Bulls overcome Wrexham to stay on course for automatic promotion.

Theo and Hooper celebrate

Graham Turner made just one change from the side who lost to Peterborough on Saturday with Theo Robinson replacing Steve Guinan in attack. There was no place for Guinan even on the bench in one of the most important games to be played at Edgar Street for a very long time.

It soon became clear that the Bulls were intent on trying to exploit opportunities through the pace of Hooper and Robinson and the Bulls’ long ball tactic could and should have paid dividends as early as the fifth minute. Hooper clipped a ball over his head into the path of Robinson who easily outstripped the Wrexham defence to find himself one on one with the Wrexham keeper Gavin Ward. With the ball sitting up nicely and only ten yards from goal the young on-loan striker struck his shot tamely wide of the left hand post. The home crowd may then have feared the worst – that Hereford would once again spurn chances to defeat opponents at Edgar Street.

In the forty second minute they broke the deadlock when the two strikers again combined. This time it was Theo Robinson who turned provider as his exquisite back heel fell perfectly into the path of the Southend loanee. Thirty yards from goal Hooper outpaced his marker and raced into the right side of the Wrexham penalty area. He drew Ward before sliding the ball under him and into the far corner of the net. The goal was expertly taken and, so close to half time, could not have come at more opportune time. Despite enjoying he lion’s share of possession this had been only Hereford’s second clear-cut scoring chance.

With nothing less than a win being sufficient to save Wrexham from relegation the first half had been lively and very open affair. Wrexham had carved out some openings themselves and Wayne Brown had had to be at his very best in the fourth and thirty-fifth minutes when he made excellent saves, respectively, from Matty Done and Neil Roberts. The save from Roberts was outstanding with the Bulls’ stopper somehow getting down to his left to push the Wrexham striker’s fiercely struck shot around his post.

Robinson slots home number 2

The Bulls took complete charge of the second period in which they kicked towards the Meadow End. Eight minutes into this second period they came within inches of doubling their lead. Ben Smith won the ball in midfield and played Theo Robinson in on goal. The striker sped in goal and, twenty yards out, struck his shot low to Ward’s right. The ball beat the keeper’s outstretched hands but struck the base of his right hand post before rolling out to safety.

It didn’t take long though for the Bulls to extend their lead. The goal came on the hour when Richard Rose played a clever ball into the Wrexham penalty area for Theo Robinson. The Wrexham defence stood still expecting an offside flag which never came and Robinson brought the ball under control before joyfully sliding it under Ward and into the net. The Bulls’ striker won’t need reminding that this was his first league goal of 2008 and, with two crucial league games still to come, the strike could not have come at a more opportune time for him or for his team.

The goal effectively killed the game off and in the last half an hour the Bulls played some of the best football seen at Edgar Street for many weeks. No move epitomised this quality of play better than the pacy and slick passing movement, thirteen minutes from time, which once again involved the two front strikers. Hooper raced onto his partner’s intelligent pass before fizzing in a low cross which, but for Shaun Pejic’s last-ditch intervention, would have been converted at the far post by an unmarked Clint Easton.

There never looked any way back for Wrexham, although substitute Michael Proctor forced Wayne Brown into his third outstanding save of the night in injury time.

This was a solid and enormously important team performance which, in patches during the second half, reached the heights. The only disappointment is that this crucial game attracted so modest an attendance. One can only hope that with automatic promotion now so clearly in their sights that supporters will turn out in appropriate numbers for the last two crucial league games.