechurch |
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| And Manager Ian Long Probably Couldn't Believe It |
The visitors could’ve
scored a third with 29 minutes on the clock, but after weaving his way
into the box, Sarmento could only fire a shot at Horsell, which was
parried and eventually cleared by the Bulls’ defence.
Hereford registered
their first shot in the 32nd minute after Pablo Haysham did well to
force a corner. Haysham's subsequent delivery into the box was initially
cleared by ‘Church, but after Ryan Green found Haysham on the wing, he
cut into the box but could only fire his right-footed effort into the
side-netting.
A second chance for
the Bulls came just before the break following a foul on Haysham by Tom
Turton, but Haysham’s shot from the free kick 30-yards out easily
cleared the crossbar.
HT: Hereford 0 - Alvechurch 2
After a disappointing
first half performance compared to the resounding 3-0 win against
Shortwood midweek, Beadle replaced Joe Tumelty with Mike Symons at the
start of the second half. With Haysham moving onto the left wing it
enabled Symons to partner John Mills upfront.
Despite looking more
lively in the second half, Hereford still failed to have a shot on
target until substitute Jamie Cuss, who had come on for captain Rob
Purdie, combined effectively with John Mills to mount the comeback for
the Lilywhites. After making progress down the right-flank, Cuss cut
inside his man before playing the ball into the path of John Mills who
coolly finished from 6-yards.
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| John Mills |
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| Latches Onto A Pass From Jamie Cuss |
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| And Hereford Have One Back |
Less than a minute
later, Hereford were back on level terms thanks to Cuss. Chris Barker’s
cross in from the left evaded John Mills, but Cuss was on-hand at the
back-post to divert the ball into the back of the net.
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| Jamie Cuss Looks Up |
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| And Celebrates Scoring Hereford's Second Of The Game |
The Bulls’ third goal
in as many minutes came after a long throw into the box fell to the
feet of Mike Symons who fired the ball home across Paul Evans in goal
for the visitors.
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| Substitute Mike Symons Put Hereford Ahead |
7 minutes later John Mills could’ve grabbed Hereford’s fourth, but his shot rattled off the post after being set-up by ex-Westfield’s skipper Jamie Cuss.
In the 87th minute
Alvechurch had an equaliser disallowed following Chris Barker conceding a
free kick in a dangerous position. Josh March headed the ball home past
Martin Horsell, but the linesman flagged for offside.
Then in the dying
stages of the game, Pablo Haysham was upended within the 18-yard box by
Connor Deards, with the referee immediately awarding a penalty. John
Mills stepped up in front of a very vocal Meadow End and converted the
spot kick, firing low into the bottom left hand corner of the net to set
up an away tie at Romulus on Saturday 3rd September.
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| Pablo Haysham Is Brought Down |
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| And John Mills Scored With The Penalty |
FT: Hereford 4 – Alvechurch 2
Att: 2,624 with 44 in the away enclosure
Sponsors’ MotM: Jamie Cuss
Hereford: Horsell, Oates █, Barker █, Edge, Green, Willets, Tumelty (Symons – 46’), Birch, Mills █, Haysham, Purdie (c) (Cuss – 64’).
Subs not used: Staley, Parry, Huntbach, A. Harris.
Alvechurch: Evans, Parsons, Foster █ (Deards – 80’), Bellis █, Smith, Paskin (c) █, Sarmento (Williams – 56’), Turton (Nadat – 73’), Spray, Cresswell, March.
Subs not used: Pendley, Spencer, Millichamp, Rostill.