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DAGENHAM (away) 27/02/04 Hereford's inconsistency continued as they equalled the Conference record win with an incredible 9-0 victory away to Dagenham and Redbridge. It takes United's goal tally up to eighty league goals this season - and this despite having lost 1-0 at home to Woking the previous week. Scott Willis, on loan for a month from Lincoln, went straight into the side, with Danny Williams being the player to make way for him. Ryan Green, despite being a pre-match doubt, returned at right wing-back in place of the injured newcomer Simon Travis. Ironically, given what was to come, it was Dagenham who started the brighter of the two sides, but Hereford went ahead from the first worthwhile effort on goal. Steve Guinan's excellent through-ball fed Ryan Green, who was hacked down from behind by Danny Shipp. The referee awarded a penalty, and showed the red card to Shipp. Captain Tony James kept up his 100% record from the spot by sending Daggers' goalkeeper Tony Roberts the wrong way for his sixth successful spot-kick conversion of the season. Despite having just ten men, Dagenham were more than equal to Hereford's efforts, and had a few attempts on goal. Matt Baker had to be alert to block Jimmy Jackson's low shot, then made an excellent save at his near post from Chris Moore. At the other end meanwhile, a fabulous move involving Willis, Guinan, and Rob Purdie culminated in the Bulls' top scorer having a good shot well saved by the former Welsh International Roberts. The visitors eventually took control and doubled their lead seven minutes before the interval. Guinan was again the provider, feeding strike partner David Brown. He turned his marker superbly before beating Roberts at his near post from a narrow angle, although the goalkeeper should probably have saved it. Minutes later it got even worse for the Daggers. This time Guinan profited from good work by Purdie, when he stole ahead of his marker and smashed the ball in off the bar from six yards following Purdie's low cross. Dagenham left the pitch to a chorus of boos from the home fans: most of the supporters who booed them were not around at the end of the game to do the same. At the start of the second half, the Sky TV commentators made several references to sides that have come from three goals down to draw or win matches this season. Within three minutes of the restart, all thoughts of a Dagenham comeback were kicked into touch when Guinan scored his 23rd goal of the season. Again the opportunity arose following a low cross into the box, and again Guinan fired in off the underside of the bar to score. Dagenham should have pulled a goal back when the on-loan Yeovil striker Kirk Jackson headed over from close range, but this was a rare chance in a half almost completely dominated by the visiting side. Once the fifth goal went in, when David Brown beat Roberts in the air at a corner to nod home his second of the night, their heads dropped and they resorted to taking out their frustration with some bad fouls on United players. Three of Dagenham's back four ended the game on yellow cards, and it was mildly surprising that nobody else was sent for an early bath. Ironically, the corner from which Hereford scored their fifth was as a result of Roberts making a great save from Brown, who consequently scored his tenth league goal of the season from the resultant kick. With the game won, manager Graham Turner started to make changes, with Mark Beesley and Danny Williams replacing Guinan and Willis. Williams made an immediate impact with the best goal of the night. He received the ball from the left and beat a defender before unleashing a shot from twenty yards that curled around Roberts and went in off the post. Now the floodgates opened, with Matt Baker becoming a spectator for the rest of the match. Other chances came and went. Guinan had a header superbly cleared off the line by Tim Cole, and Rob Purdie put a shot narrowly wide with Roberts beaten. The Bulls scored three more goals in the last five minutes of the match. Firstly, Mark Beesley found himself in some space following a corner and slotted the ball home from a narrow angle - his first goal since joining the club in December. Next, a ball out of defence found Danny Williams in plenty of space. With nobody bothering to track back with him, the former Chesterfield player strode confidently forward before once again beating Roberts from the edge of the penalty area. With a minute to go, David Brown found himself in exactly the same position as Williams had been moments earlier. He was released by a through ball, and he ran through to complete his hat-trick - the fourth time this season that a Hereford player has collected the match ball at the end of the game. In injury time, Brown almost made it double figures, but this time Roberts made an excellent save to deny him. There are several words that can be used to describe this faultless performance. Excellent, brilliant, superb, exquisite, and great are just some of them. It really was one of those games that only happen once in a lifetime. The Conference record was equalled, and Hereford set a new club record league win. At the start of this season, the record league win stood at 6-0: so far this season, this has been surpassed on three occasions. The passing was exceptional, and the finishing was even better. The Hereford fans really were on Cloud Nine after this performance. Team and ratings out of 10: Baker (10), Green (10), Rose (10), Mkandawire (10), James (11), Tretton (10), Willis (10) (sub Williams (10)), Pitman (10) (sub Craven (10)), Purdie (10), Brown (12), Guinan (11) (sub Beesley (10)).
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