Hereford United v Lincoln City, 5 February 2011

Venue: Edgar Street, Hereford

Attendance: 2,776

Final score: 0-1

Lincoln and Hereford fans would be forgiven for being sick of the sight of each other this season.  After meeting in the league and the FA cup – the cup tie ending in a draw, then taking four attempts to play the replay, this afternoon at least saw the final chapter in a fairly even series of matchups.  City won the first league game but ultimately lost the FA cup tie.

Despite the two teams occupying the bottom two places in the league a mere fortnight ago, it is quite bizarre that they met as two of the league’s in-form sides, with Hereford having won their previous 5 matches in a row, and Lincoln their previous 4.  It was a match in which something had to give, and you felt that the teams may be tempted to be cagey, and avoid defeat at all costs to keep the momentum going.  As it was, a closely-fought match went in the Imps’ favour.

The team selection was slightly tweaked from Tuesday’s match against Bradford, though that team itself was changed at the last minute due to injury to Adam Watts.

City set their stall out early with a positive start.  With barely 3 minutes on the clock, Ashley Grimes broke free after a clever dummy by Facey.  The young Imps striker’s shot beat the keeper but also agonizingly whisked past the post.  A few minutes later ex-Hereford striker McCallum dropped a lob over the bar and then Hunt fired wide.

As the half progressed, Hereford began to assert themselves, with Fleetwood (scorer of two against the Imps in the FA cup replay) looking the most dangerous.  Only a great block-tackle from Hone denied him a golden chance to open the scoring.

On 29 minutes it was the visitors who took the lead.  A long diagonal ball from O’Keefe was knocked down by Grimes for Facey, who scored for the second game running with a sweet volley from the edge of the box.

The goal prompted Hereford to redouble their efforts, but despite forcing Imps keeper Carson into a punch clear and to claim a few crosses, they were not able to carve out any clear chances and the Imps’ lead survived to the halftime break.

The Bulls appeared early for the second half, seemingly having been given a rocket at half time.  Shortly after the restart they nearly drew level.  Fleetwood wrestled Hone aside, fairly in the referee’s opinion, before squaring the ball for Jarvis, who was only denied by Kelly’s last minute tackle.  City’s frustration at the lack of a freekick resulted in players surrounding the referee, and Grimes receiving a yellow card for his protestations.

Hereford continued to press forward and were well in control of the half.  City’s defense of mere weeks earlier would surely have capitulated, but the Imps now seem made of sterner stuff, and were defending their clean sheet magnificently.

City shuffled their pack late on, with Grimes, Facey and McCallum replaced by Broughton, Fuseini and Kanyuka.  City changed to 5-4-1 in an attempt to remain solid at the back.  It was a change that worked, as the final whistle blew with the scoreline still 1-0 to the Imps.

HEREFORD UNITED
1. Adam Bartlett
2. Ryan Green
4. Janos Kovacs
5. Michael Townsend
34. Joe Heath
6. Richard Rose
14. James Mcquilkin
17. Joe Colbeck
32. Rob Purdie
7. Stuart Fleetwood
20. Jake Jervis

Substitutes:
10. Sean Canham for Jervis (58)
23. Harry Pell for Mcquilkin (72)
16. Kenny Lunt for Purdie (85)
18. Nicky Featherstone
27. Daniel Preston
35. Wesley Ngo Beheng
31. Rhett Heister

LINCOLN CITY
24. Trevor Carson
28. Gavin Hoyte
4. Adam Watts
6. Danny Hone
23. Stephen Hunt
14. Josh O'Keefe
15. Luke Howell
16. Julian Kelly
9. Gavin McCallum
18. Delroy Facey
29. Ashley Grimes
Substitutes:
10. Drewe Broughton for Facey (90+1)
40. Patrick Kanyuka for Grimes (90+1)
31. Ali Fuseini for McCallum (90+1)
17. Albert Jarrett
27. Ben Hutchinson
39. Scott Spencer
20. Paul Musselwhite

Tweet