Saturday, September 18, 2004

ALTHOUGH far from their best display this season, Hereford's Nationwide Conference victory over Scarborough at Edgar Street on Saturday was significant for players and fans alike.

After losing their last two home games, a win was vital to maintain confidence and crowd numbers.

And the important success arrived courtesy of David Brown's magnificent 27th-minute header and, equally important, a superb late double save from goalkeeper Jonathan Gould.

The Bulls were missing full-back Ryan Green, ruled out with an abdominal strain which requires a visit to a specialist next week.

This, however, allowed an opportunity for Mark Robinson to turn out against the club where he spent a month on loan from his previous side, Hartlepool, last season.

Robinson saw plenty of the ball on the left without producing the sort of excellent crosses that his right-wing counterpart Simon Travis delivered.

The other team change saw Lee Mills preferred to Adam Stansfield as David Brown's partner in attack.

Mills battled hard up front but, equally, made some important interventions when he went back to help out his defence at set-piece situations.

Scarborough, with a strong wind behind them, had the better of the early play with both David Pounder and the dangerous Neil Redfearn firing narrowly wide from long range.

Gould was in the action on 23 minutes, tipping over a fierce drive from Seadogs skipper Scott Kerr, before the Bulls took the lead in a rare first-half attack.

Travis found space on the right and delivered a fine cross to find Brown who leapt to power a superb header into the net.

A brilliant tackle by Tony James prevented the dangerous Tony Hackworth from powering his way through two minutes before the break.

But the half-time interval seemed to revitalise the Bulls and they made a good start to the second period.

Hereford threatened frequently in the half's opening minutes and Jamie Pitman was unlucky not to add a second when he powered in a thunderous left-foot volley which forced a fine parry from goalkeeper Leigh Walker.

Scarborough soon returned to the attack, however, and Chris Senior was unfortunate with a shot which beat Gould but clipped the top of the crossbar on its way over.

Gould dived to hold a shot from Kevin Nicholson but then produced a remarkable double save.

First he flew to his left to push away a Hackworth effort and then did even better to parry Senior's follow-up.

With two minutes to go, Mark Hotte set the seal on the Seadogs' disappointing afternoon when he was red-carded for dragging down Bulls' substitute Stansfield.

Hereford: *Gould 9, Travis 8, James 7, Tretton 7, Smith 7, Robinson 6, D Williams 6, Stanley 6, Pitman 6 (Hyde 78), Mills 6, Brown 7 (Stansfield 75). Subs not used: Scott, Carey-Bertram, A Williams.

Attendance: 2,864.