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Hereford United can kiss goodbye any hopes that they may have held of reaching the play offs in their first season back in the football league following the visit of in-form Grimsby Town to Edgar Street this afternoon. The Bulls, who have been performing well themselves of late, made two changes to the side that was narrowly beaten at table toppers Hartlepool last weekend, with Andy Ferrell taking the place of the injured Steve Jennings, and Trent McClenahan taking up a position on the bench.
Following a lively start, in which Alan Connell and Andy Williams combined well to win an early corner and Tom Newey had a run and shot over from left back, the game became distorted and scrappy. However, on twenty minutes Simon Travis picked out Williams with a ball over the left back Newey, and Williams crossed dangerously. The 'keeper Phil Barnes flapped at it, and the ball hit Danny Thomas before falling to Connell in a great position. It wouldn't drop though and his chance passed, but Ferrell did earn a corner. The corner fell to Thomas, who picked out Williams on the right and his cross was headed wide at the near post by Connell in an eventful minute or so.
Grimsby had set up with a 4-5-1 formation, with top scorer Gary Jones sat on the subs bench, and so it was no surprise that they offered little in the way of an attacking force, but Pete Bore, who was stiffled on the right time and time again by Rob Purdie, did pick out Danny Boshell on the edge of the box but his drive was caught by Wayne Brown. Purdie finished a good half on a poor note though, as he gifted possession to Bore as Town went through, with two attackers againt United's one defender. Luckily though, Bore's ball to Danny North found the forward in an offside position - his shot was wide anyway.
Hereford realised in the second half that Grimsby were happy to sit back, and so went on the offensive and enjoyed a spell of dominance at the start of the half. The wings were being exploited well with Thomas once again causing problems for the full backs with his pace. United were struggling though to force Barnes into a save though, but Steve Guinan had the ball in the back of the net ten minutes after the restart. Barnes dropped a corner from the right and Guinan guided the ball over the line with his head, but the referee gave a free kick for an alledged push on the goalie.
Grimsby then had their chance of the game from a free kick on the left which was swung in towards the penalty box. The inswinging cross from Ciaran Toner was flicked goalbound by a head, but Brown threw himself across the goal and clawed the ball away to deny a certain goal. The half took a turn in favour of Grimsby though, when they introduced three subs in an eight minute spell, with Jones coming on up front. It was no surprise that from then on the visitors were looking more likely to score going forward.
The goal followed three minutes after the final substitution on seventy six minutes. The sub himself, Peter Till, had a hand in the goal, flicking on to Paul Bolland. His run from the midfield had't been picked up and The Bulls paid the price as he darted his shot from the edge of the box into the roof of Brown's net, to the delight of the 261 away fans in the crowd of 2,914. Graham Turner then made two changes himself within two minutes as Ferrell, who was poor, made way for Tim Sills and McClenahan took Travis' place. The changes were interupted by a free kick from Connell in a good position, which was way off target.
United did give the visitors something to worry about in the final ten minutes as Guinan beat Barnes to a corner, but his header was met on the line and cleared before Thomas crafted the best chance of the game. He won the ball on the left and got to the line before cutting back to Connell, making a run towards goal from the edge of the area, but he ballooned a volley over from seven yards out. In the ninetieth minute a mass goalmouth scramble almost lead to an equaliser, with Tamika Mkandawire and Guinan going close, but was eventually hooked to safety.
It was a forgetful afternoon in general, and a disappointing performance as a victory could well have triggered some real belief into United's hopes of the play offs come May. The lack of shots on goal may have some cause for concern for United, who will hoping that Steve Jennings will be back from injury before too long.
HUFC:Brown, Travis, Rose, Mkandawire, Purdie, Thomas, Ferrell, Smith, Williams, Guinan, Connell. Subs: McClenahan, Gulliver, Thompson, Webb, Sills.
GTFC: Barnes, McDermott, Fenton, Whittle, Newey, Bore, Bolland, Boshell, Hunt, Toner, North. Subs: Murray, Grand, Bloomer, Till, Jones.
