By Leo Bell @ Edgar Street
Hereford United went down 3-0 to League One outfit Yeovil Town, crashing out of the FA Cup in the first round.
Goals from Ed Upson, former Bull Andy Williams and Dominic Blizzard secured a convincing win for the Glovers as they progressed to the second round draw.
Hereford were forced to make two changes from the side that drew 1-1 against League Two high-flyers Crawley Town, with James McQuilkin and new signing Sam Clucas deployed on the wings in the absence of of loanees Tom Barkhuizen and Steve Leslie, who were denied permission to play by their parent clubs.
Yeovil made their intentions clear from the off, and following two Nathan Elder shots Kieran Agard cleared the crossbar for Yeovil.
Ryan Green was forced to clear from a Paul Wotton cross and it wasn't long before the midfielder was troubling Hereford's defence again, this time with a long shot that thankfully went wide of David Cornell's goal.
Cornell was then called into action when Oli Johnson delivered a cross, but the Welshman gathered with relative ease.
As the half wore on Hereford started to come into the game, Harry Pell tested Yeovil stand-in goalkeeper Gareth Stewart with a cross into the box that the Glovers' goalkeeping coach managed to gather.
The tall midfielder then had a shot following a McQuilkin effort. Bondz N'Gala managed to clear and McQuilkin took the resulting corner. This time Paul Huntington was on hand to get the ball away, but only as far as McQuilkin, whose powerful shot missed the near post.
This spell of Hereford pressure was then followed by another long range effort from Wotton, who again missed to the right of the goal.
It was Yeovil's next chance that proved the most decisive, Upson shooting from outside the box into the bottom right corner of the goal to give Yeovil the lead midway through the first half.
Despite going a goal down, Hereford continued to press and looked more likely to score the next goal. Elder went close with an overhead-kick, but Yeovil saw the remainder of the opening period out professionally and the Bulls went in a goal down.
Clucas: Made first-team debut
Hereford made two changes at half-time, taking off McQuilkin and Clucas for two Yoann Arquin and Delroy Facey, and lined up in a 4-3-3 formation.
Elder forced a save out of Stewart early on and Joe Heath and Arquin both got crosses into the box before Elder had another chance, once more on target, but once more saved by Stewart.
But two minutes later and Yeovil had doubled their lead, former Hereford forward Andy Williams netting from just inside the penalty area into the top left corner of the goal to give Yeovil a two-goal advantage.
Hereford continued to press and managed to win a corner on 63 minutes. Nicky Featherstone took it and found Elder who somehow put his close-range header wide. Soon after, Hereford forced another corner, this time Simon Clist stepped up but his cross was easily gathered by Stewart.
Heath continued to put balls into the box and Arquin was unlucky to see his pass cut out by Luke Ayling before Yeovil put the game to bed with a third goal.
This time it was Blizzard who found the net with a shot into the top right corner from just outside the box.
A somewhat scrappy end to the game saw Hereford continue to dominate the chances that were created.
Arquin and Green both had crosses dealt with, while Pell saw his speculative effort go well over the bar.
Will Evans came on as a late substitute for Featherstone, but in the end Hereford couldn't make their dominance count up front.
Hereford United: Cornell, Purdie, Green, Townsend, Heath, McQuilkin (Facey 46), Pell, Featherstone (Evans 81), Clist, Clucas (Arquin 46), Elder.
Subs not used: Dalibard, Lunt, D. Williams, Peniket.
Booked: Clist.
Yeovil Town: Stewart, Ayling, Ngala, Huntington, Blizzard, Upson, Ehmer, Wotton, A. Williams, Johnson (Gibson 90), Agard.
Subs not used: Caser, Gilbert, Baggridge, Edgar, Bell-Baggie, Belson.
Booked: Ngala, Wotton.
Attendance: 2,469 - 348 away.
