PETER Heritage has warned Hereford United’s players to ‘expect the unexpected’ in their FA Cup clash with minnows Hythe Town this weekend.
Heritage says the nonleaguers will be running after every lost cause and battling for every ball in Saturday’s first-round tie at Edgar Street.
Former Hereford striker Heritage has played for Hythe and says United must approach the tie with a professional attitude.
“It’s not like in the Football League where players will just simply let the ball roll out of play for a goal kick or a throw in,”
said Heritage, who turns 50 next Monday.
“This will be the FA Cup final for players at Hythe and they will chase after everything and will not stop running.
“Hereford will have to expect the unexpected because strange things happen when players from a lower level play on the big stage and get stuck in.”
Heritage joined Hythe from Hastings for £4,000 and was sold to Gillingham seven months later for around £35,000.
“I was only at Hythe for three quarters of one season and part of another and, at the time, the chairman, Tony Walton, was throwing a lot of money into getting the club up the football ladder.
“I scored about 12 goals in 19 games in my first season with Hythe and we got promoted into the Southern League.
“Hythe had a purple patch for about three or four years and, after I left, I remember seeing they had an excellent run in the FA Vase.
“Hythe was about an hour and 15 minutes’ drive from where I lived and we used to work hard in training and we were incredibly fit.
“Hythe is on the way to Dover and Folkestone – it’s a fairly unremarkable place with an army shooting range and Port Lympne wild animal park.”
Heritage was a selfemployed builder when he was bought by Gillingham in 1989.
“It is every boy’s dream to become a professional footballer and play in the Football League. I was 28 and living a boyhood dream and I am very proud of it.”
Colin Addison brought Heritage on loan from Gillingham in January 1991 and he later signed a permanent deal at United.
He scored 10 goals in 65 appearances for United and still holds the record for the fastest-ever Football League goal at Edgar Street.
Heritage netted after just 14 seconds in Hereford’s 3-0 win over Lincoln City in September 1991.
“John Sillett was the manager and it was tipping down with rain and Lincoln even had the kick off,” recalled Heritage.
“Simon Brain robbed a defender and went through and passed to me and I side-footed the ball into the net from the edge of the box.
“It beat the goalkeeper but got caught in a puddle and it didn’t even reach the back of the net.”
Heritage said his days at Hereford were the happiest of his football career.
He was part of United’s team which played Nottingham Forest in the fourth round of the FA Cup in front of 24,259 fans at the City Ground in January 1992.
“We got through the first round after a replay against Atherstone and our game against Aylesbury was on Match of the Day.
“We got drawn away at Woking and the match report in The Sun said that I had gone around kicking everyone in the Woking back four.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game because Woking had enjoyed some good cup runs and I remember Sillett telling us we would be going out there and we were not going to get beaten.”
“Before the replay, the draw for the next round was made and it was Forest away for the winners.
That was an added incentive and, of course, we beat Woking.”
He added: “We trained on Coventry City’s training complex which was fantastic and it was quite a frosty day.
“It brings back some great memories because Forest were managed by Brian Clough and we played against Roy Keane, Stuart Pearce and Teddy Sheringham.
“Pearce and Sheringham scored as we lost 2-0 and Pearce caught me in a rather painful place.
“The Hereford fans were behind the goal and the support was amazing. All you could hear were the Hereford fans singing – they were phenomenal.”
The striker was nicknamed ‘Wing Commander’ by Hereford supporters.
“I had a blond moustache when I was at Hereford and, at the time, I thought I looked like the bees knees,” he recalled. “The Hereford fans had a great sense of humour and we used to go out celebrating with the fans after matches.”
After leaving United in April 1992, Heritage went to Doncaster Rovers but he didn’t settle in Yorkshire.
“I was in a relationship with a Hereford hairdresser and it was a difficult time because it was a bad break up.”
Heritage returned to his roots and played for Woking, Hastings and Margate.
He followed West Ham United home and away for two seasons before starting to play local football again four years ago.
He lives in Bexhill-on- Sea and coaches at nearby Sidley United where he makes the occasional appearance from the bench.
“Nothing gives you the buzz that football does,”
he said. “I am 14-and-ahalf stone and take a pride in keeping myself fit. I tend to play in defence these days.”
He works as a manager for Freedom Engineering in Seven Oaks, Kent.
“When I saw the FA Cup draw, it brought back some happy memories.
Hereford should beat Hythe if they can play to the best of their ability.
“Good luck to the Bulls on Saturday and, if they win and get drawn at home in the next round, I will get a ticket and pop along.”
Heritage has a five-yearold daughter Lily-Mia with wife Sarah, to whom he has been married for five years. He also has two grown-up children, Claire and Harvey.
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