Swashbuckling Bulls thrash Robins

The Bulls produced a vintage performance at Twaddle Road this afternoon to defeat a Cheltenham Town side that was littered with Conference standard performances by three goals to nil. Two from debutant striker Waide Fairhurst and another from Janos Kovacs sealed a comfortably victory as Hereford United handed out a footballing lesson to the Gloucestershire outfit.


Manager Pitman handed starts to Harry Pell and Fairhurst with James McQuilkin earning a well-earned rest with Jake Jervis joining him on the bench while The Robins included former Bulls Keith Lowe and Brian Smikle. Around 700 Bulls fans saw their team attack the far end in the first period with the "barn conversion" type Main Stand to the left.

From the off, both teams looked to open their accounts early on but it was The Bulls who looked the most threatening. With just a couple of minutes on the clock, Colbeck found Fairhurst with a through ball and strength and determination enabled him to get a shot off but it was blocked and cleared. Kenny Lunt released Pell and he found Colbeck in space on the edge of the box but his shot fell into the arms of home keeper, Brown. Fleetwood was into the action shortly afterwards when he fired wide latching on to a Heath flighted ball from the back. Harry Pell signalled his attacking intentions with a run from the visitors half and he set a chance up for Fleetwood but the striker's effort was blocked away for a corner. Purdie's flag-kick was headed just wide by Richard Rose. Then, as Cheltenham broke quickly, Bartlett brought off a fine double save before Thomas fired the loose ball well over from just six yards. Smikle whipped a cross in from the left but Richard Rose was across to head clear with Goulding poised to strike. However, it was The Bulls who struck the opening goal on 23 minutes.

Kenny Lunt broke up a Cheltenham attack and fed a short pass to Colbeck who set off towards the home end. His through ball was held up by Fleetwood who then layed off into the path of Waide Fairhurst and the Doncaster loanee fired home impressively into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box.

At the other end, Bartlett had to receive attention after he came to collect a dangerous cross from the right and was caught in the face by the wayward forearm of Goulding. Referee Langford waved play-on and was similarly unimpressed by Fleetwood's complaints about the continual shoves in the back that he was incurring as the hosts struggled to contain the mobile Bulls forward line. The Robins threw balls into the box but the central combination of Rose and Kovacs stood firm and Kenny Lunt's ability to read the game was evident as he was frequently seen to snuff out moves before they reached the danger zone. Bartlett was out to punch clear a cross from the right and Bird's attempt from the clearance sailed comfortably over before Bartlett was again into action to block a shot from Goulding from close range.

Rob Purdie set up a chance for Harry Pell but his 20-tarder was pushed round the post by Brown and Fairhurst forced a fine save from the home keeper after a run from the halfway line while Kenny Lunt kept the hosts at bay with a late diving clearance header as the half drew to a close.

HT Robins 0 Bulls 1

Any home hopes of a recovery were soon dashed as The Bulls doubled their advantage just six minutes after the break. Waide Fairhurst chased a ball down the left and held the play up well before eventually drawing a foul from the fullback. Kenny Lunt drifted to ball towards the back post, Brown flapped and missed and Janos Goulash Kovacs was on hand to head into the empty net.

Two Nil and starting to really look the part.

Referee Langford and his less than observant assistant combined to deny Purdie a chance when the ball was lifted over the Robins defence by Pell. Fairhurst who made no attempt to move towards the ball was returning from an offside position but Purds ran through from fully fifteen yards onside only for the flag to flutter when he had only Brown to beat. Errrm…not interfering?

Fairhurst was chopped down as he sped down the right and Lunt's the resultant free kick was headed clear before Bartlett dealt with a swerving shot from 18 yards. Meanwhile, Fleetwood's unselfish running was causing chaos in the opponents back division as The Bulls really started to click into gear. Mark Yeates threw on a couple of aimless substitutions in an attempt to stem the flow but The Bulls were in no mood to be distracted from their flowing football. Fleetwood burst into the Robins box and was only thwarted by Elliot's dying swan act. Needless to say he leapt to his feet and sprinted to the halfway line as soon as the official awarded a free kick. Colbeck, who was having a much-improved game, combined well with Fleetwood and when Fleets pulled back from the bye-line, Harry Pell was desperately unlucky to see his first time effort come back off the foot of the post with the keeper beaten. In a rare home attack, Keith Lowe saw his header from a corner soar over the bar without threatening Bartlett's goal.

The final fifteen minutes produced a virtuoso performance of pass and move from the dominant visitors. One move of fully twenty passes had the Bulls fans chanting Ole before Fairhurst rounded off a splendid five-man move when he cut inside his marker to fire home from 12 yards on 89 minutes.


Pitman allowed a generous round of applause to be offered as the two-goal debutant was subbed off to be replaced by Jake Jervis while the hard working Colbeck made way for Nicky Featherstone for the final couple of minutes

FT Robins 0 Bulls 3 (and it could have easily been a few more)

After a, perhaps, tentative first period The Bulls really showed the gulf in quality in the second half as they stole every crumb off the Robins table. Bartlett was dominant and decisive and the back four all had sound games. Rob Purdie was quietly efficient, often tucking in to provide cover as Lunt or Pell moved forward and Joe Colbeck had one of his more impressive outings but it was the pace and movement of Fleetwood and his new partner that provided the cutting edge, which the hosts had no answer for.

Robins fans in the crowd of 3643 were streaming for the exits some time before the final whistle while the 694 from The Shire were still stood acknowledging the win long after the defeated hosts had left the field.

I thoroughly enjoyed that (and the pint in Ledbury on the way home).

Hereford: - Bartlett; Green, Kovacs, Rose, Heath, Purdie, Lunt, Pell, Colbeck (Featherstone 90), Fleetwood, Fairhurst (Jervis 90), Unused Subs: Stratford, McQuilkin, Preston, Heister, Ngo Baheng.

Cheltenham: Brown, Lowe, Elliott, Riley, Andrew, Smikle (Lewis 46), Bird, Artus (Melligan 59), Pack, Thomas, Goulding (Green 59). Unused Subs: Pook, Lloyd-Weston, Lee, Eastham.

---