An Armchair view of last night's proceedings

Glynis Wright stayed in the warm last night but watched the game on Sky - just to keep her husband company?

'Im Indoors decided to watch Hereford do battle with Stevenage live on the box, and when that happens, our cats all do the sensible thing, and shift upstairs as fast as their furry leetle bodies will allow. Over the years, they, too, have learned - usually the hard way - that when my other half watches live football in which he has something of a vested interest, their tranquil and peaceful existence can come to an abrupt halt very quickly - and so it was to prove tonight: I generally watch too, if only to ensure that raw emotions don't get the better of my other half when witnessing such encounters! The final score, a 2-0 win for The Bulls, was a deserved one, achieved in the face of some pretty nasty skulduggery from the visiting side.

As Stevenage were responsible for dumping Hereford out of the play-offs the other season, there's quite a bit of bad blood between the two sides, even now. For that, I still blame the referee, whose overall control and mastery of that game was on something of a par with someone supervising a Sunday league game on a parks pitch. No, belay that - a Sunday league referee would have done considerably better. As for their present crew, imagine, if you will, Warnock's Sheffield United side of three or four seasons ago, but in slightly more dilute form, and that'll give you some idea of the hostile spirit in which tonight's game was conducted. During the course of the first half alone, the visitors conceded 16 fouls, compared to only four on the part of the Bulls. Come the second, not only did they amass lots more fouls, and yellow cards, one of their number also saw red.

While the game was still but young, and noticing the ref's marked reluctance to stamp on some pretty nasty tackles from Stevenage, I forecast that the visitors would be very lucky indeed to finish the game with eleven men, and so it proved. Come the 70th minute, their lad Gregory finally earned 'early bath' status, having already been booked for some previous act of minor thuggery or other, but by that time, it didn't matter terribly. Hereford were already two to the good, thanks to delightful strikes by Andy Williams, from a free-kick, just before the break, and a neat bit of opportunism early in the second half by Fleetwood, Hereford's other youthful striker, who rounded his defender with some aplomb, then fired into the net from about six or seven yards out to make it a fully-deserved two.

There was also very much of an Albion connection involved, with Tam Mkandawire giving his all at the back, as per usual, and later in the game still, on came Danny Carey-Bertram, from the bench. Probably too late for him to make any sort of impact on the proceedings, but playing his part, nevertheless. Returning to Tam once more, assuming that The Bulls dip in their quest for League status again, I can't see them managing to hold on to the former Baggies lad. He really is way too good for the Conference; in fact what surprised me more was the fact no other League club came in for him when he was declared surplus to Albion's requirements. Their loss was most certainly Hereford's gain. The other Albion input came, of course, from Tucka Trewick, Hereford's man on the sidelines, Number Two to former Dingle Graham Turner.

That win now puts the cider slurpers second in the Conference table, with something of a gap opening up just below for the first time this campaign. It's probably too late to catch the leaders, Accrington, who now look well and truly bound for the Football League, but just like we did with The Dingles back in 2001-02, you still keep nibbling at them in the faint hope they'll eventually crack, and spectacularly so, preferably. As we saw, sometimes it actually works. Oh, and by the way, don't fall for any of this 'back in the League after being chucked out of it in 1962' guff occasionally put out by the media, it's dead wrong - and they should know better. The Accrington Stanley you see performing today are nothing whatsoever to do with the mob that got their marching orders when I was ten. It's a similar thing to what The Dingles did back in the mid-eighties: their real title is "Accrington Stanley FC (1968)". They only got going as an active concern in the 1970-71 season, when a crowd of some 620 brave souls saw them do Lancashire Combination battle with Formby. Even their current ground has nothing whatsoever to do with the old side - so there!

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