Leeds Utd Hold Out Against Battling Bulls

Replay required.

In another outstanding team performance tonight at Edgar Street Hereford United came within a whisker of knocking a classy Leeds United out of the FA Cup. With just a little more luck in front of goal Hereford could have settled this tie at the first attempt. As it is they now have a money- spinning replay at Elland Road on Tuesday 20th November.

With Steve Guinan back from his three match suspension and among the substitutes the Bulls started the game unchanged from the victory against Mansfield on Tuesday night. In a superb atmosphere the first half was largely uneventful. Leeds enjoyed the majority of the possession but the Bulls always looked dangerous in possession with the lightning-quick Theo Robinson once again outstanding. The Hereford defence coped manfully with all of Leeds slick movement and confined them to long range efforts. Notable among those were shots from Sebastien Carole and the ever-dangerous Tresor Kandol which Wayne Brown saved confidently.

Robinson - So Close

If the first half had just gone to Leeds then the second most definitely went to the home side who broke time and time again with pace and with purpose. Last Saturday in the 5-1 win against Darlington the pick of the goals was the second from Theo Robinson- the result of an electrifying four-man move down the home side's left.

After fifty three minutes the same four players were involved in another left side move every bit as pulsating: Easton and Smith combined for Trevor Benjamin to lay the ball into the path of Theo Robinson. The young striker's left foot drive beat Casper Ankergren in the Leeds goal but flew agonisingly wide of his left hand post. It was a move that richly deserved a goal and had it gone in then it really would have been a goal long savoured by the Edgar Street faithful.

A few moments later Wayne Brown was called into action again when he save well down to his right from a fierce drive from Ben Parker.

In the sixty first minute Bulls™ skipper Karl Broadhurst, who along with John McCombe, had been magnificent in central defence all night,  fell awkwardly for a high challenge and had to be stretchered off with what appeared a serious injury. The Bulls defence was rearranged with Richard Rose moving into the centre of defence and Toumani Diagouraga dropping back from midfield into the right back berth. Substitute Karl Taylor took up Diagouraga'™s midfield role. These changes didn't upset the balance of the side, indeed from this time on it was Hereford who really posed the major threat.

They concentrated on breaking at pace through Theo Robinson and also through Lionel Ainsworth - with the winger becoming more and more influential as the game went on. There were a number of terrific Hereford breaks which were halted by the most hairline of offside decisions. The Leeds defence was being severely stretched by the frequency and pace of these breaks and when Ainsworth broke from the halfway line looking as if he would be through on goal he was cynically pulled back by Parker, a foul for which the Leeds man was fortunate only to receive a yellow card.

Replay on 20th November

As the game neared its end there was only ever going to be Hereford who would win it and they twice came within a whisker of scoring. In the seventy sixth minute a cross from the left from Steve Guinan - on for Benjamin - was met powerfully by the leaping Ainsworth who powered a header goalwards. Ankergen reacted superbly to beat the header away, if Ainsworth had only been able to direct it downwards or either side of the keeper then Hereford would have been in front.

The second chance was Hereford's last. John McCombe had gone up a Hereford corner and as the ball bounced around the penalty area the central defender executed an excellent overhead kick which, with the Leeds keeper well beaten, flew just wide of Ankergen's right hand post.

On the balance of play a draw was probably a fair result but it really was the home side who came the closest to scoring. This was a terrific night of cup football and was a performance of which the home side should be extremely proud and in which everyone played magnificently.

Now Hereford go to Leeds in ten days time for a tie in which, with their superb away record, they are still very much in the reckoning.

Hereford Utd: Brown; Rose, Broadhurst (Taylor 61), McCombe, Threlfall; Ainsworth, Smith, Diagouraga, Easton; Robinson, Benjamin (Guinan 71).
Subs not used: Ingham, Webb, Gwynne.