Bulls On Wrong End Of Trouncing.

The first half of this afternoons hammering at Meadow Lane gave little indication of what was to come in the second period as United finished well-beaten 5-0 and down to nine men.

Trewick had wielded the axe following the disappointing display in midweek, culling his defence including Adam Bartlett. In came Adamson, Richard Rose, Sam Gwynne and newcomer Daniel Preston in a new look rearguard with Green, Valentine, Jones and Lowe making way. Matty Done also started in place of Lee Morris.

Notts opened the brighter with a couple of attacks down the left which were comfortably dealt with by The Bulls’ new look defence and after five minutes or so the visitors began to get a grip on the game. A free kick from the right was met by Downing but it was pushed wide by home keeper Schmeichel. From the resulting corner, the ball was cleared up field to Richard Rose who quickly released Matt Done. The winger turned it inside to Lunt who dinked his way passed to defenders before driving the ball hard and low across the face of the goal. Any touch from a Bulls player would surely have found the net but the ball found it’s way through for a goal kick. Former Shrewsbury striker Luke Rogers got the ball in the net on 20 minutes but was rightly adjudged to be several yards offside before a deep cross from the left brought a saving header from Preston with Rogers lurking at the back post. Adamson then marked his rare appearance with a fine reaction save turning a deflected shot away. At the other end, Done charged down a clearance and the ball fell to McCallum inside the box but the United striker fired over when well placed. When the ball ran over the bye line, it went unnoticed by the assistant referee and although the initial danger was cleared, it took good defending by Sam Gwynne to dispossess Westcarr. Unfortunately, as Gwynne shaped to clear he slipped and Westcarr fired passed Adamson to give The Magpies a somewhat lucky opening goal on 34 minutes. Good work by Lunt and McCallum produced a chance for Done but the Bulls’ winger’s low effort was blocked

HT Notts 1 Bulls 0

After a workmanlike first half in which Hereford were slightly unfortunate to fall behind, the second period provided little but goals from the home side and a couple of harsh dismissals by referee Eltringham. Hereford opened with a couple of decent raids down the left but with 10 minutes of the second gone, Westcarr received the ball from Rogers and turned Gwynne before firing in from 10 yards. Trewick responded by adding Lee Morris to The Bulls attack at the expense of Matt Done but the third goal was not long coming. Rogers had twice tumbled in the box trying to convince the referee to award penalties and eventually got his timing and acrobatics right when challenging Adamson for a through ball. The penalty decision looked soft and to add injury, Adamson was shown a straight red. Westcarr drove the spot-kick passed sub keeper Bartlett who had been brought on as Constantine departed to make way. The ten men became nine on 87 minutes when Downing was harshly adjudged to have handled on the goal line. A deflected shot reared off the surface and appeared to strike the young defender on the shoulder but the referee insisted it was deliberate handball and promptly issued a second red card along with awarding a penalty. Rogers blasted in from the spot. Then in the closing moments, a cross from the right found Rogers drifting in between two defenders to force the ball home for the fifth goal.

FT Notts 5 Bulls 0

From the promising start, The Bulls finished a depleted and well-beaten team as the depressing sequence of results continued. The young pairing at the back made a good start but were no mach for the second half antics of Rogers and the referee. Lunt produced some decent passes and McCallum possibly should have found the net early on but Constantine was largely anonymous in the opponent’s goalmouth. A crowd of 6036 watched the game with a surprisingly good turnout of 269 in the visitor’s section. There were calls for a change of management at the final whistle and several suggestions regarding transfers of Nottingham bar-staff back to The Shire.

Notts. Schmeichel, Lee, Thompson, Clapham, Hunt, Ravenhill, Bishop (Edwards 81), Davies, Hawley (Facey 67), Rogers, Westcarr (Hamshaw 74).
Unused – Hoult, Cabham, Fairclough, Akinbiyi.

HUFC. Adamson, Rose, Downing, Preston, Gwynne (Jones 90), Pugh, Lunt, McQuilkin, Done (Morris 59), McCallum, Constantine (Bartlett 72).
Unused – Green, Valentine, Weir, Manset.

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