Half-time: Hereford United 1 Cheltenham 0 (From Hereford Times)

Half-time: Hereford United 1 Cheltenham 0

3:47pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in Reports By Richard Prime

AN early header by Delroy Facey gave Hereford a half-time advantage against high-flying Cheltenham.

Cheltenham won an early free-kick when Barkhuizen brought down Jermaine McGlashan but the ball flashed through the goalmouth and out of play with no-one able to get a touch.

Adam Bartlett had to come to the edge of his area to boot clear from Darryl Duiffy.

But Hereford had a good chance when Joe Colbeck played Nicky Featherstone in only for Sido Jombati to dive in with an excellent saving tackle.

This led to a series of corners but Hereford were unable to create a clear-cut opening.

The Bulls, however, did take the lead on 11 minutes.

Dalibard’s deep cross picked out Facey in acres of space and the Bulls skipper timed his leap to head past Scott Brown.

Hereford kept up the pressure and only a goalline clearance by Luke Summerfield prevented a second Bulls goal from Featherstone.

With Hereford keeping up the pressure, Purdie sent Colbeck away to deliver a cross which flashed through the goalmouth just ahead of Barkhuizen.

After 23 minutes, though, Hereford suffered a blow when Dalibard appeared to pull a hamstring and had to leave the field, Sam Clucas came on at left-back in a like-for-like swap.

Hereford were disrupted for a while and conceded possession as well as a series of corners.

But the Bulls broke out and Barkhuizen showed his pace to speed into the area before delivering a cross which was hurriedly cleared.

Then a through ball from Colbeck was only marginally too strong for Barkhuizen to reach ahead of keeper Scott Brown.