Bulls robbed by fortunate Cobblers
It was a night of high drama at Edgar Street, where Hereford United's Chucki Eribenne (two) and Paul Parry held Northampton Town to a 3-3 draw in the LDV Vans Trophy. In the golden goal extra time that followed, a dubious Northampton penalty saw the second division side through, 4-3.
Bulls robbed by
dubious spot-kick
Hereford
United 3 - 4 Northampton Town (after extra time)
A penalty in golden goal extra time was
the deciding factor between Hereford and Northampton Town
in the LDV Vans Trophy first round encounter at Edgar
Street, in front of 1,087. But Hereford showed up the
Second Division side a lot during the match and can be
proud of the performance they gave.
The match got off to the perfect start for the visitors
as a cross from Gill found its way to Jamie Forrester,
who lashed the ball home from 14 yards after 30 seconds.
They could have even been two-nil to the good as a shot
by Marco Gabbiadini flew past Baker’s post.
But with their first attack of the game the Bulls drew
level as Nathan Abbey dropped what looked like a simple
cross by Danny Williams to the feet of Chukki Eribenne,
who forced the ball home in the fifth minute. Only five
minutes later and Northampton found themselves 2-1 up as
Paul Rickers fired home from the edge of the area after
United’s defence had failed to clear.
The next twenty minutes saw the game swing in an exciting
match between two sides willing to attack. Hereford
forced Abbey to spill another ball as Tony James fired in
a thirty yard shot. Mick Galloway and Paul Parry had a
couple of chances each, with Derek Asamoah and Ian
Sampson having efforts for Northampton. But it was
Hereford who next scored as a lovely pass by Paul Parry
sent Michael Rose down the wing, who cut inside Asamoah
and crossed to Eribenne who stabbed the ball home to
bring the scores level again on the half hour.
Hereford kept up the momentum going as John Frain almost
headed into his own net, Matt Clarke had a header on
target and Paul Parry had a shot go wide of the post. It
should have been 3-2 to Hereford at the break as Abbey
yet again spilled a thirty yard shot, this time from
Pitman, into Eribenne's path who fired home, but the
offside flag was raised and the goal not given. He also
had another chance before the half was out as he made a
powerful run at the Northampton defence, only to put his
shot just wide.
The second half took a little longer to
get going as Marco Gabbiadini headed a free kick into
Baker’s arms five minutes into the half. Then
Hereford should have taken the lead as Andy Tretton
headed over a Jamie Pitman cross when well placed and
unmarked in the area. It was Pitman himself who had the
next shot firing straight into Abbey’s arms.
Then Northampton forced a corner after Paul Harsley had
made Baker pull off a good save. The resulting corner
came in and was cleared to the edge of the area where
Asamoah fired at goal only for Baker to pull of another
save and the rebound fell to Forrester, and with an open
goal, fired onto the bar, before it was finally cleared.
Hereford then took the lead as Parry fired home a
eighteen yarder, after being played in by Galloway, past
Abbey. It could have so easily been four as Galloway had
a shot just scrapped the outside of the Northampton post.
Then with five minutes remaining Hereford took off Parry
for Guinan and Northampton threw on extra attackers in
search of an equaliser which they got. Paul Trollope
floated a freekick, from the centre circle, into the
Hereford area where Asamoah managed to steer the ball
over Baker for three apiece.
The extra time period saw the end to end action continue
as first Morrison fired wide for Northampton and then
Hope almost turned a Guinan cross into his own net,
before the penalty was given. It is not clear what it was
given for, but Forrester stepped up, and even though
Baker got a hand to the ball, it scrapped home.
This was a good open match and with Hereford doing
themselves no disgrace at all; let's hope United can keep
the momentum going for the Arlesey game on Saturday which
is going to be a totally different encounter.
Written by Tim Ward - 22nd October 2002.
Hereford United |
Northampton Town |
Matt Baker |
Nathan Abbey |
Matt Clarke (off, 90
minutes) |
Ian Sampson |
Michael Rose |
Richard Hope |
Andrew Tretton |
John Frain (off, 88
minutes) |
Richard Teesdale |
Marco Gabbiadini (off,
85 minutes) |
Tony James |
Paul Rickers |
Jamie Pitman |
Paul Trollope (captain) |
Paul Parry (off, 85
minutes) |
Jamie Forrester |
Danny Williams |
Derek Asamoah |
Mick Galloway |
Chris Hargreaves |
Chukki Eribenne |
Jerry Gill (off,
half time) |
Subs |
Subs |
Steve Guinan (on, 85
minutes) |
Paul Harsley (on,
half time) |
Ken Griffiths |
Chris Carruthers (on,
85 minutes) |
Rob Sawyers (on, 90
minutes) |
Greg Lincoln |
Rob Purdie |
Steve Morison (on,
88 minutes) |
Ben Smith |
Mark Bunn |
Yellow cards |
Yellow cards |
- |
- |
Red cards |
Red cards |
- |
- |
Scorers |
Scorers |
Chukki Eribenne (6,
31 minutes) |
Jamie Forrester (1
minutes, 95 minutes (pen)) |
Paul Parry (82 minutes) |
Paul Rickers (10 minutes) |
|
Derek Asamoah (89 minutes) |
|
|
Man of the
Match |
Paul Parry and
Chukki Eribenne shared |
Attendance |
1087 |
Referee |
Mr. S. Mattieson |