Renolution ramps up as Reds win at Hereford

FC United’s impressive form under new manager Neil Reynolds continued with a 3-1 victory away to Hereford on Saturday afternoon with quickfire goals from Tom Peers, Kurt Willoughby and an own goal.

Reynolds stuck with an unchanged squad for the game at Edgar Street hoping for a repeat of last Saturday’s Blyth performance and victory.

The first 15 minutes suggested this would be a much different game as Hereford came flying out of the traps and were pretty much camped in the FC half, albeit without actually testing goalkeeper Lloyd Allinson.

As it looked like this might be a long afternoon for FC, the first chance came when Elliot Simoes curled a shot just over. At the other end James Roberts fired a shot straight at Allinson.

That was the end of the action as far os the home side was concerned as FC United took control of the game, a ball over the top played in Simoes who beat the advancing Matt Yates to it but lobbed it just wide.

A minute later, Tom Peers fired in from 20 yards but saw his shot just whisk past the post. It was next the turn of Kurt Willoughby to have a sight on goal when he was played in after hesitation in the Bulls backline but he snatched at his shot and sliced wide when he had time to take a touch and show composure.

Two minutes later Simoes broke clear on the right, where he was combining superbly with Joel Senior, and put in a sumptuous cross that Willoughby just failed to connect with.

It looked just like a matter of time before the Reds broke the deadlock which they did on 25 minutes when Senior played in a great ball to Peers who took a touch to wrong foot a defender before clipping past Yates for 1-0.

Three minutes later the lead was doubled when Lewis Thompson crossed into the box where Hereford skipper Harvey Smith sidefooted into his own net.

Less than a minute later, it was 3-0. The ball was played back by a Hereford defender and Yates had to scramble to keep in play, his hurried clearance only found Willoughby 30 yards out who took a touch and fired unerringly into the net. As with the Blyth match, two goals in quick succession seemed to kill the game.

At half time, Hereford made a couple of changes as they looked to get back into the game, and they did have the lion’s share of possession in the second half but the FC defence, marshalled well by Chris Lynch, stood firm. Roberts fired a shot high and wide. Willoughby was unlucky with a free-kick that saw Yates juggle the ball but recover at the second attempt.

Hereford did pull a goal back on 82 minutes when a cross found George Lloyd. His shot was well blocked by the FC defence but the ball fell to Roberts who fired home from close range.

The victory extended FCs unbeaten run to five games, including three away wins. Reno will be looking to extend this run into the Manchester Premier Cup game at Mossley and then into the home league game with Telford next Saturday.

Report by Steven Wood

Man of the Match - Joel Senior. Showed great composure in defence and ran Hereford ragged in the first half with his forward runs.