| United's winning streak has come to an end, but they will be the happier of the two teams tonight after an exciting goalless draw at Hereford. With a lot at stake the game had a fairly cautious opening, with few early openings. Craig Stanley fired in a decent shot on 11 minutes but Matty Glennon was at full stretch to touch the ball away for a corner. Chris Lumsdon had to go off the pitch on 24 minutes allowing the home side to apply a bit of pressure but the Cumbrians defence, marshalled by Conference Player of the Month Kevin Gray, held firm. Derek Holmes set up Karl Hawley for a turn and shot on goal after 32 minutes but the ball was marginally too high. Hereford produced a good passage of play that led to a Jamie Pitman effort that flew wide. Lee Mills got away from Kevin Gray two minutes from the interval but chipped high over the bar from a good position on the edge of the box. Half-time brought a scoreless position with few real chances for either side. Paul Simpson would have been pleased with the first half display with some very strong defending Robert Purdie made a telling break early in the second half to force a corner. From the kick a Stanley shot was blocked by Lumsdon and Danny Livesey was forced to concede another corner. Stanley had another effort from the next corner but his volley at the far post flashed wide of the target. Hawley had a shot blocked after some good work on the edge of the box as the visitors tried to turn the tide that was running Hereford's way with 55 minutes elapsed. Adam Stansfield slipped away and fired over the angle of post and bar. Stanley fired over after good work by Pitman on 61 minutes. It was now constant Bulls pressure with United living dangerously. The Cumbrians did manage to force a corner after good play by Billy and Hawley. Tom Cowan made a vital tackle on Daryl Taylor as the game opened up. Glenn Murray replaced Holmes with 21 minutes left. A Gray header rescued United after a good corner in from Mark Robinson. United then had a good effort with Lumsdon finding Hawley and his effort brought a save out of Tretton and came back off the bar. Hereford brought on Danny Williams for Taylor. Lee Mills fired in a header that brought a save out of Glennon but the ref blew up for a foul by Williams. United nearly nicked a goal with 6 minutes left as Lumsdon picked out Glenn Murray but his headed effort was inches wide of the top left hand corner. Murray had a better chance a couple of minutes later when he drilled wide with the goal at his mercy. Glennon coped well with two more Bulls' corners as time ran down. A Lumsdon free kick found Murray again and the youngster's header came back off the cross-bar. Billy received a booking as the game finished after two minutes of stoppage time. Al's verdict: This was an important point and we'll be happy enough to consolidate our play off position. Defensively we were rock solid in the face of strong home pressure with Robinson's corners and crosses a constant menace. Gray and Livesey were outstanding in central defence. In the last 10 minutes we came very close to taking the points with Glenn Murray going close on three occasions. We remain in charge of our destiny and if we have to go back to Edgar Street in the play-offs we'll be confident of holding them again. |