Hereford United 1 Torquay United 0
United went down to another single goal defeat and a seventh league game without a win. The last time United claimed three points was on Boxing Day against today's opponents but despite a promising start and having a foothold in the match for the entire ninety minutes a failure to score proved the difference.
Bucks made three changes from the team that drew at Crewe in midweek; Sam Cox & Eunan O'Kane made their starting debuts and there was a return to action for Mustapha Carayol who made only his second start of the season for the Gulls, his only other start was against Barnet back in August. The men to miss out from the Crewe game were Lee Mansell, Kieran Charnock and Elliot Benyon who all took a place on the bench. Carayol took his place on the left wing with O'Kane on the right which left Jake Thomson to play in the hole behind lone forward Chris Zebroski. Sam Cox came in at left back with Adam Smith switching to his more natural right back position.
The referee made an immediate mark on the match by booking Tyrone Thompson in the first minute for the very first tackle of the game! As has been the norm recently United started the better and both Carayol & Thomson had sights of goal with the latter fizzing a shot narrowly off target in the 7th minute. Shortly after and Thomson was through but skewed his shot wide when in a promising position.
In the 18th Adam Smith produced a quality solo run down the right which ended with a left foot shot from 20 yards that forced a save from Bartlett. Just as United were enjoying their positive start to the match the home side took the lead. From a near post corner Downing flicked the ball toward the far post where it fell to McCallum who turned and slotted home from almost point-blank range. United will be disappointed that the ball was touched twice by Hereford players without any meaningful challenge coming from the Gulls.
Goal: Hereford 1 (McCallum 23) United 0
McCallum almost scored his second and doubled the lead after turning neatly and beating Michael Poke but the ball struck the far post and bounced to safety. United certainly weren't wilting but the home side had suddenly come to life and the Gulls were having to absorb a period of pressure.
Despite already conceding a goal Michael Poke was actually called into action for the first time when ex-Gull Leon Constantine shot from 18 yards but it was a comfortable save for the United 'keeper. Moments later and a ball over the top caused Sam Cox a problem but King's shot from 6 yards under a challenge wasn't good enough to beat Poke.
United were struggling to deal with Hereford's corner routine and after their fifth effort Adam Smith had to clear off the line to stop the Gulls falling two goals behind but from that clearance United broke down the other end but the final shot by Chris Zebroski struck a defender and the chance passed.
After a bright start United were forced into a large period of defending and only some well timed challenges and hard work kept the score to a single goal deficit.
Half-Time: Hereford 1 United 0
United made a change at the break with Elliot Benyon replacing Mustapha Carayol which meant a formation change with Benyon partnering Zebroski up front and Jake Thomson moving to the left wing.
United began the second half in the same positive fashion that they started the first although Bartlett in the Hereford goal wasn't put into action. Benyon's introduction gave United's attack a different focus and took some of the workload off Zebroski but the question was could it affect the game enough to give United a chance to get something out of the game?
Bucks didn't wait long into the second period to make his final two changes with Tyrone Thompson & Eunan O'Kane making way for Lee Mansell & Danny Stevens respectively in the 57th minute. It was two straight swaps with Mansell returning to his midfield role and Stevens operating out on the right side of midfield.
United were giving it everything they had but up to the midway point of the second period they only had an Elliot Benyon snap shot to show for their efforts and the scoreline was still 1-0 to the home side.
The Gulls slowly started to crank up the pressure on Hereford and both Elliot Benyon and Guy Branston had half chances to equalise. At half-time the Hereford supporters were probably expecting a comfortable second half with a couple more goals notched up but United had left nothing in the changing room and Elliot Benyon struck a post with a header as the equaliser looked to be coming.
Elliot Benyon was looking as likely as anyone to score the game's next goal and he forced Bartlett into another save with a header but time was running out for the Gulls although it would be some consolation if United scored a late goal to grab a result this time around.
Despite some neat football from United and a huge amount of effort they couldn't trouble Bartlett enough and the final whistle brought a single goal defeat. On another day a draw would have been the least United got but at the moment they can't buy a win.
Full-Time: Hereford 1 United 0
