Saturday, August 31, 2002

A THREE-goal burst at the start of the second half earned Hereford United a superb 3-0 away win over Nuneaton Borough in the Nationwide Conference on Saturday.

An own goal from defender Terry Angus and strikes from Jamie Pitman and Paul Parry gave the buoyant Bulls a convincing victory which they thoroughly deserved.

The Edgar Street club dominated for long periods and they looked a different side from the one beaten in their last two Conference outings.

Without doubt, it was United's most impressive away display for a long time and the Bulls could easily have doubled their tally had first-half efforts from Danny Williams and John Grant not struck the woodwork.

Delighted Hereford boss Graham Turner said: "We showed a lot of composure and our start to the second-half did us a power of good."

The Manor Park outfit must have wondered what hit them during an eight-minute spell just after half time when United delivered their triple blow.

Hereford opened the scoring in the 52nd minute when Michael Rose whipped in an inswinging free kick from the right-hand side of the box and veteran defender Angus diverted the ball past his own goalkeeper under pressure from Steve Guinan.

The Bulls doubled their advantage six minutes later through leading scorer Pitman, who has notched four goals already this term.

Grant threaded the ball through to Guinan and, although rookie goalkeeper Steve Hodgson did well to parry the striker's effort, midfielder Pitman reacted well to head the ball into the top corner of the net from eight yards.

The Warwickshire club conceded a third goal in the 60th minute. The lively Grant sent Paul Parry clear and the Welshman took his chance well, planting his effort into the bottom corner.

The home side threatened only once in the second-half, in the 81st minute, but Gary Jones was brilliantly denied at point-blank range by the assured Matt Baker.

Nuneaton created the first chance of the match, only for John Turner to head wide on 15 minutes.

However, after that miss it was Hereford who shone. Williams drilled a free-kick against the bar, Parry had a shot cleared off the line, Matt Clarke was denied by Hodgson and then in first-half stoppage-time, Grant superbly weaved his way into the box only to fire against the woodwork.