Saturday, August 30, 2003

UNBEATEN leaders Hereford United maintained their superb start with a richly deserved 2-0 win over Stevenage at Broadhall Way in a Nationwide Conference top-of-the-table clash.

A goal in each half from man-of-the-match Ben Smith and Steve Guinan gave a confident United side their fifth win in six Conference outings.

The Bulls produced a tremendous display and the score-line actually flattered Stevenage, who were outplayed and outclassed for most of the match.

Hereford and Guinan, in particular, might have sealed the points before the interval because the visitors carved out a number of goal-scoring opportunities.

United's dominance, however, arrived after Matt Baker had produced a crucial penalty save on 22 minutes to keep out a controversially-awarded spot-kick.

Referee Gary Sutton surprised almost everyone in adjudging that Michael Rose had tripped Anthony Elding, who appeared to stumble under no obvious pressure.

But, perhaps, justice was done because Baker dived to his left to push out Elding's spot-kick and the Stevenage striker lashed the rebound high over.

Hereford opened the scoring just five minutes after the penalty save with a superb strike from Smith who ran onto a long throw from Rose and beat a defender.

The midfielder then fired an unstoppable low shot from the edge of the box beyond Nathan Abbey into the bottom corner.

Hereford took control after that goal and created five glorious chances in a five-minute spell in which they looked destined to score.

Parry, however, twice missed the target with headers and Guinan, twice, failed to connect with crosses from Rob Purdie when the deftest of touches would have doubled United's tally.

For all Hereford's pressure, Peter Costello almost clawed the home side level eight minutes after the interval with a powerful close-range header, which was instinctively saved by Baker.

But United hit back strongly and went close to extending their lead when Smith's deft lob bounced a foot wide and Guinan's angled drive just missed the target.

The writing was on the wall and United duly put the game safe in the 65th minute.

Tenacious play inside a crowded area by Guinan ended with the former Shrewsbury striker hammering a rising shot into the top corner.

United had set the tone for their display from the kick off when a neat move between Rose and Guinan set up an early chance for Smith whose half volley was tipped over.

Hereford boss Graham Turner said: "A hard thing for us to accept was that we had not won the match by half time. But we stuck at it and it was a tremendous result."

Goalscorer Guinan added: "We've started really well and picked up a lot of points. Hopefully, we'll just keep the ball rolling. Everyone is enjoying it and it's a great club to be with at the moment, because we're top of the league. Hopefully, we've surprised a few teams."