Bulls Lack Second Half Gas

After a bright opening during which they took a deserved lead through a Rob Purdie penalty Hereford succumbed to two quick fire goals in a lacklustre second half at The Memorial Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The Bulls, as they did at Wrexham on Sunday, made an enterprising start with a team showing the return of Trent McLenahan to the right side. Simon Travis reverted to the left of a five-man midfield with Alex Jeannin dropping to the bench. After the initial skirmishes United settled to their task and produced some neat passing movements at a good tempo. In the tenth minute, a Travis though ball found Tim Sills on the edge of the box but his weighted lay-off was blazed high and wide by the advancing Richard Rose. A couple of typical surging runs from Fleetwood produced stops from Rovers keeper Philips including one which was tipped over the bar only for the referee to mysteriously award a goal kick. The use of Alan Connell in a role behind the front two looked good as Purdie found him often with balls played in to feet enabling him to feed the wide players. It was this type of move which produced the opening goal when, as the ball was fed wide to Trent McLenahan as he advanced into the box, he was brought down by Aaron Lestcot. The resulting penalty was despatched hard and low into the left corner of the goal by Rob Purdie to give the Bulls a well-earned lead in the 17th minute.

Bristol responded with good efforts from Walker including one, which produced a superb save by Wayne Brown. Bristol had conceded a string of free kicks and it came as a surprise when referee Taylor issued a yellow to McLenahan on the stroke of half time for only his second infringement of the game. Although Rovers showed a few warnings towards the end of the half, Hereford looked reasonably comfortable with their 1-0 half time lead. As ex Bull Ryan Green left the field for his orange he was treated to chorus of "One Nil to the smaller team" by the vocal travelling fans, which seemed to bring a smile from boss Graham Turner.

As the second half progressed United seemed to drop deeper and the passing game deserted them. Rovers midfield began to get the upper hand as their Hereford counterparts stood off. The Bulls had a let off in the 51st minute when a Richard Walker shot from the edge of the box clipped the crossbar. By the hour mark, Bristol had firmly taken the upper hand winning most of the midfield battle and picking up the lions share of the second ball as Hereford struggled to keep their composure. Rovers introduced James Walker as a tactical replacement for Lewis Haldane as they searched for an equaliser and within five minutes his assist from just inside the box allowed Richard Walker to fire home a left footed volley from 12 yards. Within a minute, Walker had given Rovers the lead when he met an Aaron Lescot cross in the six-yard box and forced the ball home.

With just over twenty minutes remaining, Bulls fans were wondering what had happened to the neat controlled football of the first half as the team looked drained of confidence, ideas and stamina. With fifteen minutes left on the clock Turner replaced Connell with youngster Luke Webb and Rob Purdie with Andy Ferrell in an attempt the give life to a flagging United midfield. As the cause became more desperate Turner, who appeared to be alone in the technical area, even threw captain Mkandawire into the front line without getting the desired effect. At the end, The Bulls looked a beaten team baring no resemblance to the outfit that had started so well against a nervous Bristol Rovers.

Once again we failed to gain much benefit from the ariel strengths of Tim Sills despite the noble efforts of McLenahan to provide a service. The usual hard working display from Simon Travis was hampered by his need to check back before delivering crosses that frequently curled too close to the keeper rather than creating opportunities for goal bound headers. Maybe the time has come to utilise a pair of strikers who rely on pace and skill rather than height. Stuart Fleetwood seemed to lose the will to chase towards the latter periods and needs to share the workload.

Turner will no doubt be hoping that the injured Andy Williams reports fit in time for the "must win" game on Saturday.

Final Score - Bristol Rovers 2 Hereford United 1
Attendance 4975 (Visiting 756)

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