Thursday, January 1, 2004

DANNY Williams' excellently-struck free-kick in first-half stoppage time gave Hereford United a 1-0 win at Exeter City and brought their festive Nationwide Conference tally to four points out of six.

Williams will certainly be much happier with his return from the Nationwide Conference double-header with their Devon rivals than Exeter 'keeper James Bittner who received his second red card of the holiday period for the offence which led to Williams' goal.

Bittner, who was sent off for a foul on Paul Parry in the previous game at Edgar Street, came out to gather the ball from Scott Hiley's back header as Rob Purdie ran in to challenge and was adjudged to have picked the ball up outside his area.

Referee Garry Chapman had no hesitation in sending the goalkeeper off, much to the fury of Grecians boss Eamonn Dolan.

"The only explanation is that the referee is a Hereford supporter," he said. "And he obviously converted his two mates on the way up."

On the balance of play, Exeter could consider themselves unfortunate to have come away with nothing from a game in which they had the majority of the possession and did the lion's share of the attacking.

Hereford, however, although playing well below their best, worked very hard in defence of their three points and largely restricted the home side to long-range efforts.

The Bulls might, indeed, have wrapped the points up in the second half when Rob Purdie missed with a glorious chance to settle the issue.

In an excellent move, Williams made ground on the right before picking out Parry perfectly on the left of the penalty area. The winger, making his 200th appearance for United, tapped the ball inside to Purdie who somehow sidefooted the ball wide from six yards with the Hereford fans behind the goal already celebrating.

While Exeter created few openings, when they did strike at goal Hereford were indebted to goalkeeper Matt Baker for keeping a hard-earned clean sheet.

In the first half, Baker was quickly off his line to push the ball away from Steve Flack as the former Cardiff City striker raced on to a Santos Gaia through ball.

Then, on 81 minutes, home top scorer Sean Devine, just after landing a volley on the top of the net, made space on the edge of the area to fire in a shot which Baker tipped around the post for a corner.

And in injury time, the goalkeeper flew through the air to push another Devine shot from fully 40 yards around the post when the former Barnet and Wycombe man let fly with another goalbound effort.

Hereford: BAKER 8, Teesdale 6, Uddin 6, James 7, Rose 6, Williams 7 (Guinan 64, 6), Smith 6, Pitman 7, Parry 6 (Craven 75), Purdie 6, Beesley 6. Subs not used: Scott, King, Wells.

Attendance: 4,943.