15 Years of Pitman (Part One)

It's 15 years this week since Jamie Pitman first joined Hereford United.

He had started his career at Swindon but was released after making just three first team appearances.

According to the BN archives he signed a deal at Edgar Street on February 17th 1996 when just 20 years old and made his first appearance for the Bulls on the following Tuesday evening in a home game against Chester City which the Bulls won 1-0.

It was a month before he made a second start but soon became a regular just as the Bulls went on an eight match unbeaten run which included a 1-0 victory over Fulham.

However in the game at Mansfield on April 20th, he dislocated his shoulder. But he wasn't out for long and was able to take part in the play-off games against Darlington.

Injury curtailed his second season with the Bulls - he only made eight appearances during the whole campaign. But following relegation to the Conference Pitman established himself in the 97/98 squad.

His first goal for the Bulls came on September 9th in a home game against Farnborough.

The clincher came just four minutes later as the fans sang out. Rob Warner eased the ball out to Jamie Pitman who was in his favourite position with a narrowing angle on the right of the box. He collected the ball, bringing it under control and moving forward, fizzed his shot past the stranded MacKenzie.

This also gave Jamie his first goal of the season and a regular place in the starting line-up.

There was another goal for him against Stalybridge three weeks later when Andy Milner played a through ball to Jamie Pitman whose first touch shot fizzed past Statham into the back of the net.

At the end of the season manager Graham Turner made an offer to Pitman but the midfielder decided to join Yeovil where he stayed for two seasons before moving to Woking.

It wasn't long before the Bulls met Pitman again.

On October 28th 2000 the Bulls travelled to Woking for a FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round tie. Jamie Pitman was deemed man of the match for all the wrong reasons if you were a Hereford United supporter as his goal put the Bulls out of the Cup.

Woking fought back and had several good efforts in the space of about five minutes. Two good efforts came with Cooksey managing to keep his clean sheet but that all changed on thirty minutes. United were made to pay when Nick Roddis found Jamie Pitman with a cross from the right, and he former United midfielder jumped above the defence to header a ball off the crossbar and into Scott Cooksey's net from six yards.

The weather was awful and fans hoped that referee Yerby would call the game off.

The pitch became a bog, with players slipping and missing tackles all over. Why it wasn't called off is anyone's guess!

Pitman rejoined Hereford in early June 2002.

HEREFORD United have confirmed that midfielder Jamie Pitman has rejoined the club after a four year absence.

Pitman, who was part of the relegated Hereford team in 1997, has signed a one-year contract with Graham Turner after playing for the Bulls between 1996 and 1998. Based in the city, the move came about after Pitman was released by Woking. He has also played for Yeovil Town and the twenty six year old played twenty one league matches in Hereford colours.

Turner told the Hereford Times of Pitman: "He works in Hereford and phoned me to say that he was struggling to get to Woking for training and he indicated his desire to come back here. Jamie can play right back, wide right or central midfield and has signed a part-time contract."

He couldn't have had a better start to his second spell with the Bulls.

Saturday 17th August (3pm) - Nationwide Conference league match



Pitman double secures first win

Hereford United 2 - 1 Farnborough Town

Hereford United opened their sixth Nationwide Conference campaign with victory over highly-fancied Farnborough Town at Edgar Street.

With John Grant, Ben Smith and Scott Voice all missing from the starting eleven, it was difficult to see where the goals were to appear from - the answer was Jamie Pitman.

On his return to Edgar Street following a four year gap, the midfielder notched up a brace to ensure three points and third spot in the table on the first evening of the season.

The Bulls included five debutants in their starting line-up, and two more made their debuts as the game progressed. Farnborough, under the management of Graham Westley, included Tony Pennock and Ken Charlery in their first team.

The away side seemed the more comfortable in the first ten minutes but after Pennock had to save twice from Bulls skipper Ian Wright in the Farnborough goal, Hereford seemed to push into the action more. Midway through the opening period, Gary Butterworth hit a shot narrowly over from the edge of Matt Baker's box but Hereford were next to have a goalscoring chance.

On twenty eight minutes, Paul Parry broke free on the right wing after a Farnborough corner broke down. Shrugging off the challenge of Michael Warner, he sailed over a cross which Pennock dropped, and Jamie Pitman was on hand to head home from close range. The Bulls had a 1-0 lead, and looked to build upon it five minutes later. A Danny Williams free-kick saw Steve Guinan volley on the ball, and it took a stunning save by Pennock to tip the ball around the post to keep the advantage at one goal.

After the break, the crowd of 1910 saw Hereford grow in stature. Once Hereford had dealt with the initial threats of a Dean Green shot and a twenty-yard free-kick, Michael Rose hit the top of the net with a cross from the left flank. On fifty seven minutes, Pitman picked up his side's first yellow card of the match after charging at Justin Gregory. The ex-Woking midfielder was, in some eyes, lucky not to have been sent off for the challenge by a referee not unhappy to bandish around his cards.

Twenty minutes from time, Farnborough had a good opening in which they could have levelled things as a Gregory cross was hit just wide by Lenny Piper. Two minutes later, a Christian Lee shot was blocked by the feet of Baker as Farnborough searched for that equalising goal.

Then, Hereford took the initiative. With twelve minutes to go, Matt Clarke and Pitman linked well on the right before Guinan fired a low ball at Pennock, and nine minutes later substitute Rob Purdie hit a ball from the right for Pitman to tap in unmarked on the near post. Hereford had a solid lead and surely the game was wrapped up.

However, things don't quite work like that at Edgar Street! With the five minutes of added time, Farnborough managed to sneak back a late goal as a Piper cross was headed home by Christian Lee, who was under pressure from Andrew Tretton. A late consolation goal for Farnborough did little to dampen the Hereford supporters' spirits, glad to emerge with another opening day victory.

(Part Two of this article will appear later this week.)

---