From the Archives - Another Cracking Win for the Bulls

Eight years ago today on a cold and wet Friday evening the Bulls travelled to the Lawn for a Conference League fixture.

Forest Green Rovers 1 - 7 Hereford United

Almost 700 Hereford fans were in attendance as their side swept Forest Green away at the Lawn.

The result equals Hereford's record post-war league win, which was set just a few weeks ago as they beat Halifax Town at Edgar Street by the same score.

This outcome, though, cannot have come at a better time. United slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Tamworth last weekend and, having collected all three points, are now just a point behind leaders Chester City having played the same number of games.

Graham Turner's men were without striker Steve Guinan again, and new signing Mark Beesley was not registered in time to play in tonight's encounter. Nevertheless, they were not needed. Paul Parry's performance buoyed the team on to victory. The Welshman was being watched by Cardiff City, with whom he recently spent a trial spell, and boss Lennie Lawrence can only have been impressed with what he saw.

But what of Forest Green, who will be naturally disheartened by such a hammering? Colin Addison suggested before the match that United were ready for promotion, and so it proved. The gap between the top teams and those at the other end of the Conference can be huge, but as Tamworth proved last week, this is not always the case. Hereford have now scored twelve goals against their Gloucestershire rivals this season, but they do not look like one of the three worst teams in the league.

United started well, as Parry (pictured) linked with Ben Smith after just ninety seconds to fire wide of Steve Perrin's goal. The same goalkeeper was forced to save from Smith a few minutes later as he was stung by a strong shot. It was the sign of things to come.

Smith, Rob Purdie, Danny Williams and finally Ryan Green all linked for Parry netted his first on the thirteenth minute at the far post. So, Hereford had the lead, but they almost lost it two minutes later when Steve Cowe's cross from the right flank found Martin Foster behind the United back-line. His shot sailed over Matt Baker's goalframe. Jamie Pitman later blocked a Cowe shot a minute before Parry doubled his tally. He cut in from the left channel to feed onto a Purdie ball and put Hereford further clear.

By half time, it was 4-0. Ben Smith struck from outside the box with ten minutes of the half remaining, giving Perrin no chance, and two minutes later Rob Purdie was played through and chipped the ball over the sprawling goalkeeper to give United a huge half-time advantage.

After the restart, United continued in the same vein of form and two goals in a minute made it 6-0. A Danny Williams, pictured, free-kick on fifty nine minutes from the edge of the centre circle found Parry in the box, who had broken free to beat the offside trap. He controlled firstly with his chest, and then struck the ball, which bounced in off the far post. From the kick-off, a free-kick was swung in from the right channel which was spilled by Perrin, and Smith was on-hand to hammer it home.

With United sailing, Turner made changes, bringing off the influential Tony James, Ben Smith and Danny Williams. Paul Parry took over as captain, but he couldn't find another goal. Jamie Pitman could, though, as he back-footed the ball into the net with eleven minutes left. It wasn't all one-way traffic though. Forest Green continued to battle, with Scott Rogers' shot being cleared by Anwar Uddin and Matt Baker called into action on a couple of occasions. At the other end, Ben Smith struck the crossbar before Addison's men found a consolation. Matt Baker missed a punch, and Damon Searle struck with five minutes to go.

It was, though, a matter of much too little, much too late. Hereford go into the next few games full of Christmas cheer, while Rovers will hope that Telford eat too much turkey and slump in their Boxing Day meeting.

UPDATE: Hereford United historian Ron Parrott has commented that whilst 7-1 was a great victory there were others.

There have indeed been five other occasions of 7-1 victories but there have also been several better scorelines than this.

The record of course is the 9-0 win at Dagenham & Redbridge in 2003/04 but at the time of the article there was an 8-0 win v Gloucester City in 1956/57, followed by 7-0 wins v Cheltenham Town in 1952/53, Trowbridge Town 7-0 in 1964/65, poor old Gloucester City again in 1964/65 and Hillingdon Borough in 1969/70 and incredibly, although not matching any of these, there was an 8-4 victory against Kettering Town in 1954/55.

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