Test

Margate sent packing



Hereford continued their excellent recent run with a comfortable 3-0 win over Margate, at Edgar Street today. There was one change to Tuesday night’s winning side, which was Goodwin returning to the starting line up instead of Quiggin. Goodwin came into left midfield, after his suspension, and Parry was pushed up front to partner Williams.



The first half was a dull affair, with Hereford doing most of the attacking but no really chances made. First to make an effort towards the Margate goal was Ian Rodgerson, in the tenth minute, when he headed a Shirley cross, but Gavin Williams managed to get in the way and deflect it wide. Within less than a minute the only real chance of the first half came and went. A cross by Parry was pushed into the path of Williams by Goodwin, but the Margate’ keeper raced off his line to save point blank from Williams.



The rest of the half saw a new corner routine which resulted in Parry shooting wide, and it was Parry, again, who headed a Goodwin cross wide ten minutes later. Margate’s only chance of the first half came in the thirtieth minute when Phil Collins forced Ian Wright into a mistake and ran onto it, but shot high and wide from a tight angle. The only other chance of note was a John Snape shot deflected for a corner.



The second half was far more entertaining, first off was Goodwin’s goal in the fortyninth minute. A right wing cross was chested by Goodwin to Rodgerson on the penalty spot, who laid the ball back for Goodwin to hit an 18 yarder in off the post. More pressure by Hereford saw Snape shoot over and Williams forcing Mitten into another excellent save, after a Parry cross, with a header.



Leon Braithwaite’s pace almost got the better of Hereford when a weak back header by Clarke dropped into no man’s land. Just as he collected the ball Tony James slid in and took it off his toe, a very important and excellent tackle. Within 11 minutes of the first goal, John Shirley scored Hereford’s second with a 20 yard volley with his left foot. Superb goal in which to shut his critics up within Block B, in the first half some guy said ‘Shirley! Get off the pitch!’. When he scored Shirley ran over and pointed at him!!!



Margate were almost back in it within three minutes when Ian Wright headed against his own post, and between the two goals, two Margate players were booked for fouls. One of them, Simon Beard, booked in this time, was booked again for a late challenge and sent off. From the resulting free kick Parry almost scored, when he struck the ball towards the top corner, but the Margate keeper made a comfortable save. The next few minutes saw Hereford dominate and make 2 half chances, Goodwin chipping over the bar from 20 yards and Snape shooting wide. Margate did get a chance on target when Lamb headed gently at Baker in the Hereford goal, this took them seventy eight minutes to achieve.



Another two half chances were made by Hereford before Elmes finished off Margate with a tap in. A run by Williams down the right was stopped by a Margate defender, but as Mitten ran out to collect the ball Williams managed to kick back to Clarke. With the keeper nowhere near the goal Clarke kept his cool to pass the ball to Elmes on the 6 yard area and Elmes made no mistake tapping home. Elmes had replaced Parry earlier on in the game. After this Margate totally lost their rag with three bookings and their central defender was sent off for handling the ball to stop Williams from running on and adding a third. Also in the middle of this Elmes put a header wide of the post, and Clarke was also booked.



So yet another comfortable home win for the Bulls in front of 1,474, with about 30 Margate fans. I felt Margate lacked any imagination going forward, and they were made to pay by a confident Bull’s side. Man of the Match I will give to Ian Rodgerson, I think he has done an excellent job over the last few games and is a bit of an unsung hero.