Bulls held at Edgar Street
5:46pm Saturday 24th November 2007
Hereford United 0 Accrington Stanley 0
HEREFORD'S clash with their old Conference rivals ended in stalemate at Edgar Street.
It was far from a thrilling encounter with neither goalkeeper seriously tested.
The Accrington attack was never able to get the better of United's back-line with Wayne Brown only having to deal with long-range efforts.
And, at the other end, Stanley flooded the midfield with five men to blunt Hereford as an attacking force.
The best United opportunities fell to Theo Robinson but, unfortunately for him and for the disappointingly small crowd of 2,804, the on-loan Watford teenager had an off day in front of goal.
Boss Graham Turner, however, took the result in his stride.
"I have seen it happen so many times after a performance like the one at Leeds that you come and fall flat on your face at home," said the Bulls chief.
"We didn't play well, it didn't flow and we had to grind out a result. We hoped that we might have nicked it with Theo's chance late on but we didn't so we take the point and move on."
Hereford included Sam Gwynne for his full League debut in place of the departed Lionel Ainsworth and the local teenager certainly let no-one down.
He was involved in Hereford's first good move of the match when his cross seemed to have set up a great chance for Trevor Benjamin, but the big striker was ruled offside as he pushed the ball wide.
Richard Rose, who later limped off with an ankle injury, was next to try his luck, surging through a gap in the Stanley defence but then shot weakly at keeper Ian Dunbavin.
Robinson might have done better in the 16th minute when he shot across goal and wide after a good Ben Smith pass and Benjamin forced a low save with a 25-yard effort.
Before the interval, Accrington was restricted to long-range shots, delivered in the main by Roscoe D'Sane, and the pattern continued after the break with James Harris and Leighton McGivern blazing wide of the target.
Meanwhile, Hereford, who missed the influence in midfield of the injured Clint Easton, saw Robinson shoot wide twice early in the second period after Kris Taylor and Steve Guinan had created the opening.
Simon Johnson and Ben Smith sent Robinson away on the right of the area in the 78th minute but the teenager's shot again flew wide when a cross might have brought better results.
And then, a minute from time, another good pass from Johnson created a shooting chance for Robinson, whose drive flashed narrowly wide of the target.
Hereford: Brown; Rose (Collins, 32 min), Beckwith, McCombe, Threlfall; Gwynne, Smith, Diagouraga, Taylor (Johnson, 77 min); Benjamin (Guinan, 61 min), Robinson. Subs not used: Ingham, Palmer.
Accrington: Dunbavin; Williams, Roberts, Webb; Richardson, Proctor, Harris, Craney, Branch (Boco, 64 min); D'Sane (McGivern, 60 min), Mullin. Subs not used: Whalley, Brown, Dennehy.
Referee: Trevor Kettle (Rutland).
Attendance: 2,804 (52 from Accrington).