Graham Turner made six changes to the side that were defeated on Tuesday night, and it paid dividends as Hereford United recorded their first victory in four outings. There was also a change in formation, as United adopted a 3-4-1-2 formation. The side on the end of the beating was Bury, who drop one place to twenty third. Before the game, they boasted a lean defence who'd conceded just twice in the previous five games.
Rob Purdie, Martyn Giles and Wayne Brown were all back in the side, having missed out altogether against Wycombe, and there were further places in the starting eleven for Dean Beckwith, Richard Rose and Simon Travis. Those to miss out were Scott Tynan, Phil Gulliver, Andy Ferrell (none of whom were on the bench) as well as Alex Jeannin, Gareth Sheldon and Alan Connell.
Hereford's defence were clearly more confident with Brown back between the sticks, and in general the side appeared more assured, as they knocked the ball around more so than they have done in other games this season. Brown was first called upon after ten minutes or so when he rushed out to stop Andy Bishop from creating anything, having latched onto a ball over the top.
United were quicker on the break this afternoon, and could well have opened the scoring when Andy Williams had support from both Tim Sills and Stuart Fleetwood. He went alone though, and his low drive was easily delt with by Kasper Schmeichel. Tamika Mkandawire forced Schmeichel into another save a few minutes later, as he got a toe on Williams' header back into the box, after Fleetwood had won a corner.
Chances were rare in an even first period; Sills had headed a Dean Beckwith cross harmlessley wide before The Bulls had a good opportunity on the stroke of half time. Fleetwood and Williams linked up well, with the latter returning a pass to the former, who skied his effort from out side of the box well over the bar.
Sills had the best effort of the game just after the restart when he forced Schmeichel into a flying save having met another Beckwith cross from the right. Fleetwood should have added to his goals tally when he met a fantastic Williams cross, but he watched the ball bounce agonisingly wide, having headed downward from six yards out. Fleetwood then turned provider for Williams, who broke into the box, before being tackled by Chris Brass. He then disposessed the veteran centre back, who felled Williams outside of the box.
Sills was again causing problems for The Shakers backline, and almost capped a move that he'd started off. Having received the ball deep, he layed it off to Fleetwood, who'd broken down the right flank. Sills then made a late dash into the penalty box, and slung himself towards the far post, where he was just an inch or so away from getting a foot on Fleetwood's pass across the goal face.
This was Sills' last action as he was then replaced by Connell. Purdie, annonymous for the most part, ineffective the other, was also replaced by Sheldon. And it took just five minutes for the sub to pay off, as Williams netted the winner in the eightieth minute. Connell was involved again, as he was with the goal against Wycombe, as he played a superb touch on for Travis. The wingback tore down the flank before delivering a cross for Williams, who took a touch before smashing the ball past Schmeichel from close range.
Bury, who until then hadn't tested Brown to much extent, still couldn't get the better of United's backline, thanks to a man of the match performance by Beckwith. Brown released a long ball for United to counter, and Williams this time set up Connell, but his effort was deflected behind. He surely doesn't have to do much more to warrent a starting place! Fleetwood went close with a first time effort from the resulting corner, and he had another effort fly just wide before the three minutes of injury time were up.
All in all a better performance by Hereford, who actually looked to get the ball down rather than lump it forwards to Sills. It was an improvement on the Wycombe game, although the opposition probably wasn't as good. Turner still has some thinking to do with regards to his best side. There are still weak links in the midfield, but Turner has options in Ferrell (injured today) Sam Gwynne (on the bench) and Jon Wallis (who was left out). He's also got Webb and Fitzpatrick to choose from. He will have to decide whether to continue with the new formation also.
HUFC: Brown, Beckwith, Mkandawire, Giles, McClenahan, Travis, Purdie, Rose, Williams, Sills, Fleetwood. Subs: Gwynne, Thompson, Sheldon, Connell, Jeannin.
BFC: Schmeichel, Brass, Scott, Challinor, Kennedy, Mattis, Baker, Adams, Buchanan, Youngs, Bishop. Subs: Woodthorpe, Goodfellow, Pittman, Barry-Murphy, Taylor.
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