Insipid Bulls Beaten at Lincoln

The return of old maestro Graham Turner to the touchline failed to produce a positive result as Hereford went down 3-1 at Sincil Bank on Friday evening when a brace from Matt Saunders and one from on-loan Davide Somma eclipsed the strike of Marc Pugh.

Turner sprang a surprise by naming Kenny Lunt in the side when it was understood that he had been ill during the week and also brought in James McQuilkin who had sat out the last game through suspension. Other changes saw the return of Darren Jones to central defence and Craig King in attack.

There was a very touching pre-match tribute to former Imps Manager Keith Alexander before the game.

The Bulls were the first to settle to their task and a decent move down the left involving Lunt and Pugh enabled Craig King to get a shot off but it went wide of the post before Davide Somma, a 24 year-old South African striker on loan from Leeds United, broke into the box only to be thwarted by a timely Ryan Green interception. Somma was soon to open the scoring when he chased a long ball deep into The Bulls half in the 12th minute and fired passed Bartlett from the edge of the box. McCallum was unlucky to see his effort hacked away with the keeper beaten by a header that some Bulls fans were convinced had crossed the line. Almost immediately, Lincoln got their second when Matt Saunders brought the ball down fully 35 yards from goal and smacked a dipping swerver into Bartlett’s net. It knocked the stuffing out of The Bulls team for some time but a couple of forward runs from Ryan Green restored the confidence and it was Green’s superb first touch and lay-off that provided the chance for Marc Pugh to turn and score from 8 yards a couple of minutes before half time.

HT Lincoln City 2 HUFC 1

The interval provided an opportunity for ’66 World Cup Star Martin Peters to show off the Gold Trophy and a number of Hereford fans were drawn out of the lottery to have their photo taken with the famous pot. Just a shame Geoff Hurst didn’t show up in a Bulls shirt for the night.

In the second period, The Bulls continued to have their share of possession but this was mainly concentrated away from the opponent’s goal although another surging run from Green did force a corner but it was cleared with some ease. Pugh delivered a free kick to the far post but Constantine contrived to miss kick from what appeared to be just a yard or two out before Valentine chipped forward to Pugh but once again, his driven cross failed to find a striker in the danger area. Then with 18 minutes of the second period gone, Lincoln got the goal to kill off the game. The lively Somma got to the bye-line on the edge of the box and pulled the ball back for Saunders to drill home from ten yards. The Bulls midfield tried desperately to unlock the home defence as both Lunt and McQuilkin worked the ball from wing to wing but the final ball into the box constantly failed to find strikers who could get space for a shot on goal. McQuilkin eventually resorted to a couple of long distance efforts but both comfortably cleared the bar.

FT Lincoln City 3 HUFC 1

This was not the result that the returning GT was clearly hoping for but it did emphasise the importance of having a big striker to win flicks and an alert partner to run the channels. Manset and Done both made cameo appearances towards the end but the game had already been lost by the time the eightieth minute substitutions were introduced. Turner has plenty of work to be done on the training ground and somehow, he needs to find a striker that wants to score goals. The game was watched by 6012 with around 130/140 from The Shire.

Lincoln: Burch. Hughton, Swaibu (Hone 69), Pearce (Green 80), Anderson. Kerr, Clarke, Saunders, Lennon, Broughton (Connor 90), Somma. Subs unused: Musselwhite, Reid, Gordon, Gilmour.

Hereford: Bartlett, Green, Jones, Preston, Valentine, Pugh, McQuilkin, Lunt, McCallum; King (Done 80), Constantine (Manset 80). Subs unused: Adamson, Rose, Gwynne, Downing, Sonko.

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