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Graham Turner was looking for a reaction from his side following their 3-0 thrashing on Saturday, and a reaction is exactly what he got as Hereford United dumped Championship outfit Coventry City out of the League Cup at Edgar Street this evening.
A couple of changes were made to United's side, with Andy Williams and Phil Gulliver both dropping to the bench, as Tamika Mkandawire returned from injury and Trent McClenahan was preferred at right back, meaning Simon Travis played on the right wing. Also, there was no place for Simon Osbourne even on the bench.
So out went The Bulls, to set the record straight following their set-back at Barnet last weekend, and they came flying out of the blocks. Just fifty four seconds had passed, and Stuart Fleetwood had silenced the, until then, noisy 657 away fans, with a calm finish from inside the box. The chance came when Richard Rose's ball bounced and deceived a defender, and Fleetwood put-paced his man before tucking in beyond Andy Marshall.
Coventry didn't fold though, and replied with some decent attacking play, but nothing that Hereford's defence couldn't handle. It was the League Two side that were causing the Championship side the problems, as Fleetwood and Rose reversed roles, as the latter fired wide of the mark from twenty yards. The Blues almost silenced the home crowd though as Stephen Hughes saw his shot rebound off the post before Faysal El-Idrissi cut inside before firing wide.
United almost had the ball in the net again, but Dean Beckwith, up for a corner, shot on the turn into the side netting while at the other end City went close through Chris Birchall. Fleetwood was the most dangerous man on the pitch though, and before half time could well have netted a hat trick. Rob Purdie had picked out the young live-wire who'd left his marker for dead with his pace before firing inches wide of the far post. Then, with Purdie again involved, Tim Sills threaded a neat through ball to play Fleetwood in behind, but this time his effort was narrowley wide of the other post.
Martyn Giles, who had an otherwise immaculate game, almost handed the visitors a way back into the game, but Birchall couldn't find the target having robbed him of the ball just after the restart. After that, normal service was resumed as Fleetwood continued to terrorise the City defence. Elliot Ward was beaten to the ball by the striker, who then rounded him in the box, before winning a corner off 'keeper Marshall. Marshall was called into action once again, this time by Giles, who'd beaten the offside trap to meet Beckwith's header with a volley, which was brilliantly palmed away by the goalie.
Purdie then kept Marshall moving, as the 'keeper pulled off an impressive save, equal to Purdie's low drive from thirty yards, but he couldn't do anything about the fantastic Fleetwood, as he doubled United's lead on fifty six minutes. Rose was again the provider as he lifted the ball over the top for Fleetwood to run onto, and he lifted the ball over Marshall, who'd come out to meet him.
It wasn't game over yet, although it should have been, as The Sky Blues hit back two minutes later. Dele Adebola managed to hold off Mkandawire and fire into the roof of the net with a snap shot, leaving Scott Tynan with no chance. Fleetwood wasn't standing for that though, and left it just five minutes before he restored Hereford's two goal advantage, and completed his hat trick. Sills flicked on a long ball for his strike partner, and Fleetwood was too quick for the defence, and too tricky for Marshall, as he rounded the 'keeper, before rounding off the victory.
It wasn't all good for the man of the match and hat trick hero though, as he pulled up with what seemed to be a hamstring injury soon after, and Williams replaced him. Birchall made sure Tynan hadn't fallen to sleep with a good effort from twenty five yards that was met with a wonderful finger tip save. Minutes prior to the final whistle Birchall again shot from long range, and left the cross bar rattling. This wasn't before Rose had almost capped off his performance with what would have been a stunning goal. Travis centred to the midfielder in the box who, with his back to goal, forced Marshall into a stretching save with a wonderful back-heel from six or so yards out.
United reacted positively to their weekend defeat and will have definately silenced the critics with this performance. The "long ball tactic" was not seen as much this evening, and the more fluent passing game obviously paid dividends. It's round two for The Bulls, and with a few more performances like that, they can start to set their sights on european football as League Cup Champions next season!
HUFC: Tynan, McClenahan, Mkandawire, Beckwith, Giles, Purdie, Ferrell, Rose, Travis, Sills, Fleetwood. Subs: Gulliver, Lewis, Wallis Connell, Williams.
CCFC: Marshall, Hall, Whing, Heath, Ward, El-Idrissi, Birchall, Cameron, Hughes, John, Adebola. Subs: Doyle, Thornton, Osbourne, Hutchinson, Jorgensen.
