Saturday, September 25, 2004

THE several hundred Hereford fans who travelled to Hilton Park had good value for their entrance fee as the Bulls completed a dramatic Nationwide Conference win.

The Bulls took and lost the lead three times before Adam Stansfield pounced on Graham Hyde's through-ball to fire home the winner as the game moved into injury-time.

Leigh, who had seen Aldershot score twice in stoppage time to secure a draw in their last home game, must have been particularly frustrated to fight back to level three times on Saturday yet emerge with nothing to show for their efforts.

The Bulls, with Hyde replacing the injured Jamie Pitman in midfield, took the lead after just six minutes as they dominated the opening phase of play.

Hyde swung in a cross to the far post where Lee Mills threw himself at the ball to score his third goal of the season.

Craig Stanley and Andy Tretton went close to extending their lead before Leigh gave the first warning of their danger in front of goal.

Alex Meechan seized on some sloppy defensive play to fire just over from the edge of the area.

On 31 minutes, it took a fine save from Jonathan Gould to keep Hereford ahead.

Hyde lost the ball on the edge of the area to Warren Peyton and Karl Rose's header from the midfielder's cross was brilliantly tipped around the upright by the on-loan goalkeeper.

Simon Travis and Mills carved out good openings for themselves in the minutes leading up to the break but Leigh had the better of the second half's opening exchanges and drew level on 55 minutes.

Former Bulls full-back Chris Lane's cross was headed down by Rose to Peyton who fired his shot under Gould from a narrow angle.

But Hereford wasted no time in hitting back and Mills slammed in his second of the game on 59 minutes after a neat build-up from David Brown and Danny Williams.

Two minutes on and Leigh were level again when another former Hereford player, midfielder Gareth Stoker, netted with a bullet header from Ian Fitzpatrick's corner.

Gould might have been shown a red card on 70 minutes when he was merely cautioned for handling outside his area and Hereford profited from the let-off to go ahead on 81 minutes.

Stanley's shot from Mark Robinson's corner fell conveniently for substitute Adam Stanfield to blast in.

But Leigh were still not finished and levelled again when Steve Smith fired a shot through a crowd of players.

Hereford proved their character, however, with Stansfield's late winner, the former Yeovil man's sixth strike of the season.

The Bulls have now won four successive matches and are second in the table.