From the Archives - Shrimps Fried By Bulls

Back in September 2007, Hereford United travelled to Morecambe and came away with a 3-0 victory. On that day Mark Haywood was the referee and he's in charge again when the two teams meet tomorrow.

Here's reminder of that game:

Hereford United struck three goals in the last ten minutes to overcome newly promoted Morecambe at Christie Park this afternoon. Trevor Benjamin opened in the 80th minute with a header, before Lionel Ainsworth and Luke Webb confirmed the win with late strikes; the victory sees United move up to fifth in the table, the same position they have been in after their previous two away victories.

There was only one change to the starting line up from last weekend's defeat against Macclesfield, with Trevoe Benjamin replacing Theo Robinson, who was ill. Sam Gwynne, Webb and Simon Johnson took places on the bench. Trent McClenhan was still unavailable due to international duty, with Richard Rose again deputising at right back. Lining up for the opposition was ex Bull Craig Stanley, who opted to join the Northeners after Hereford's play-off victory, just over a year ago. Once rumoured target of Graham Turners', Jim Bentley, lined up as captain for Morecambe, and received the player of the month award before the match started.

The early signs showed promise for Hereford, with Ainsworth again finding good rhythm down the right hand side. He burst from the half way line before firing wide from the edge of the area, whilst at the other end, Stanley shot weakly at Wayne Brown. Ainsworth then leapt well to meet a Steve Guinan flick but his header went harmlessly over. A powerful header from Dave Artell caused United problems in the area, but Guinan had time to control before volleying clear to safety. A determined Stanley also had a good opportunity from a set piece, but his flick was caught by Brown.

Both sides were finding space, but were failing to create any real chances in front of goal. Carl Baker's long range effort went harmlessly wide, before Morecambe wasted their best chance of the half. Garry Thompson beat Kris Taylor on the right wing, before hanging a cross to the back post, where Matthew Blinkhorn pounced, but could only head wide from a good position. At the other end, Taylor found himself attacking, and crossing for Guinan to head into the side netting. Just before half time, Benjamin powerfully struck a shot after good work from Ainsworth, but the keeper wasn't troubled.

The start of the second half was very poor, with neither side threatening. Ainsworth tamely shot at Joe Lewis, whilst free-kicks from both Taylor and Ainsworth again failed to trouble Lewis. One may argue that the changing point of the game occured when Michael Twiss was introduced in place of Stanley; the midfielder was playing extremely well, working hard both defensively and attacking-wise, and the decision to switch to two up front left a large gap in midfield which The Bulls exploited. However, things could have been much different if Damien Allen finished from close range. Twiss skinned Rose before cutting back for Allen, but he could only find the back of the stand, instead of the back of the net despite being in a fine position.

Hereford had plenty of possesion in the second half, but all too often, the final ball was letting them down, or players were dwelling on the ball. Then came the defining moment. Guinan held the ball up in the box, and played a neat ball to the feet of Ben Smith, who had ran into the box. Smith dinked a cross to the back post, and it was met bravely by the stooping Benjamin to knock in his third goal of the season. Morecambe tried to respond by bringing on two attacking players in Jon Newby and Garry Hunter, in place of Neil Sorvell and Blinkhorn, but the goal had lifted Hereford and they looked like adding a second. Benjamin's clever back-heel fell in the path of Smith, who shot inches wide with his left foot. Just a minute later though, and United made it two.

A long ball was chested down by Benjamin, and Guinan linked up with Benjamin, who sent a through ball to the chasing Ainsworth. The winger used his pace to devastating effect, before putting the ball out of the reach of the on-rushing Lewis, and into the back of the net. With the win seemingly wrapped up, and five minutes remaining, Simon Johnson made his league debut, replacing goalscorer Benjamin, and he used his pace to good effect as the game became very open late on, by running the channels. Webb then replaced the other goalscorer Ainsworth for a short run out. A free-kick for Morecambe resulted in an Artell head on target, but Brown was equal to it, whilst Johnson perhaps should have done better after racing through to meet a Smith pass, but only shooting at Lewis.

Deep into injury time, United put the icing on the cake when an Easton header released Guinan down the left hand side, and he put a good low ball into the box, and Webb (pictured being congratulated by Guinan after the end of the match) capped his cameo appearence by sliding in to make it three.

The victory enbaled United to continue their 100% start away from home, with Benjamin scoring in all three games. The former Leicester and Peterborough man gave a fine second half performance, using his power and ability superbly; player of the month Bentley had no answer for this. 2949 supporters witnessed the late surge by United, although the Hereford contingent was surprisingly quiet by their usual standards. Next up for The Bulls is a tough looking home match against Bradford, who overcame Peterborough 1-0 at Valley Parade today.

Hereford: Brown, Rose, Taylor, Broadhurst, Beckwith, Ainsworth, Easton, Diagouraga, Smith, Guinan, Benjamin.

Subs: Ingham, McCombe, Gwynne, Webb, Johnson.

Morecambe, Lewis, Yates, Adams, Artell, Bentley, Thompson, Stanley, Baker, Allen, Sorvell, Blinkhorn.

Subs: Drench, Howard, Hunter, Twiss, Newby.

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