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The Swindon press is reporting that Will Evans has joined Hereford United on a three month loan deal.
The Swindon Advertiser says that Evans is one of up to six players that will be shipped out by Paolo Di Canio with the Italian making Arsenal reserve team captain Daniel Boateng his final signing of the summer. The 19 year old is primarily a central defender but can play across the back four.
Hereford United are currently available at 5/1 to defeat Bristol Rovers on Saturday. This price is with Bet365, Victor Chandler and Coral.
Best price for a draw is 13/5.
Latest Offer from SkyBet:
Bristol 4/7 Draw 13/5 Hereford 4/1
Meanwhile Dean Mohareb from Cheshire has been appointed to referee Saturday's match.
It is Mohareb's first season at League level. To date he has been in charge of three games in which he has given out six yellow cards.
Some more quotes from Jamie Pitman after last night's game at Villa Park:
"We arrived at Villa on the back of some indifferent form but I know we have a decent group of lads.
"I have asked our fans and our staff to be patient with them because they are a fresh bunch of lads who enjoy playing together."
And a few words about keeper David Cornell:
"Potentially he can be a very good player.
"He has come in on a month's loan from Swansea to take over from Adam Bartlett who has a thigh strain.
"Russell Hoult deputised for Bartlett in one game but he was like a wash board and I had to get in another keeper.
"This was only Cornell's second game and playing against Villa has given him and the rest of team a lot of confidence for the future.
"The lads did me proud. We tried to frustrate Villa and we actually had a couple of half chances before they scored."
The Bulls have confirmed a travelling support of 2,601 at Villa Park last night.
A Villa spokesman told the club: "Aston Villa would like to thank all Hereford fans for their conduct both inside and outside Villa Park last night. They were all a credit to Hereford United."
The Bulls now travel to Bristol Rovers on Saturday. Early bird tickets, offering a £2 discount on matchday prices, are available directly from their ticket office (0117 909 66 48, Option 1) for collection on the day. The game is Category B priced by the Pirates, with early tickets costing £16, £9 (65+), and £8 (u16) for Terrace, and £18.50, £10.50, and £9.50 for Stand.
No Bulls in the Team of the Week. Macclesfield, Shrewsbury, and Gillingham had two players nominated each for the League Two side. Gillingham have made defenders Simon King and Garry Richards available for loan. The pair have both asked to go out after neither played any part in their opening five matches.
Bradford have signed young strikers Adam Baker and Darren Stephenson on two year development deals as the latest additions to their development squad. Meanwhile striker Nahki Wells will miss a couple of games after being called up by Bermuda for their World Cup qualifying campaign. Ludlow Town are to sell their stadium and lease it back to clear their debts. The £450,000 sale will see the side pay £1,000 a month to rent it back until 2041.
Cheltenham have agreed a settlement with former captain Michael Pook over the remainder of his contract. The 25 year old midfielder was transfer listed in the summer and is now a free agent. Southend are to sell 16 year old winger Lyle Della-Verde to Fulham for a six-figure fee. The deal will include sell-on clauses.
Swindon are to sign a Premier League defender on loan this week according to boss Paolo Di Canio. It would be his 15th signing of the summer after axing 13 earlier in the summer, with chairman Jeremy Wray admitting that they 'are within the salary cap, although I have about five pence left'. Wrexham's Supporters Trust will hold a vote tonight on whether it is to complete it's takeover of the club. Even if the vote is passed they warn they are yet to complete due dilligence on the deal.
Former Bull Danny Carey-Bertram was sent off in Worcester's 5-1 win at Histon last night after sparking a mass brawl. Tyler Weir had a quieter game for Gloucester last night as they lost 2-1 to Eastwood Town. The Tigers had a man sent off with Weir playing the first half at left back before moving into a midfield role at half time. Ex-Bull Lee Morris grabbed the winner for Eastwood.
Plymouth fans are to hold a vigil to raise awareness of the plight of the club. Bidders Bishop International are due to complete their bid for the club on Friday after missing several deadlines, with fans fearing they will miss the latest deadline with the Administrator saying the deal will be dead if funds do not arrive. The vigil will run from 6pm tonight until the home match with Crewe on the Saturday, with fans lighting 124 candles to represent the years the club has been in existence.
Around 3000 Hereford United supporters decended on Villa Park last evening to back manager Jamie Pitman's injury ravaged squad.
And whilst at the end Villa probably deserved to go into the third round, for some 80 minutes or so the Bulls kept a clean sheet through some excellent defending with Ryan Green having one of his best ever games in a Hereford United shirt.
Mention should also be made of young goalkeeper David Cornwell who only linked up with the Bulls hours before last Saturday's League game at AFC Wimbledon.
According to the Birmingham Mail, the young Welsh keeper 'showed speedy reflexes to thwart Ireland and Bent from point blank range and tip over Clark’s header before the break, as well as flying through the air to save Lichaj’s screamer in the second half'
The Hereford United supporters were in fine voice for much of the game with 'Premier League, you're having a laugh' one of the printable chants.
Meanwhile chairman David Keyte will be pleased with the financial return from the game.
It's likely the gross takings will come to around £180,000. After taking out expenses, the Bulls are expected to receive a pay-out of around £75,000.
According to the Swindon press this morning, Will Evans is being linked with a loan move to Hereford United.
Evans is a centre-back who comes from Cricklade and represented Fairford Town before being snapped up by Swindon Town and progressing through the Centre of Excellence at The County Ground.
He signed his first professional contract, a two year deal, in April 2010, after captaining the youth and reserve sides throughout the 2009–10 season. He made his professional debut in a 3–0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy victory at Southampton on 31 August 2010.
UPDATE 9pm: It appears that Evans and several other Swindon players are surplus to requirements at present. Manager Paolo Di Canio has 31 players on his books and has been told to reduce this number to 25.
In his post-match comments Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish spoke highly of Hereford United's players.
"It was a shame we could not get an early goal," he said.
"We made a good start but I was wondering whether the players were thinking seriously about the approach to the game when they were playing a team from a lower division.
"I thought they went about their task really well. We didn't get a break though and I thought Hereford did their manager proud.
"They played very well and were excellent. They kept in the game and gained in confidence and I always worried about a defender making a mistake and opening the back door.
"They didn't really trouble us too much but the professionalism in the team is brilliant and exemplified by the captain, Richard Dunne.
"He was outstanding against Hereford and showed he has the same attitude whether it is Manchester United or Hereford United."
Hereford United manager Jamie Pitman was pleased with the performance of his injury-ravaged side last night at Villa Park.
"It was a lift we needed," Pitman told Sky.
"We have lacked a bit of confidence after being thumped a couple of times.
"I have an inner belief that they are able to compete at a good level and they are actually a better team than last season. The performance against Villa can only give them confidence.
"We frustrated Villa for long periods and after 75 minutes I was wondering, 'Is it our day?'
"If we could have held out for another ten minutes we might have got something out of the game."
Pitman also spoke about his on-loan keeper David Cornell.
"Cornell was fantastic on a stage he wants to perform on in the future.
"He is a Welsh Under-21 international and has a great future. I'm delighted to have him in the side."
All the main stats from Villa Park where, last night, Hereford United were defeated 2-0 by Aston Villa in the second round of the Carling Cup.
Possession: Villa 55% Bulls 45%
Shots on Target: Villa 8 Bulls 2
Shots off Target: Villa 9 Bulls 2
Corners: Villa 9 Bulls 2
Fouls: Villa 13 Bulls 7
Cards: No Hereford United player was carded
Attendance: 21058 including 2601 in the 'Hereford' end
The Bulls held Aston Villa for 80 minutes before two late goals gave the home side a win.
Ryan Green was a clear man of the match after a virtuoso performance, while the Bulls' resources were so stretched that youth teamer Tom John made a late cameo.
Full report later.
Jamie Pitman has told Bulls Player that Joe Heath will take part in tonight's Carling Cup match at Villa Park.
However Rob Purdie will not be risked after his injury. Pitman also said that he was hoping to bring in an experienced central defender to cover for the loss of Stefan Stam.
Meanwhile Stuart Fleetwood has told his twitter followers that 'joining us on the bus are 3 very nervous looking youth team players!'.
BBC Hereford and Worcester will have full coverage of this evening's Carling Cup-tie from Villa Park this evening on 94.7FM around Herefordshire.
As ever Keith Hall will be behind the microphone.
For those supporters in the West Midlands, BBC WM will also be at the game with updates from Terry Goodwin.
There will also be full commentary for those who subscribe to Bulls Player.
Finally the odds on a Hereford win this evening are now around 18/1.
Latest Odds from SkyBet:
Villa 1/7 Draw 6/1 Hereford 18/1
Bradford plan to sign two more players ahead of the transfer window closing at the end of the month. Co-chairman Mark Lawn admits the move will 'stretch the budget again' but that the side needs more experience. Twelve people were arrested at the Swindon-Oxford derby match, with Police saying they were arrested for low level public disorder and drunkeness.
Aldershot have loaned teenager Henrik Bremyr to Eastleigh for an initial month. The Norwegian was previously with Reading and signed a two year deal with the Shots in the summer. Oxford striker James Constable says he has no intentions to leave the club after Luton boss Gary Brabin said he would make a second bid for the forward.
Crewe boss Dario Gradi says there a few players available that fit the bill of the targetman his side needs. Gradi believes his small strikeforce needs a bigger presence to help it cope. The Railwaymen have offered defender Richard Hinds non-contract terms at the club. The 31 year old impressed in a reserve game yesterday after a four year injury plagued spell with Sheff Weds.
Aston Villa have warned fans taking flags tonight that they will not be able to display them over the front of the stand.
The club emailed one fan to tell them: "I am sorry but you will not be able to display flags over the front of the stand. There are hospitality boxes directly beneath the stand the view from which could be obstructed."
The Bulls have a 3,750 seater stand allocated to them. Should there be space it is assumed that flags will be able to be displayed over spare seats.
Alex McLeish has said everything points to a win for Aston Villa against Hereford United this evening in the Carling Cup.
"I only began thinking of the Hereford match on Sunday. We’ve had them watched but I’ve not done any research on them at all yet, I was too busy with the Blackburn game.
"But we will pay Hereford respect by encouraging our players to play at their absolute top level.
"If you are getting a home draw it’s always a bonus and we’ve got a team in a lower division, so the expectation is that we will go through.
"But we know there are banana skins, there are no guarantees in professional sport, but if the players give me what they gave in the win over Blackburn in terms of their attitude and commitment, then that will do me."
The Football League have issued an apology to users that were unable to log into their Player service at the weekend to listen to commentary.
Some users were unable to log into the service to hear commentary for around the opening half hour of Saturday's games. Some Bulls fans outside the BBC Hereford and Worcester area had to turn to Wimbledon's official commentary, which was not part of the FLi network, to get them through the outage.
The statement reads:
FLi would like to apologise for the poor service that some users of Official Club websites received for this weekend's matches.
The problems, which prevented some clubs uploading and updating content and a limited number of subscribers from being able to log-in into their club's Player service, seem to have stemmed from technical issues at our digital service provider, Perform.
FLi values, above anything else, delivering a timely, first class service to supporters and expects its partners to follow suit. With this in mind, we're working with Perform to ensure that these issues do not re-occur.
We will also be working with Perform to explore ways that those affected by the outage can be suitably compensated.
A further statement from Perform will follow.
The Bulls defensive options have been cut down after the club confirmed that both Stefan Stam and Benoit Dalibard will miss up to a month each.
The pair limped out of Saturday's game and have now had hamstring problems confirmed. They will miss Tuesday's trip to Villa Park along with keeper Adam Bartlett, but Joe Heath and Rob Purdie are both hoped to be fit enough to play.
Meanwhile the few remaining spaces on coach travel to Villa Park have been taken. All 25 coaches are now full with close to 1,500 tickets sold and another thousand are expected to purchase on the day. Tickets will remain on sale from the Club Office until 4pm today.
Hereford United can be backed at 14/1 to defeat Aston Villa in the Carling Cup-tie tomorrow evening. This price is available at Bet365, SkyBet, Victor Chandler and BlueSq.
Latest Offer from SkyBet:
Villa 1/5 Draw 5/1 Hereford 14/1
Port Vale say they will post a reduced loss of just under £100,000 last season, down from £370,000 the season before. At a supporters meeting, the board claimed the losses were down to the EGM in June and increased security costs from supporter protests against the board. They also say that their claimed new investment is worth millions to the club. Lincoln have paid the legal bill of potential investor Michael Foley and issued an apology after chairman Bob Dorrian suggested he was not 'a fit and proper person' to be on the club's board at a supporters meeting.
Bradford have returned keeper Martin Hansen to Liverpool after failing to agree a deal to extend his loan. He was originally brought in as fellow loanee Oscar Jansson was refused permission to play in the Carling Cup. Swindon are to make Czech international forward Lukas Magera their fifteenth signing of the summer. The 28 year old is to sign a two year deal after a medical later today.
Exiled Bull has only positive comments about AFC:
I was a little surprised to read some of the less-than-flattering comments about AFC Wimbledon. It’s in London ergo parking is always difficult and therefore you must arrive early. There are few places as easy to park as Edgar Street – guys and girls you are spoilt!
I arrived at one o’clock and had the choice of free parking behind the main stand (how good is that!) or a convenient side-street. My little group were made very welcome in the social club by AFC supporters. The atmosphere was so convivial I could have stayed there all afternoon. The bar staff, club shop people, ticket office team all very friendly and helpful. There was some confusion over the Sun ticket offer but it was eventually sorted out. Quite why AFC felt they needed such an offer when they are clearly very well supported remains a mystery but I was most grateful to pay just £5 thanks to Rupert Murdoch.
AFC are mindful of their lack of seats with numerous would-be supporters refusing to attend because they can’t sit down. That’s a real problem for some people including Er Indoors whose limited mobility made standing up most painful. The club has a plan to install 900 seats on a terrace behind the goal.
I appreciated the covered terrace and the low roof was ideal for generating noise. There won’t be many grounds as atmospheric as this. Need I remind everyone of the miserable strip of open terrace waiting for us at Bristol Rovers?
Of course, how the team play is paramount and on Saturday the sweet passing movement were a joy to behold. All the newbies contributed manfully and gave everyone renewed hope though not everyone seemed convinced. I’m assuming that the chat of “We are staying up” at the end was at least partly ironic?
In the WBA v Manchester United programme, Richard Sneekes suggested that home supporters might want to watch Hereford United when their team isn’t playing. I managed to get 3 other Albionites to come along yesterday but normally it’s a tough selling job. “Seeing Delroy Facey in action” hasn’t worked as well as I’d hoped but I keep trying. If Sneekes was to make a comeback a la Russell Hoult now that would really help...
AFC Wimbledon skipper Jamie Stuart has told the Surrey Herald that they should have won Saturday's game with the Bulls.
Stuart claims a second half Charles Ademeno header was well over the goal line when saved by Bulls keeper David Cornell. He told the paper: "I am really disappointed with the linesman. That was a goal as it was two yards over the line. I was standing right there and it was very frustrating.
"It has hit my nose and then Charlie has come across and headed it, their goalkeeper has then dived in the goal to save it. But I then looked at the linesman and he was not up with play so I am very frustrated with that.
"I am very disappointed as we gave them an easy goal, but we kept going and had a lot of chances. We had a lot of chances to win the game, but we would have taken seven points out of the last nine before the past week."
Bulls News understands that Jamie Pitman's former Swindon teammate Ty Gooden is the scout that has brought Yoann Arquin and Benoit Dalibard to the club.
Pitman was a trainee at the County Ground when Gooden was a first teamer in the early 1990's. While Gooden spent seven years as a pro with the Robins, Pitman moved on to the Bulls after a handful of first team appearances. However the pair have retained contact that has seen the Bulls sign two this summer.
Gooden has based himself in France since having to retire from full-time playing in 2003 at the age of 31, going on to be a French leagues scout for Reading, Sunderland and, more recently, Arsenal.
Kevin Wright has been appointed to referee Tuesday evening's Carling Cup-tie at Villa Park where Hereford United will be the visitors.
Cambridge based Wright has only been involved in one Hereford United game to date. That was against Millwall at Edgar Street on a Tuesday evening in January 2009 when the Bulls were in League One.
The Bulls lost 2-0 and Wright booked Steve Guinan.
In his two games so far this season Wright has dished out seven yellow cards.
With Hereford United expecting to take a good following to Villa Park for the Carling Cup-tie on Tuesday and chairman David Keyte already rubbing his hands together at the prospect of a good pay-out from the gate, predictions of a 20,000 crowd may not be be too far off the mark.
Yesterday, 32,139 watched Villa defeat Blackburn Rovers 3-1. Admittedly it was the first home League game for new manager Alex McLeish but reports suggest that the victory was well-deserved and some of the football Brazil-like.
As at this morning Villa are top of the Premiership.
"I wish it was May!" said McLeish. "It’s early days as you rightly know. We’ve got four good points out of six."
Meanwhile HUISA are reported to have a few seats left on coach 25. Any supporter interested should ring the club tomorrow morning.
New loan signing Simon Clist, who had a good first game for the Bulls yesterday, is unable to play at Villa Park on Tuesday as he is cup-tied.
Clist played for Oxford in their first round match against Cardiff City. The left winger scored their only goal of the game.
His unavailability poses another problem for manager Jamie Pitman who could be without at least three other players.
Adam Bartlett, Stefan Stam and Benoit Dalibard are all real doubts whilst Rob Purdie and Joe Heath may have recovered from their injuries to take at least some part in the game.
New loan signing keeper David Cornell should continue in goal, whilst Danny Williams, who came on as a sub yesterday when Stam pulled up, may be given his first start for the Bulls since Spring 2005.