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Hereford United were victims of a dubious decision from referee Andy Woolmer at York Street this afternoon as they drew one apiece with Boston United. Bulls fans will remember referee Woolmer for his infamous decision to send off Andy Tretton in the Conference Play Offs three seasons ago, and he did his relations with Hereford fans no good as he gave a suspect free kick to the home side, seconds after Paul Ellender had gone in with a high foot, which led to the equalising goal.
Andy Williams was back for Hereford in place of Gareth Sheldon, and there were returns for John Eustace and Neil MacKenzie as well, but despite this their attacking play was poor once again, for the first half at least. The Whites enjoyed most of the early play, but couldn't force an opening, and so Boston went and did exactly that against the run of play. Phil Gulliver had to be alert to get in a saving challenge as The Pilgrims countered, and a ball was played into the path of Francis Green. He seemed to be away, but Gulliver had something to say about that.
Green was involved again as, again, the hosts did what United were struggling to do, and created another chance. It was his driven shot-come-cross that met the head of Anthony Elding, but the ball flew wide of Wayne Brown's goal. The Bulls were getting the ball wide well, and crosses came in from Williams and Alan Connell in the first half hour, but still didn't make Andy Marriot make a save. It was only after some good patient passing that Marriot had to rush out to deny Williams, but the striker was offside.
On the stroke of half time though, Hereford's attack sprang into life and were unlucky not to go in at the break with a slender lead. Alex Jeannin fed a pass down the flank to Williams, who advanced towards the box while turning defender Ian Miller inside out, before trying to curl in to the far corner. Marriot palmed away, but it was into the path of Eustace who headed towards goal, with Marriot grounded.
Eustace's header with Marriot stranded - Bulls News picture.
Ellender was on the line to deny him with a header that fell to Connell, but his effort was dragged wide of the mark.
The second half was a more entertaining spectacle, and Tim Sills started the fashion with a first time shot that flew wide of the far post no more than a minute after the restart. Green was again making a nuisance of himself as he passed Gulliver before shooting low, but Brown was down to smother the ball. Elding then got a low drive in, but once again Brown was equal to it, before United started to play the sort of football that was to get them their goal. Jeannin attacked down the left before playing a crisp ball along the surface to Rob Purdie. He then knocked the ball on to Williams, on the edge of the box, but his low driven cross was turned behind for a corner.
The next attack for The Bulls was a similar one, but this time it resulted in the opening goal on sixty eight minutes. Connell played a good first time pass inside the left back for Purdie to pace onto, and his powerful low cross made its way to Williams at the far post, who converted with a first time hit. With neither side, until then, looking too threatening it seemed that one goal might be enough, and it would have been if Woolmer hadn't given a free kick against a Hereford player on the very edge of the box six minutes later. The only foul that seemed to occur at the time was from Ellender, who flew in to a challenge with a high foot, but still the set piece was given, and Boston's Jamie Clark scored direct from it, curling into the bottom corner for 1-1.
After the equaliser, both sides had fantastic chances to take all three points but it wasn't to be. Three minutes after scoring, The Pilgrims flashed the ball across the goalface twice in succession, but both times were unable to get the vital final touch. Hereford almost punished them for their misses too, as they went straight down the other end and Williams fired over at the near post, having beaten Ellender to Sills' cross.
Boston's greatest opportunity to win it came from the unlikely Mark Greaves as he thundered a header just inches over from Clark's cross. Graham Turner, with five minutes left, replaced Williams with Sheldon, but was probably regretting the decision within a couple of minutes, as Hereford had a glorious chance to win it, and had it gone in, it would have been almost identical to Williams' goal. Sheldon found Sills with a short pass, and Sills' pass inside the left back Tim Ryan matched Connell's, for Purdie to race onto. Purdie then did as he did before, and delivered a perfect low cross to the far post, and with Marriot seemingly out of contention at the near post, Jeannin arrived at the back stick. The Frenchman had seemed to do everything right as well, but his first time left footed strike was somehow blocked by Marriot, who literally threw himself across the goal.
With the 179 travelling fans left in disbelief, and the home fans in a crowd of 1,731 feeling great relief, the remaining few minutes were played out, and the teams shared the spoils. Both will believe they did enough to get all three points in what was, for the first seventy minutes at least, a pretty poor encounter. Hereford will obviously be pleased at picking up a point on the road, but should really be expecting to do slightly better against teams at the foot of the table.
HUFC: Brown, Beckwith, Gulliver, Mkandawire, Purdie, Jeannin, Eustace, MacKenzie, Connell, Sills, Williams. Subs: Travis, Thompson, Webb, Rose, Sheldon.
BUFC: Marriott, Clarke, Miller, Ellender, Tim Ryan, Kennedy, Greaves, Richie Ryan, Elding, Broughton, Green. Subs: Holland, Stevens, N'Guessan, Farrell, Rowson.
