Hereford Reaction
United 1 Hereford 0
United boss Paul Buckle tinkered with tradition this year by changing his squad's preparations leading up to the Boxing Day match with Hereford: 'The players had Christmas Day off from training, this is my third Christmas as a manager and the last two have been a defeat and a win and I didn't think we played well in both so we changed things and gave them that particular day off. I thought about it very hard and ultimately Christmas Day is a special day, it means a lot to many people including myself and the players are only human, they want to be with their family and I was confident that we had done enough during the past couple of days to give them the time off, leave them alone and hope that they would then be desperate to come in today and want to play.
'The players were in at noon for a meal together and I thought we went at it in the right way from the kick-off in difficult conditions although I think the groundsman has done a terrific job getting the pitch prepared during a tough week of weather. The pitch has gone through frost and rain and we have still got a good playing surface so Scott (Duff) and his staff have done very well to help us get the three points, it has been a good day.
'I think we are starting to look a very good side with and without the ball, we have scored ten goals and conceded none in the last three games and I can't have any complaints at all with the players. They are a young group out on the pitch when the likes of Hargreaves and Sills are on the bench and we are a little naïve at times but that is young players learning the game. We know what we are trying to build here.
'I thought Adam Smith reacted well to his early booking, to get a yellow card so early in a game can affect some players but he kept his composure and to be honest I wouldn't want to take that aggressive part out of his game. It was a good learning curve for him today.
