A Cobblers View of Hereford

Danny Brothers watched his beloved Cobblers defeat the Bulls 2-0 yesterday. Taken from his blog, below is his view of the day.

The trip to Edgar Street was plotted when the fixtures came out and it was a big one for me as well with a new ground to add to the “92 List”. We arrived in good time and with a couple of hours to spare before kick off, a pint was in order and eventually we came across a nice little place on the edge of the ground. Perfect! The time flew by and with a chill in the air we joined the rest of the hardy souls in the away end that were shivering whatever bits they had left off in the chilly breeze of Hereford.

Edgar Street is dilapidated to say the least but it has a rare character not seen in today’s football grounds. Hereford were surely not expecting their double promotion of recent seasons and the ground will surely be redeveloped at some point but it was a great throwback moment for me to times of the old Division Three and the scene was set for the afternoon.

The game began with few chances for either side but with the Cobblers in control of proceedings. Scott McGleish had started up front with Leon Constantine, who seemed to have a cult following in the away end. It was Constantine who had the first real chance of the game with a header sailing over the bar after good work by Danny Jackman. Loanee right back Kyle Walker was showing true class and was the main talking point of the first half, making a couple of terrific runs from the back.

Steve Guinan had the home sides’ best effort of a poor first half when he tested Frank Fielding just before the break while Constantine had a shot deflected over the bar at the other end. At half time, we were comfortable without being overly imposing on the home defence but the second half saw Stuart Gray’s men come to life.

Just a couple of minutes in and the Cobblers won a free kick just outside the Hereford area and Danny Jackman and Luke Guttridge stood over the ball. It was Jackman who struck it and hit it perfectly, curling the ball over the wall and past Matt Murray in the Hereford goal to give us a vital lead.

We had just finished celebrating when number two followed just a few minutes later. Ryan Gilligan pounced on a lucky deflection in the Hereford area and controlled the ball neatly before tucking away a tidy finish past Murray and giving the travelling faithful room to breathe that little bit easier. In truth, we had no need to worry as the home side barely threatened with Dean Beckwith’s header from a free kick that was brilliantly saved by Fielding their only real opening.

It was the Cobblers who threatened to add to the goals more and Kyle Walker was unlucky to see his cross shot hit the bar in the dying stages but two goals were enough and the Cobblers had recorded only their second away win of the season, leaving on travelling supporter overjoyed at what may well turn out to be just another away day for most. Football is special in that way, in that every game around the country will mean different things for different people and a meaningless match for some may just be an unforgettable one for others.

We celebrated with a quick drink on the way back to the station but missed the connection in Newport so had to hang around there for an hour, taking in the Aston Villa-Man United game with a group of Welsh rugby fans in a nearby Walkabout. We eventually arrived back in Southampton just after 10pm having spent a very nice day indeed on the edge of Wales.

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