HEREFORD boss Aaron Downes praised his first team and youth players for an ‘excellent club performance’ during their 1-1 draw with Hereford Pegasus.
The Bulls were without Kyle Howkins, Aaron Skinner and Danny Waldron as they return to match fitness. Also missing was ‘key recruit’ Joe Willis who is out ‘longer term’ after suffering a muscle strain in his quad.
With just two triallists on show during the second half the Bulls gave youngster Harry Jones a start before six under-18s played in the second half.
Downes praised both his senior players and the under-18s for their performances.
He said: “In the second half we made a lot of changes. As it is in pre-season. We ended up with a lot of our youth team out there in the second half and they’ve done excellent.
“They were really good. I spoke to them pre-game about just giving 100 per cent and giving that effort because they haven't been in training and working on things we've been working on. #
“I wanted the effort and the energy from them. They ran their hearts out. They tried, they put the tackles in, they competed.
“And then they showed a little bit of quality as well and could have had one or two in the second half.
“It was an excellent club performance overall, which is what I was really pleased with because I've been really wanting to bridge the gap between the first team and the youth.
“Days like today gives us a great opportunity to represent ourselves positively as a football club.
“I think we have done. Our boys from the youth team came up and didn’t let our first team players down.
“I thought the first team players handled the youth team boys excellently. They dealt with them really professionally. I'm a happy manager today.”
Hereford grew into the first half and had several opportunities to take the lead before Lewis Spokes opened his account for pre-season from a tight angle.
Fin Holmes also impressed for the Bulls down the wing and Cawley Cox had several opportunities against his former side.
Downes felt that his side should have been further in the first half, but was pleased by the play he saw.
However, Pegasus equalised through a Sam Griffiths strike and were worthy of the draw.
He added: “In the first half, I was really impressed with some of that play.
“I thought we executed what we've been working on in training really well. I was impressed with the players' attitude.
“We spoke pre-match about how we were going to approach the game, what we were going to do and put that into action. I was really happy with how they acquitted themselves.
“I want to win and we could have had three or four in the first half. We could have got two or three in the second half.
“In saying that Pegasus put a lot of effort in. They worked ever so hard in that first half to compete and challenge. They deserve their result today.”
Hereford move on to face Bishop’s Cleeve on Friday night when a similar test will await Downes’ side.
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