| home | bolsa | hufc | memories | exploits | resources |
NORTHWICH VICTORIA (home)
15/10/02
Hereford's woeful home form continued as Northwich Victoria eventually turned up and claimed all three points courtesy of Kevin Street. Street. You may remember he played as a trialist for Hereford in pre-season but was not given a contract, and he came back to haunt the Bulls.
Due to heavy
traffic, the match was delayed following the late arrival of the Northwich team
coach. Despite this, after weathering an early storm, they took the lead after
eight minutes. Street won the ball on the corner of the penalty area, before
rounding Matt Clarke and Andy Tretton and drawing keeper Matt Baker off his
line to score an excellent goal. Hereford immediately went on the attack and
came close with several long-range shots.
After fifteen minutes or so, Matt Clarke had a glorious opportunity to equalise, but his downward header from six yards bounced up and over the bar. Not long afterwards Andy Tretton had an even better chance. The Northwich defence unsuccessfully stepped up after a Michael Rose free-kick, leaving three Hereford players against goalkeeper Matthew Parry. Tretton however shot straight into the arms of the grateful Vics' keeper. There then followed an amazing goalmouth scramble, where no fewer than five efforts at Northwich's goal were blocked. Eventually the pressure told, and Hereford were back on level terms after 42 minutes. An effort by Steve Guinan was blocked, who returned the ball into the centre for Paul Parry to volley past his namesake from eight yards. Half time came with the scores level, but not until after the Hereford fans had their hearts in their mouths when Baker tried to clear the ball to the edge of his penalty area but got beaten to the ball by Gregg Blundell. However, the Vics' striker couldn't finish the job off, his cross/shot flashing wide.
Northwich could have scored almost instantly, when Gregg
Blundell, who was a constant threat with his pace, broke away with just Baker
to beat. Tony James somehow sprinted back and made a superb last-ditch challenge
to end the danger. The next twenty minutes were fairly even. Hereford had
slightly more chances, but it was Northwich who came closest to scoring again.
Johnny Allan broke clear and his effort beat Baker, but Andy Tretton raced back
to clear the ball from off the line. At the other end, Paul Parry had a shot
On 74 minutes
came another of Graham Turner's by now legendary tactical substitutions. Danny
Williams, who had controlled the midfield thus far, was withdrawn to be
replaced by Rob Purdie. Purdie's first act was to break
Shortly
afterwards, things got worse when captain Ian Wright had to go off with a
broken arm. He was hit on the arm by the ball when standing in the wall at a
free-kick, and it is feared that he could now be out for several weeks, if not
months.
Overall, it
was not the best performance from the Bulls, but it was fairly harsh for them
to have not got something from the match.
Team: Baker,
Clarke, Tretton, Wright (sub Teesdale), James, Rose, Pitman, Williams (sub
Purdie), Galloway, Guinan (sub Fox), Parry. Subs not used: Griffiths, Sawyers
|
managed and maintained by hereford web design