Hereford 1 AFC Telford 0 - Report
Good Friday was anything but for the Bucks as they stumbled to a disappointing defeat to a busy but far from dominant Hereford side.
Manager Paul Carden felt his team were the authors of their own downfall, as their display, especially in defence, came in stark contrast to the types of committed efforts that had seen the Bucks build a six-match unbeaten run.
Results elsewhere meant the Bucks dropped one position in the table as Blyth Spartans overtook them by defeating Farsley Celtic. With no game on Easter Monday, Bucks fans will have to watch nervously as others play their game in hand, bringing them level on games played and leaving four games still to contest.
It also proved to be a less than Happy Birthday for Bucks recent signing Harry Flowers. Already pending a suspension for a dismissal whilst still with his previous team Curzon Ashton, Flowers was booked and then received a straight red card late in the game. Referee Richard Aspinall adjudged him to have thrown his head back at a Bulls player, and Flowers received the least welcome of cards.
Carden had made three changes to his starting eleven, restoring Mace Goodridge and Robbie Evans in midfield and playing Reiss McNally as one of three centre-halves. With the Bulls playing without a recognised centre-forward, the plan was to stop their midfield runners and then use James Melhado and Ryan Burke as wing-backs, to provide the attacking width.
Carden felt the plan worked in the first quarter of the game, albeit the Bucks didn’t create any clear chances in that period. Although they forced a number of corners, their best effort probably came from Burke; after Mace Goodridge had almost played Jason Oswell through, Oswell retrieved possession and fed Burke for a rising near-post shot that Brandon Hall turned away.
The Bulls’ best chances came via the route of Ryan McLean and Tom Owen-Evans, whose pace and willingness to run at the Bucks defence induced uncharacteristic errors from captain Jordan Piggott, Flowers and McNally.
Luke Pilling held Ryan Lloyd’s low shot and then Harry Pinchard scuffed a shot wide of Pilling’s left post as the momentum began to swing. Piggott made a last-ditch block from Owen-Evans, who almost picked his way through, and then just before half-time Piggott had to limp off the field after taking a heavy challenge.
He was back on the field when Owen-Evans put the Bulls ahead in the 44th minute. A diagonal ball to the right was allowed to bounce by Flowers, and Owen-Evans snuck in to guide a deftly lofted shot over Pilling and into the far corner.
A goal behind at the interval, the Bucks frustration began to surface in the early stages of the second half. Piggott, still struggling with his injury, was booked for kicking out at Owen-Evans, and Goodridge soon followed for a foul on the same player.
Piggott made way for Byron Moore just before the hour as Carden changed the Bucks shape, going to a defensive four and looking for width on the right from Moore as well as Green on the left.
The change was slow to take effect, and Flowers was also booked, Owen-Evans making it a hat-trick of Bucks players cautioned for fouls on him. Liam Nolan became a fourth Buck to enter the referee’s notebook, and Carden rolled the dice on 72 minutes, replacing the ineffective Oswell with Marcus Marshall and Goodridge with Brendon Daniels.
Moore began to get some joy on the right and the Bulls defence were the busiest they had been all afternoon; however, as the Bucks pushed on it left gaps at the back, and more indecisiveness in defence had hearts in mouths more than once as the Bucks took chances, but at the wrong end.
In the 86th minute came their best opportunity, and it fell to left wing-back Burke, who had scored the winner against Gloucester two weeks ago. On this occasion, he made good contact with a cross that dropped over the Bulls defence from the right, but saw enough of it to push it wide. The loose ball seemed to be agonisingly close to being turned in, but was cleared.
As the Bucks assembled in the penalty area, trying to make the most of an injury-time free-kick, attention centred on Flowers, with Bulls centre-half Luke Haines pointing an accusing finger at the birthday boy. Referee Aspinall must have seen the alleged incident clearly, as he showed Flowers a straight red card, signalling the end of the Bucks last-gasp efforts to salvage a result.
With Piggott limping onto the field at the end and Flowers about to serve a suspension, the afternoon could hardly have gone worse for the Bucks, and they now head into an extended break before resuming their search for more precious and much-needed points at Chorley next Saturday.
Teams
Telford (5-3-2): Pilling, Melhado, Burke, Flowers, Piggott (c) (Moore 58), McNally, Nolan, Goodridge (Daniels 72), Evans, Green, Oswell (Marshall 72).
Subs not used: Lilly, Ward.
Cautioned: Piggott, Flowers, Goodridge, Nolan.
Dismissed: Flowers.
Hereford FC (4-4-2): Hall, Hodgkiss (c), Haines, Egan, Revan, Pollock, Patten (Vincent 68), Lloyd, Pinchard (Touray 81), McLean (Klukowski 87), Owen-Evans.
Subs not used: Pearce, Klukowski, Sondergaard.
Scorer: Owen-Evans (44).
