Brown hits a scorcher

The following report from Aldershot appears in this morning's Daily Telegraph.



David Brown came off the bench to hit a scorcher from 25 yards yesterday to complete Hereford's recovery from a run of three successive defeats that threatened their chances of reaching the Nationwide Conference play-offs for the second year running.



Hereford moved up five places to sixth with their 2-0 win at Aldershot, who included new signing Tarkan Mustafa at right-back.



The goal by the former Manchester United trainee that was delivered with all the power that Wayne Rooney mustered with his volley against Middlesbrough 24 hours earlier, came in added time. "We should have sewn it up earlier," admitted Hereford's manager, Graham Turner.



Terry Brown, Aldershot's manager, could only envy the match-clinching strike after seeing last week's hat-trick scorer, Jonny Dixon, have his loan spell abruptly terminated by Wycombe.



"Hereford's bench included someone like David Brown, who could finish with a type of quality goal he scored," lamented Brown, "whereas I looked at my bench and there was nothing there."



Aldershot's woes were compounded with defender Brett Johnson requiring a hospital visit after damaging the base of his spine in his attempt to prevent Danny Carey-Bertram scoring Hereford's opening goal from Rob Perdie's low cross.



The Times also has a report:



IF ANY OPPONENTS WERE guaranteed to rouse Hereford United out of the trough into which their Nationwide Conference campaign was sinking, it was Aldershot Town. Hereford's victory yesterday ended a run of three defeats, broke a barren scoring sequence away from home that stretched back to November and hoisted them five places from eleventh to sixth in a congested table.



Hereford still smart at their elimination at Aldershot's hands from the promotion play-off semi-finals last season in a penalty shoot-out at Edgar Street, despite exerting a superiority in league matches that now stretches to four wins in their four meetings. Partly as a consequence, the fixture has developed a highly-charged reputation that meant Hampshire Police insisted on its being switched from Saturday because of the demands of the Southampton versus Portsmouth FA Cup tie.



If there were any consolation for Aldershot, it was that the crowd of 3,799 at the Recreation Ground was their best of the season, but their defeat means that in third place they can now feel the hot breath of the pack on their necks. Terry Brown, their manager, knows he has to rectify swiftly the shortcomings exposed in his attack that were heightened by Wycombe Wanderers' recall of Jonny Dixon, who scored a hat-trick in Aldershot's victory away to Gravesend and Northfleet in their previous match.



"What encapsulated the difference between the sides was that they were able to bring a player of the quality of David Brown off the bench," he said. "I looked at my bench and I had nothing to help us score a goal. It's in that department that we had the biggest blows. We lost Jonny with a day's notice, lost Dwain Clarke (with an injury) and Tim Sills was unable to train for a week (because of a virus). It was a big ask to play a team of the calibre of Hereford."



Neither side came close to making the breakthrough in the first half, but, as Aldershot pressed in a bright start to the second, they were caught with an incisive counter-attack. Craig Stanley lofted a pass down the left, Rob Purdie ran on and crossed, with Danny Carey-Bertram claiming the final touch as Brett Johnson tried to clear and played the ball on to him.



David Brown finished off Aldershot in stoppage time with a sumptuous drive from the edge of the penalty area. "We haven't been playing as badly as it seems and coped with most things today," Graham Turner, the Hereford manager, said. "We made a decision to go with more mobility and pace. What we missed out on in height and power we made up for with that mobility and caused them problems."

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