Hereford United's striking frailties exposed in Shrewsbury Town defeat (From Hereford Times)

Hereford United's striking frailties exposed in Shrewsbury Town defeat

3:00pm Thursday 2nd February 2012

• Print
• Email

A LACK of quality in the final third of the field proved fatal to United’s hopes as they slumped to their 10th home defeat of the season.

Graham Turner’s men, efficient if unspectacular, took two of their chances to ensure another happy return to Edgar Street for the former United supremo.

Shrewsbury have now won all four of the games between the sides since Turner resumed control at the Greenhous Meadow.

United had plenty of possession in the early stages but fell behind when Terry Gornell was left unmarked in the six-yard box to head home a shot from Joe Jacobson.

Shortly afterwards, James Collins beat the Hereford offside trap and smashed a shot past Adam Bartlett from the edge of the area.

And that, effectively, was game over.

“We started the game well and caused them a few problems in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but they were a lot more clinical in the final third and two bits of quality have turned the game,” said Bartlett.

“For the first goal, the lad Gornell got in between the two centre-backs, and for the second, Collins had too much space.

“We are disappointed because we had such a big crowd at the game and it was a chance for us to make up for how poor our home form has been this season.

“We really have to address our home form; that is 10 home defeats now and it’s embarrassing to look at stats like that.”

Hereford did, however, look as if they were denied a penalty when Joe Jacobson handled the ball in the Shrewsbury area right in front of the assistant referee who, apparently, saw no offence.

Tellingly, a collective hush fell temporarily over the massed ranks of Shrewsbury support behind him.

“From my point of view it should have been a penalty,” said Bartlett.

“I could see from down in the Meadow End so I think everyone in the ground must have seen it.

“The most disappointing thing is that the linesman was on that side and decided not to give it.

“Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t and today was one of those days, unfortunately, that wasn’t ours. When we got into good shooting positions or areas to score goals, the delivery just was not good enough. That was the difference.”

The result leaves Shrewsbury on the fringes of the automatic promotion places and Turner, who was evidently delighted by the result, must believe that his side can improve on their play-off finish of last year.

“They were two good goals,” he said.

“The first was well worked, the second was a good individual strike.

“But overall, it’s a great result for us. We dealt well with most of the things that Hereford threw at us; there were a lot of high balls coming into our box and there is a lot of size in the Hereford team so we coped fairly well with the problems I thought we would face.

“You always know these games are going to be difficulty, especially with the local derby element and sooner or later, Hereford are going to win a few games here, certainly before the end of the season.”

Hereford (4-5-1): Bartlett; Purkiss, Townsend, Green, Purdie; Colbeck, Featherstone, Pell, Evans (Elder 69), Arquin (Peniket 77); Facey (Barkhuizen 46). Subs not used: Cornell, Clucas.

Shrewsbury (4-4-2): Neal; Regan, Grandison, Sharps, Jacobson; Taylor, D McAllister, Richards, Wright; Collins, Cornell. Subs not used: Smith, S McAllister, Wroe, Ainsworth, Sawyers.

Referee: M Naylor (South Yorkshire).

Attendance: 3,515 (including 1,256 from Shrewsbury).

Goals: Gornell, 16 min, 0-1; Collins, 28 min, 0-2.