Stalemate as Bury hold Bulls to draw
10:53am Thursday 27th March 2008
Hereford United 0 Bury 0.
HEREFORD United's failure to see off Bury left boss Graham Turner disappointed but far from downcast.
The Bulls were looking for a fourth straight win but had to be content with a fourth consecutive cleansheet from a goalless draw as on-loan goalkeeper Darren Randolph kept them at bay.
"It is always going to difficult at this time of year and sometimes you catch teams at the wrong time," said Turner. "The reports we had on Bury were very impressive. We know that they can be a threat up front.
"Bury have just had a little flurry and you could see how well-organised they were.
"They were always going to make life difficult for us but we had enough chances in the second-half.
"We were perhaps a little unfortunate with the one which hit the woodwork and we found a goalkeeper in fine form. He made some good saves, particularly the rebound off the bar, he recovered well and was ready for the second stop."
For once, Bulls goalkeeper Wayne Brown was overshadowed by his counterpart.
And Turner recalled Randolph, who is on loan from Charlton, producing another fine display at Edgar Street in the Bulls' Conference promotion season a couple of years back.
"There was a good save by Brown but, at the other end, their goalkeeper made two or three very good saves," said the Bulls chief.
"If I remember rightly, he did the same for Accrington against us a couple of seasons ago - I shall be glad to see the back of him."
The first half, which was played out first in a blustery wind and then a blizzard, brought precious little in the way of entertainment.
Theo Robinson cracked a shot across goal and wide while Clint Easton lofted a free-kick over from 30 yards.
But the game moved up a gear after chances at both ends within seconds of each other 12 minutes into the second period.
Elliott Bennett made ground down the left and crossed for Andy Bishop.
The Bury leading scorer connected well with his header but Brown pulled off an excellent stop before Dean Beckwith, under pressure from Glynn Hurst, completed the clearance.
Hereford broke downfield and Gary Hooper picked up the ball on the right and cut in before firing off a fierce drive which thumped against the bar.
The ball came back to Hooper, whose follow-up shot was brilliantly turned-away by Randolph.
The keeper then defied Robinson who was unlucky to see his header from substitute Stephen Gleeson's corner headed off the line.
Toumani Diagouraga was the next to test Randolph, powering in a 20-yard shot which was turned behind for another corner.
Three minutes into added time, it looked as if the keeper's good work might pay off with an unexpected bonus.
Bishop found some space 20 yards in and let fly with a shot which eluded Brown's stretching fingertips but flashed inches wide of an upright.
"We plugged away and a point is never a bad result," reflected Turner.
"You have to accept that we are not going to everything between now and the end of the season. But what it means is that we are now another point away from Darlington.
"We had a couple of anxious moments but the clean sheet is very acceptable. We probed away without playing particularly well - the pitch is a bit bobbly, the weather conditions were not good but we had enough chances to have won the game."
Hereford: Brown; McClenahan, McCombe, Beckwith, Rose; Johnson (Gleeson, 70 min), Smith, Diagouraga, Easton; Robinson, Hooper. Subs not used: Esson, Collins, Taylor, Guinan.
Bury: Randolph; Haslam, Futcher, Sodje, Buchanan; Bennett (Baker, 81 min), Barry-Murphy, Scott, Adams; Hurst (Rooney, 72 min), Bishop. Subs not used: Provett, Parrish, Rouse.
Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey).
Attendance: 3,420 (125 from Bury).
Yellow card: Bury - Futcher, foul, 71 min.