Hereford United 1 Lincoln City 2

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9th August 2006

Lincoln City's John Schofield enjoyed his first ever victory as Head Coach, when The Imps recorded a fine win over Hereford United on Tuesday evening.

An injury to striker Danny Bacon persuaded Schofield to change his team's formation to 4-4-2. This meant a recall for Paul Mayo at left-back, with Jeff Hughes moving forward to form a four man midfield alongside Scott Kerr, Lee Frecklington and Ryan Amoo.

The match was an open affair right from the start, with Mark Stallard finding himself with the game's first opportunity after just three minutes of play. Mayo's throw-in reached Stallard but his right-foot shot went wide of the post.

Stallard committed a 4th minute foul on defender Tamika Mkandawire, which assisted Hereford in launching their first attack. The ball was played forward from the free-kick to Tim Sills, whose long-range shot was caught by Imps' goalkeeper Alan Marriott.

Hereford had the initiative and created several other opportunities in quick succession. The first came in the 7th minute when Marriott was forced into another save, this time to prevent Phillip Gulliver's volley from entering the net. Next, Lincoln lost possession to allow Hereford to break forward. Luckily, Andy Williams' shot failed to reach its target due to a timely block from Mayo.

Lincoln, perhaps slightly against the run of play, took the lead in the 10th minute via a slice of luck. A Hereford attack had ended with Marriott catching the cross. The Imps then launched their own breakaway that saw Jamie Forrester pass to Stallard, whose shot took a deflection to leave Scott Tynan stranded in the Hereford goal.

A 15th minute long throw-in from Mayo again reached Stallard, but he fired his shot over the crossbar. Two minutes later, it was nearly 2-0 except Tynan somehow scrambled Amoo's lobbed shot away from goal.

Lincoln were happy to soak up any Hereford pressure, but The Bulls were now creating little despite having plenty of possession. In-between two Hereford corners, which came to nothing, Stallard see his well-taken header gathered by Tynan in the 25th minute.

It became 2-0 in the 28th minute when Hereford lost possession in their own half. Jamie Forrester gathered the ball to provide the cross for Stallard to head the ball into the bottom of the net.

Hereford had two great chances to reduce the deficit immediately after the second goal. The first saw Sills' header saved by Marriott in the 30th minute. The next was created from a free-kick that was taken by Andy Farrell to Mkandawire, whose header from 6-yards out was stopped by Marriott.

An excellent half was almost capped by Hughes in the 36th minute, when he met Amoo's cross. Alas, Hughes' header beat Tynan but rebounded off the post to safety. Lincoln regained possession but Hughes' next effort saw him send a speculative long-range shot well wide.

Stallard won a 43rd minute free-kick, which saw Kerr's effort tipped over the crossbar by Tynan. The corner was cleared, which left Lincoln City's supporters feeling that justice had not been done as it was Tynan who had conceded the free-kick when he brought down Stallard. Lincoln's fans had expected to see a red card but the referee deemed a yellow card was sufficient.

Neither side made any alterations at half-time. Hereford won a corner within seconds of the restart but the danger ended when the referee spotted an infringement and awarded Lincoln a free-kick.

Hereford tried to score an early second half goal as both Sills and Williams sent shots wide. However, Lincoln were adopting a professional approach to the second half to ensure that Hereford could not regain their lost motivation.

A 58th minute throw-in from Lee Beevers reached Forrester, who sent a shot over the bar from close range. Both sides won corners around the 68th minute but neither troubled the opposition.

Hereford opted to make two changes in the 71st and 74th minute respectively. First, Gareth Sheldon was replaced by Martyn Giles. Next, Gulliver was replaced by Alan Connell. The alterations restored hope to Hereford, as did Beevers, whose foul on Sills inside the penalty area earnt Hereford a penalty. Robert Purdie dispatched the penalty high into the left of the goal to make the score 1-2 to Lincoln City.

Unsurprisingly this rejuvenated Hereford but the referee's whistle was preventing them from formulating attacks. One such whistle ended Hereford's joy as Connell saw a goal ruled out for offside.

Meanwhile, Lincoln City decided to replace Amoo with Colin Cryan as they opted for a more defensive outlook. Cryan was immediately required to help defend against two Hereford corners, which Lincoln succeeded in doing.

An 85th minute foul by Stuart Fleetwood on Adie Moses ended with the Hereford striker being shown a yellow card after an altercation with Mayo.

Hereford almost grabbed a late equaliser when Fleetwood powered the ball towards goal. Not for the first time in his career, Lincoln City were indebted to Marriott who produced a superb save to push the ball over the crossbar.

The final minutes passed by without significant incident to earn Lincoln City their first win of the new season.

Hereford: S Tynan, S Travis, T Mkandawire, P Gulliver(75 A Connell), R Rose, A Williams, A Ferrell, R Purdie, G Sheldon(72 M Giles), T Sills, S Fleetwood
Unused subs: J Wallis, T McClenahan, P Harrison

Lincoln City: A Marriott, L Beevers, A Moses, P Morgan, P Mayo, R Amoo(82 C Cryan), L Frecklington, S Kerr, J Hughes, M Stallard, J Forrester
Unused subs: S Rayner, R Semple, G Birch, M Gritton