Hednesford 1

Numair Rashad 55

Hereford FC 0

LIVE BLOG: Hednesford Town v Hereford FC minute by minute updates

HEREFORD suffered a 1-0 defeat in their opening pre-season friendly as a 55th minute Numair Rashad goal gave hosts Hednesford Town a narrow win.

Josh Gowling fielded a different side in each half with his first half team of senior players seeing the half out with the score 0-0.

A second half team of trialists and youngsters had chances to score but failed to find the target as Hednesford ran out victors.

It was Hednesford who had the first sight of goal with Joe Cuff cutting inside before blazing his effort wide under pressure.

On his Bulls debut Tyrone Barnett met Harry Pinchard's corner at the front post but his flicked ball through was deflected wide.

The skill of Pinchard was next to test the hosts’ goal seeing his low free-kick deflected off the wall and saved by goalkeeper Lewis Gwilliams.

Barnett was showing his talent with the former Eastleigh man almost finishing off a Bulls break.

Storey broke down the right before finding Barnett who turned inside the box before laying the ball off for Ryan Lloyd whose effort was deflected wide.

From the resulting corner Barnett headed into the side-netting after Hednesford failed to pick him up.

Hednesford remained a threat and a 31st minute move saw Kyle Bennett fire his effort outside the box which was well saved by Wade.

The first half remained goalless as both sides made a host of changes after the break.

Hereford only named four of their second half team which included defender Thierry Latty-Fairweather, under-18 goalkeeper Seb Osment, defender Mark Derricott, Justice Campbell while Westfields striker Harrison Summers also featured.

Ten minutes into the second half Numair Rashad fired his side into the lead.

Leroy Lita dispossessed the Bulls trialist full-back Thierry Latty-Fairweather and it came out to Rashad who drove his effort low into the net.

Moments later Hednesford could have doubled their lead when an inviting cross almost found two home players who dived towards the ball, but neither met it.

The Bulls were almost level on 65 minutes when a trialist defender met a cross following a corner, but his effort cleared the crossbar.

Westfields striker Harrison Summers was next to search for an equaliser breaking into the Hednesford box before seeing his through ball almost put into the net by a Hednesford defender.

At the opposite end experienced striker Lita was causing a host of problems beating the off-side trap and hitting the post with his effort.

Lita was then denied by a last gasp block by a trialist and then saw his header from the resulting corner wide.

Hereford: Wade, Hodgkiss, Haines, Lilly, Evans, Lloyd, McLean, Durojaiye, Pinchard, Barnett, Storey

Subs: Derricott, Summers, Osment (GK), Latty-Fairweather,  Campbell, Trialists x6

Hednesford Town: Williams, Hayden, Ison, Portman, Manton, McQuilkin, Bennett, Seraton, Landell, O'Sullivan, Cuff