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Hereford United fell to their second successive league defeat at the hands of Crewe Alexandra at Gresty Road this afternoon. As was the case with last season's encounter, Billy Jones was the match-winner as he followed up his own penalty to score, after his initial effort was saved by Adam Bartlett. The attendance of 3,731 was well down from the relegation battle match last year, which attracted some 5,195 supporters.
After the mid-week defeat at home to Bury, manager John Trewick was forced into changes. Ryan Valentine missed out due to suspension with Richard Rose taking his place at left-back. Darren Jones replaced Keith Lowe whilst in midfield, Craig Jones was preferred to Matty Done as a replacement for the injured Marc Pugh. New loan signing Tristan Plummer started up front, with Lee Morris also missing due to injury. Marlon Jackson and Gavin McCullum had to be content with places on the bench. The opposition included highly-rated right-back John Brayford in their team whilst Anthony Elding was left to warm the subs bench.
Early link up play between Leon Constantine and C. Jones saw the youngster fire over with his weaker right-foot. At the other end, defensive indecision from D. Jones nearly resulted in the opener, as he failed to clear a long-ball and Calvin Zola nicked in but was thwarted by the reactions of Bartlett at his feet. Constantine should have opened the scoring for United when a deep corner by Kenny Lunt was headed back towards goal by Darren Dennehy where Constantine was placed just a few yards off the line but his header was straight at Adam Legzdins, who made a close-range save to deny the former Port Vale striker. A soft free-kick conceded by Rose allowed B. Jones a strike on goal, forcing Bartlett to push the ball beside the post; from the corner that followed, Zola rose highest but couldn't hit the target with his header.
Glen Southam dragged a shot wide following a quick throw-in and pass in-field from Johnny Godsmark. The best move of the match for the Bulls mainly involved Constantine and Plummer as they worked their way up the right, and after exchanging a number of passes, Constantine struck goalwards from inside the area but he was foiled by a save from Legzdins. Zola headed straight at Bartlett after meeting a Joel Grant cross whilst Stephen Schumacher was off-target with a long-range effort. Crewe took the lead in the 37th minute when a long-ball up the right channel was superbly controlled by Zola, who span away from Dennehy on the touchline. He continued his run towards the corner before cutting in at the by-line and again showed supreme strength to get past Dennehy, who tugged back at Zola, not for the first-time, inside the area and the linesman adjudged it a foul. The referee pointed to the spot and B. Jones took it on himself to take the penalty. The initial shot was well-blocked by Bartlett but B. Jones reacted quickest to nod in past the helpless Bartlett.
Hereford started the second-half with an early change as Southam received a boot in the face; Jamie Tolley took his place on the pitch. A Lunt corner wasn't fully cleared and D. Jones fired wide at the near-post with a shot which lacked power. At the other end, a deep free-kick was met by an un-marked Mat Mitchel-King, whose head across goal narrowly missed the far corner. Zola nearly nodded in Crewe's second after meeting a cross from the left by Byron Moore although the move started with a clear use of the hand by Grant on the right-wing. A break by the Bulls ended with Tolley ambitiously shooting from 25 yards but failing to hit the target. Jackson was introduced for Constantine, as Trewick looked for the Bristol City pairing to get United back into the match. It could have been game over for sure had Zola not spurned another opportunity when on the edge of the area as his toe-poke whistled past Bartlett's near-post.
Aman Verma nodded wide at the back-post after a B. Jones corner before Zola again caused more problems for Hereford's back-line. In a similar move to the one that led to the penalty, a long-ball was controlled by Zola, who this time shrugged off D. Jones on the by-line and saw a near-post shot blocked by Bartlett from close-range before a follow-up effort by Grant was again blocked by the former Kidderminster 'keeper. A break from the hosts down the right-wing saw Grant wait for Brayford to overlap before feeding the Derby County target who fired a powerful shot across the face of the goal.
C. Jones and Plummer linked up on the left-hand side as they exchanged passes which led to the former youth-team player dragging a soft right-foot shot past the near-post from inside the area. McCullum came on for Godsmark, as Hereford searched for a spark in the final third whilst Crewe opted for pace, bringing on Clayton Donaldson for Moore. The former York City man was soon involved as he battled his way past D. Jones before sending a placed finish just shy of the far-post. Elding came on for the final few minutes, taking the place of Grant and he also had an early impact when D. Jones mis-kicked a long boot forward but Elding couldn't find the power in his shot to trouble Bartlett. In stoppage-time, Ashley Westwood replaced Schumacher as Alex looked to sure up their team for the closing moments, which they saw out without any real threat.
Two points from a possible twelve was not the start that Trewick, nor the supporters would have been looking for and on today's performance, the points are not going to be easy to come by. The defence still looks unsettled and shakey whilst the attacking threat is limited. The performance of Bartlett again was one of the only positives to take out of the match; last season Peter Gulacsi was inspirational in a narrow defeat at Gresty Road and Bartlett this time made a number of important saves to keep the score 1-0. Next up for Hereford is that tasty looking trip in the Carling Cup on Tuesday to Portsmouth, before an important league encounter against Port Vale at Edgar Street the following Saturday in which nothing but a win will be good enough for the home supporters.
Hereford: Bartlett, Green, D. Jones, Dennehy, Rose, Godsmark, Lunt, Southam, C. Jones, Plummer, Constantine.
Subs: Adamson, Gwynne, Lowe, Tolley, Done, Jackson, McCullum.
Crewe: Legzdins, Brayford, Mitchel-King, Ada, Worley, B. Jones, Schumacher, Verma, Grant, Moore, Zola.
Subs: Collis, O'Donnell, Westwood, Davis, Miller, Donaldson, Elding.
