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The fate of Hereford United's game away at Peterborough United was over almost before it had began as the promotion chasers netted a first minute goal and went on to grab two more in an impressive display, which would have probably left Graham Turner and his side in awe of the resources avaliable to their opponents this afternoon.
Hereford were by no means humiliated, but were simply out-classed as The Posh opened the scoring after just twenty seconds, even before Hereford had touched the ball. Straight from the kick off the hosts tore apart United, with a direct, swift passing move to the left where Jamie Day delivered for Craig Mackail-Smith to head in at the near post. It soon got worse for Hereford, who must have though following their own 3-0 victory last weekend they'd got over a run of poor form, when on thirteen minutes a corner from the right was glanced in from Alan White. Although Peterborough had been much the better side, the two first half goals could easily have been prevented.
Hereford tried to start again after the second goal, but despite some good passing Borough were still getting the chances, and George Boyd was only denied by a good save from Wayne Brown's fingertips. Boyd was again denied by Brown after a cheeky touch from Mackail-Smith before Danny Thomas was replaced for The Bulls in a tactial change, which saw Richard Rose introduced and a switch to 3-5-2, which shut The Posh out until the break.
Andy Williams forced a save from Mark Tyler before Tamika Mkandawire flicked a free kick on just beyond the reach of Steve Guinan and then Guinan forced Tyler into another save with a powerful drive that was collected at the second attempt before the break. However, it didn't take The Posh long to add a third after the restart as they came out looking to kill the game off; something they achieved after forty eight minutes. Boyd centred the ball and despite Phil Gullivers' attempts to clear, Gavin Strachan managed to fire the ball in from close range for the third and final goal of the afternoon.
Hereford didn't buckle completely after this latest blow and succeeded in playing some reasonable football, aided by the fact that the hosts didn't need to play at their highest level. A move including Mkandawire, Ben Smith and Connell resulted in an opening, albeit at an angle, in on goal for Guinan but he smashed his shot wide before Brown pulled off a good save from a Day free kick. Hereford's final two changes came on sixty seven and seventy three minutes with firstly Luke Webb replacing Steve Jennings and then Marcus Palmer coming on for Alan Connell.
However, it was the home side who were going close to scoring again and Brown pulled off another important save to deny Mackail-Smith, who'd been threaded through on goal before, after a great recovery tackle from Mkandawire, Brown denied Strachan from doubling his tally. Smith almost grabbed a consolation goal for Hereford after a cross from Palmer, but having turned his man showing some good feet, his chipped and curling effort was clawed away by Tyler.
Not quite what Hereford were expecting following their first win in nine that came last weekend, and they will be wanting to forget about this performance quickly. The perfect way to clear the supporters minds will be by beating local rivals Shrewsbury and putting another (todays result didn't help them) dent in their play off hopes!
HUFC: Brown, McClenahan, Mkandawire, Gulliver, Purdie, Thomas, Jennings, Smith, Williams, Guinan, Connell. Subs: Rose, Thompson, Webb, Palmer, Sills.
PUFC: Tyler, Morgan, White, Blackett, Newton, Strachan, Hyde, Gain, Day, Boyd, Mackail-Smith. Subs: Jalal, Richards, Futcher, Butcher, Low.
