Bulls get through eventually

It has taken 210 minutes of football and a penalty shoot-out for the Bulls to progress to the first round proper of the FA Cup.

Last night's eventual result brought relief to the 150 or so travelling fans, who unlike at Mansfield last Tuesday, were noticibly quiet through most of the game.

And, after Mark Turner, son of Hereford United manager Graham, had put the home side into the lead, the fans could not be blamed for fearing the worst.

Craig Stanley's equalising header raised the tempo of the game but with the Alfreton goalkeeper again in fine form, the Bulls couldn't find the back of the net in time to stop the need for the shoot-out.

Alfreton went one up with their first shot, but Tony James was as cool as ever and levelled the numbers.

Then Mark Turner failed to beat Craig Mawson, and Hereford supporters, for the first time last night sensed that at last the Bulls could win the game. Unfortunately, glooom decended again as Andy Ferrell's weak shot was easily saved by Legzdins. 1-1.

Alfreton's Blunt converted his attempt, but Andy Williams kept hopes alive with his conversion. 2-2.

Then hopes were raised again as Alfreton failed with their fourth attempt and Graham Evans, another of the subs, put the ball into the back of the net. 3-2 to Hereford.

Godber put his shot for Alfreton away so it was all done to another sub Guy Ipoua. He did the business and so the Bulls went through. 4-3 on penalties to Hereford. Relief all round.

The Impact Arena ground didn't look in bad condition considering the home club had arranged a local referee to look at the state of the pitch earlier in the day. Some fans had feared that the ground might resemble the pitch at Eastwood last year which had to be heavily sanded, but there was little to complain about.

Bulls News was taken to task yesterday by the Hereford United Official Site for not reporting that there was to be a second pitch inspection by match referee, Mr Gibbs, at 6.15pm. We took the view that, having made enquiries with the secretary of Alfreton Town, Bryan Rudkin, and checked with the Met Office on the forecast, there was no real likelyhood of the game being cancelled and so reporting this second inspection might have put fans off from travelling.

Alex Jeannin played for the Bulls last night. It had been reported on the Official Site that he would miss the game. However the editor of this site challenged that thinking and it now turns out that there is a seven day gap between a player receiving a ban after five yellow cards and missing a game.

Jeannin will miss the game at Kidderminster on Saturday.

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