Saturday, February 21, 2004

Hereford United's chances of lifting the Nationwide Conference championship were dealt a severe blow after their second successive home defeat on Saturday.

The loss leaves Hereford eight points adrift of Chester City who themselves clinched an injury-time win over Dagenham & Redbridge, whom Hereford visit next Friday.

The Bulls once again had plenty of the play against Woking but, as in their previous home loss against Burton, were undone by an elementary error from goalkeeper Matt Baker.

Baker, who has excelled many times for Hereford this season, failed to do the simple thing and boot the ball into the back of the stand when he received a back pass from on-loan Tamika Mkandawire.

Instead, the Hereford keeper hesitated and seemed to be by trying to take the ball past Steve Ferguson who stole the ball and had the easy task of putting the ball into the back of the empty net.

It was the only on-target shot that the Cards managed in the entire game.

In complete contrast, up until Ferguson's goal, Hereford had carved out chance after chance but were either guilty of wasteful finishing or saw good efforts thwarted by Woking's Ashley Bayes, who in contrast to his Hereford counterpart hardly put a foot wrong.

David Brown, who had one of his best games for Hereford, was twice the victim of Bayes' brilliance, when, once in each half, the goalkeeper showed tremendous reactions to keep out close range efforts which seemed bound for the back of the net.

And when the goalkeeper was beaten for once, by Rob Purdie's well-struck 20-yarder, fortune still favoured him rather than Brown.

The ball struck the base of an upright and rebounded to the former Telford striker who seemed taken by surprise and hit his shot high over the empty net.

Bayes had defied Jamie Pitman as early as the second minute, turning a curling effort past the post for a corner.

But all too often Bayes was able to watch as the ball sailed harmlessly wide of the target.

Michael Rose and Danny Williams both struck free-kicks from virtually identical positions well over the cross bar while Purdie failed to control the ball as he raced on to a Rose pass and saw the opportunity lost.

Even in the dying seconds, when a chance fell to Purdie some 20 yards out, the midfielder sliced his effort well wide.

Considering their concentration on defence, it was ironic that Woking had the other best chance to score.

Just after their goal, Raphael Nade sped on to a Chris Giles pass but clipped the ball wide of the upright when faced by the advancing Baker.

United boss Graham Turner said after the game: "It wasn't a sparkling performance but we had the chances to win the match.

"Sometimes it's the manner of conceding a goal that can knock you back and Matt Baker made a mistake. He knows it and we know it."