12:09pm Thursday 26th July 2007
AFTER the washout against Bristol City last Saturday, Hereford United have moved swiftly to bolster their pre-season programme by arranging a visit from Championship side Wolverhampton Wander-ers next Wednesday.
Although Wolves already have game at Northampton on the previous night, Bulls director of football Graham Turner is expecting his former club to put out a reasonably strong side.
"Wolves have a first-team squad of 30 so those players who do not get much of a chance at Northampton are likely to do so at Edgar Street," he said.
Before that, United have another attractive visit from Championship opposition to look forward to with West Bromwich Albion coming to Edgar Street on Friday evening.
And the re-laid pitch, a potential concern after the recent torrential rain, seems to be standing up well to the deluge.
"We had been told that the floodwater was likely to reach as far as the Legends Bar on Saturday morning but, nevertheless, when we arrived the groundstaff were cutting the pitch," said Turner.
But plans for the club open day, which had been due to take place on Sunday, have been shelved.
The Bulls continued their pre-season programme with a 1-0 success at Blue Square South Bath City on Tuesday night.
With a number of new arrivals and triallists, Hereford struggled to produce much in the way of flowing football, particularly in the first half.
And their cause was not helped by the absence of skipper Ben Smith who, according to Turner, had been injured on the training pitch by an over-enthusiastic tackle by Sam Gwynne.
Of the triallists on view, it was the wide pair of Lionel Ainsworth and Simon Johnson who particularly caught the eye.
Johnson, a 24-year-old former England under-20 international who began his career with Leeds United before moving to Darlington, played on the left of midfield in the first half before moving up to lead the attack.
And it was from there that he seized on a good pass from ex-Derby County man Ainsworth on 69 minutes to drive the game's only goal under goalkeeper Tony Malessa.
Centre-back Joey Hutchinson, who played in the Premiership for Birmingham City and then had more than 70 games for Darlington, gave a calm and collected display in the second period while Chris Zebroski, ex-Millwall, would have got his name on the scoresheet had his finishing matched his approach play.
Goalkeeper Adam Collin impressed with some safe handling while there was also a first view of latest signing Clint Easton whose assurance on the ball indicated that he should be a valuable addition.
Bath: Evans (Malessa, 68 min), Simpson (Green, 46 min), Keddle, Coupe (Holland, 46 min), Jones, Harris (Davidge, 68 min), Hogg (McKay, 68 min), Rogers (Davis, 68 min), Edwards (Walsh, 61 min), Gilroy (Paul, 60 min), Wood (McKeever, 46 min).
Hereford: Brown (Collin, 46 min); McClenahan, Beckwith (McCombe, 38 min), Broadhurst (Hutchinson, 46 min), Rose; Ainsworth, Webb (Fitzpatrick, 46 min), Taylor (Gwynne, 78 min), Johnson; Guinan (Easton, 46 min), Zebroski (Palmer, 65 min).
Referee: R Torczuk.
Attendance: 373.
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