Youth Team manager Colin Williams reports on the friendly against Shrewsbury Town.
The Bulls made the short trip up the A49 to play Shrewsbury Town at their training ground in a pre-season friendly.
Having performed well against Derby County a couple of weeks ago, and after retaining the Welsh Super Cup, Hereford were hopeful of a good performance. Unfortunately the bug picked at Aberystwyth still lingered with many of the players and a very lack-lustre performance followed.
The home side moved the ball well and exploited the sloping pitch to their advantage. United were restricted to a few shots from distance while our opponents played clever balls in behind our defence.
Hereford did not help their cause by playing too many sideways and backwards passes. The midfield quartet seemed both reluctant to run beyond the attackers and also failed to track Shrewsbury's runners when not in possession. As a result they found our selves 4-0 down at the break.
Gary Stevens was quite forthright during his half-time assessment, pointing out to the players about the lack of urgency and effort from the team as a whole.
The second half started with Hereford now having the advantage of the slope, and this appeared to level the game up.
Within minutes of the restart Brendan Hackett left the field of play unwell, and this started a steady stream of substitutes as all of the 21-man squad. were used
United created several good opportunities with Josh Hunt delaying his shot when well placed and Jack Biggs curling a shot just past the far post.
Dale Brook was not as busy as Mat Gwynne had been in the first half and the game did not produce any more goals as the Shrews ran out 4-0 victors.
Hereford will need to be much better in their final friendly away at Stoke City on Tuesday, and will certainly be working hard to ensure that this performance is not repeated at locals rivals Cheltenham Town next Saturday as the Bulls kick off their league campaign.
Colin Williams
Hereford United FC Youth Team
The Youth Team's under-16s and under-18s will be presented with trophies from their recent success' in the Welsh Super Cup before the Carling Cup match at Edgar Street on Tuesday evening.
