Saturday, September 28, 2002

Hereford United slipped to their first defeat in seven matches when they suffered a disappointing 1-0 home reverse to battling Scarborough in a scrappy Nationwide Conference clash on Saturday.

A fine 38th minute individual goal from David Pounder was enough to seal the points for the experienced Seadogs side and avenge the 6-0 drubbing at Edgar Street last season.

Pounder collected a short throw-in on the left-hand side, weaved past a couple of attempted challenges and then drilled a low shot past United's helpless goalkeeper Matt Baker.

Scarborough looked the more composed outfit for long periods in the game, despite losing central defender Shaun Rennison in the 13th minute with suspected ligament damage.

United, who have dropped to sixth place, were a shadow of the side which won their last four away matches and claimed creditable draws with highly-fancied Chester and Yeovil in their past two home matches. Worryingly, the Bulls have not won at Edgar Street since they beat Farnborough Town 2-1 on the opening day and they have failed to find the net in their last three home games.

Hereford struggled to break down a well-organised and uncomplicated Scarborough rearguard, despite getting into attacking situations on a number of occasions.

Scarborough goalkeeper Andy Woods was not seriously tested, although United skipper Ian Wright did add bite to the home side's attack in the last 10 minutes when he was thrown forward in search of an equaliser.

Hereford's best opportunity fell to Wright in the 85th minute but the former Bristol Rovers defender could only volley a difficult chance over the visitors' crossbar from just inside the box.

Their only other notable strike at goal came from second-half substitute Rob Sawyers, who blasted a 25-yard effort high over the bar in the 77th minute.

Hereford's cause was not helped by the absence of livewire striker John Grant, who suffered a cracked fibula on Tuesday night, and a first-minute groin injury to Danny Williams, which caused the midfielder to limp off at the interval.

Boss Graham Turner said: "The longer the game went on the worse we looked. Our ability to pass the ball when we got into good areas was non-existent. We worked hard but our performance was very poor."