Youthful Blues hold Bulls

A young Birmingham City side were unlucky to draw against Hereford this afternoon at Edgar Street. Steve Guinan opened the scoring for United, but quick-fire second half strikes from Stevens and Sammons put The Blues in front. A late Simon Johnson goal meant the game finished at 2-2.

The United team consisted of just one trialist in Phil Doughty, with the remainder signed on or on loan. There was no place for Craig Samson in the squad. Birmingham's only notable player was Franck Queudrue, with the rest of the squad made up of youth players.

The first-half was a poor affair, and the only notable action came nearly half-way through it. Firstly, a long shot by Ashley Sammons flew wide, whilst an abitious lob by the Blues' left-winger dropped over. Hereford's first chance came through a mistake, and resulted in a goal. Goalkeeper Arthur Krysiak was tackled in a repeat of Darren Randolph at Kiddy, and Guinan poached in to score. Just a minute later, Robbie Threlfall's long-range effort flew into the Blackfriars End.

Good link up between Clint Easton and Threlfall in the second-half saw the Scouser cut back for Bradley Hudson-Odoi, but a rising shot was caught. Toumani Diagouraga should have made it two when his powerful surge to meet an Easton pass saw him beat the defender with a step-over, but his shot hit the side-netting. Instead, it was Birmingham who finished their chances minutes later. Jarred Stevens beat Doughty with a turn and fired past Randolph to equalise, and Sammons followed that up four minutes later with a neat-finish after some good interplay.

Substitutions were made by Hereford through the second-half, which can be seen at the bottom of this report. Johnson was one of them as he dragged a shot wide, whilst at the other end, Randolph made a fine save from a Birmingham shot from 20 yards, before a follow-up effort was cleared off the line by Garry Breen. Pre-season so far was summed up by Johnson when he outmuscled a defender, and had a great opportunity running into the area, but a lack of options saw him place a ball harmlessly in the 'keepers arms. Krysiak made a fine diving catch to deny Guinan's half-volley and they were lucky to escape when their centre-half headed a cross against his own bar. The pressure paid off in the end, when a Ben Smith pass found Johnson, who set himself before curling into the top corner from 15 yards. Just before the full-time whistle, a turn and shot from Guinan went into the goalkeepers arms.

Overall though, Hereford were again slightly disappointing. Birmingham played some neat-football, and it was their fitness that let them down towards the end of the match. Defensively, Hereford look strong, but up-front, there is little to get excited about. Plenty of possession for United, but few chances, as too often, there was no killer pass or no threat from the front two. Robbie Threlfall and Toumani Diagouraga were impressive for Hereford, with both showing some fine touches in front of 553 fans.

Hereford: Randolph, Rose, Doughty (Breen), Beckwith, Threlfall (MacLeod), Webb (Taylor), Diagouraga (Jones), Smith, Easton (Done), Guinan, Hudson-Odoi (Johnson).

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