Bulls slip to defeat at Southend

5:02pm Saturday 13th September 2008

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Southend United 1 Hereford United 0.

HEREFORD slipped back closer to the foot of the League 1 table after again losing by the odd goal against an ordinary Southend side.

Hereford boss Graham Turner was able to announce an unchanged team for the League 1 visit to Southend.

Despite injury worries, Andy Williams and Kris Taylor were both passed fit to take their places in the team.

There was one change on the bench with Simon Johnson replacing the injured Moses Ashikodi but no place for skipper Karl Broadhurst, who is fit again after injury.

The opening exchanges were dominated by Southend with Hereford not helping their cause with some cavalier defending.

Ben Smith gifted a back pass to Dougie Freedman 10 yards out and was grateful for goalkeeper Darren Randolph coming to his rescue with a fine save.

More poor defending then handed the ball to Lee Barnard whose shot was blocked by Dean Beckwith at the expense of a further corner.

Barnard then flicked a header wide from an excellent cross by Simon Francis.

After this poor opening, Hereford finally got their game going to create a couple of chances.

Steve O’Leary drilled a shot wide from 25 yards and Bradley Hudson-Odoi struck a fierce drive across goal and wide.

The Ghana under-20 international then cut in again from the right to see another shot saved by the diving Steve Mildenhall.

Southend hit back with Randolph pulling off another fine save from James Walker’s drive before some more desperate defending gave Southend the opener.

Hereford had several opportunities to clear before Freedman crossed for Barnard to slide in from close range.

But Hereford should have hit back immediately when Hudson-Odoi squandered a great chance, sidefooting Steve Guinan’s cross wide from five yards.

The Bulls had to replace Williams, apparently suffering a recurrence of his ankle problem, with Matt Done before Mildenhall saved well from Toumani Diagouraga’s 25-yard drive On 41 minutes, a deflection gave Barnard an opening 10 yards out but Randolph came out quickly to block.

Six minutes into the second period, Hereford conceded a free-kick just outside their own area but the defensive wall did its job and Lee Sawyer’s shot was cleared.

Hereford at times were playing some neat football and from one particularly good move, Ben Smith’s pass set up O’Leary for a 20-yarder which was clawed away acrobatically by Mildenhall.

Mildenhall did brilliantly to block a shot from Done after Richard Jackson got away on the right.

The keeper needed prolonged treatment but, with no substitute goalkeeper on the bench, Mildenhall bravely decided to continue.

Although the goalkeeper was struggling for mobility in the closing stages, Hereford could not seriously test him, even in six minutes of added time, until the very last kick of the match when Done fired a close-range shot straight at him.

Hereford: Randolph; Rose, Beckwith, Rose, Taylor; Hudson-Odoi, Diagouraga, Smith (Easton, 89 min), O’Leary (Johnson, 90 min), Williams (Done, 36 min); Guinan. Subs not used: Samson, Oji.

Southend: Mildenhall; Francis, Clarke, Barrett, Harding; Betsy, Christophe, Sawyer (Grant, 87 min), Walker (Robson-Kanu, 81 min); Barnard (Scannell, 90 min), Freedman. Subs not used: Revell, Sankofu.

Referee: Graham Horwood (Bedfordshire).

Attendance: 6,393 (242 from Hereford).

Yellow cards: Southend – Francis, obstruction, 54 min; Grant, time-wasting, 90 min.

Goals: Barnard, 29 min, 1-0.