Hereford Match Thread

Disappointing that! Was definitely a penalty, their player was trying to fowl Stanway, I couldn’t quite make out who it was for us that held their player… arms all over him. Stupid penalty to give away…

On to Spennymoor!

Couldn’t see the pen as my view was restricted but can’t really complain considering how the second half went. We should really have had more than one goal to show for our first half performance though really. Still a decent point away at an ok side so can’t really complain. We’ve had much worse games this season!

Watching it back from the stream the Penalty was a mess, Whitehouse is all over him but as the ball comes in they both have each other in headlocks. I'd say it's the definition of six of one half a dozen of the other. Also we'll see a penalty every week if someone's standing on the keeper and the ref is giving them. Normally a ref would pull them up before the corners taken and tell them to calm it down.

We're still missing two of what I consider our top players in Coates and Caton, happy with a point though. 8 unbeaten results could have been worse. We're in a good run constantly up near the top of the form table.

Bit annoying we couldn’t get a win. Felt we created more chances than them. The constant cries of ‘handball!’ was a bit weird. Dunno if they were or weren’t. They definitely did handball in their area towards the end but hand was down and alongside body so probably fair not to give it.

Thought the front two looked tired. Perhaps change it up for last 10? Having said that we did create some chances towards the end so what do I know.

Good game to watch.

Short return trip for us also so bonus point for that.

I guess walking out the ground I was content with the point given the game overall.
1 st half we were much the better team and controlled the game for long spells . We got the goal from what seemed an awful goal keeping gaff.
Had chances for a 2 nd but it didn’t materialise.
At that stage the officials had done really well .
Second half was a different story .
For the first 10 minutes or so we kept them fairly quiet without offering too much ourselves. Then suddenly they stepped it up and put us under considerable pressure until they eventually got the penalty awarded.
We picked up 8 yellow cards of which half of those seemed soft.
We had two penalty shouts ourselves the one I thought looked a foul ? And the handball although obvious sometimes they give them . Not sure he had the bottle to give it?
Whilst they showed what they are about second half we lost control of the game in the middle of the park and looked tired at times . Stanway made at least two great stops to keep it at 1-1 .
Despite falling away a bit second half we did have the through ball which wasn’t quite executed correctly . A glorious Glendon chance and as I’ve mentioned the two penalty shouts. I don’t know what was said at full time but Cal was having a long chat with the ref about matters. Those who were better placed than me said their goal that was chalked off for offside was debatable . Given recent results the table etc a point there isn’t too shabby. Lovely to go to a proper football ground FairPlay to our 200 plus who I felt really got behind us tonight .

Don't know why we didn't make any other subs. Some of the lads were running on fumes by the end

I thought that was as one-sided a refereeing performance as I've seen in a long time - a real homer. In the second half it seemed almost every challenge was given as a free kick to them. Hereford played well in that half, but were able to keep the pressure on as a result, which told in the end.
There was barely a bad tackle in the game but most of our team was booked, yet Murray was repeatedly kicked up in the air, went off injured, and half the challenges on him weren't even given as fouls, let alone warranted a booking in the refs eyes. And booking us for time wasting when they did exactly the same minutes later was a joke.
The penalty was a mystery (I spoke to some Hereford fans after the match and they didn't spot anything in the home end at the time, and didn't know what it was given for either). so if there was any contact it must have been extremely harsh.
Defensively we were excellent, and Stanway (again) was great when needed - and almost saved the penalty.
The front two had an off day, but our tactic of lumping long balls up to them didn't help, and their defenders were all monsters.
Declan needs to just shut up sometimes - or George should pull him away. Daft and unprofessional to get a second yellow after the final whistle.
Definitely should have used more subs - Burke for one was clearly suffering in the last few minutes with a knock.
I'd have taken a point before the game, so from that pov job done.

Hereford fan here with a slightly different view of some aspects of the game!
Refereeing is always a contentious issue but in terms of the number of Chester bookings, a lot came when you were under considerable pressure and a bit desperate in the second half. One or two may have been soft but not 8!!! The penalty was no mystery -it was clear. Your keeper repeatedly slowing matters down was eventually only going to have one outcome. Other than that he played well by the way! I don't normally associate Chester with the 'black arts' but the rolling over and faining injury that we saw last night reminded me of Tamworth!! Weeks chopsing himself into a card after 90 minutes was, as you say, also poor.
I was also looking forward to seeing the much vaunted Tollitt -did he miss the bus?
Both sides had chances to win that game but in the end after the second half you were probably happy to get a point out of it.
Thought it was a good game overall between two decent sides. Think you'll make the play-offs but we'll struggle to get there unless we get our two wingers back on the pitch. We've missed them the last two games.
Thanks for the entertainment! I always look forward to the Chester games.
Have a good rest the season.

I hate time wasting and play acting but it’s ingrained so far into the game now  that even the officials accept it ,there’s not a team in the league that don’t do it and that includes Hereford who did plenty during your 0-1 win at our place earlier in the season.

We all know that our team is doing it  just like every team in any league does , but we like to call it game management when it’s us. Must have heard it 10 times on the commentary last night.

I agree with most of that. I think the Kev Roberts booking was harsh, but other than that they were what you'd expect. We don't know what Glendon said on the penalty decision that 'merited' a card. The penno itself was foolish by Elliot - you could see before the corner that it was a 50/50 wrestle, but as the ball came over, he clearly gripped the stationary Hereford player with both hands. I think defenders get away with this the majority of the time, but it did seem a little excessive on this occasion.



I think the 2 worst tackles were by Hereford - the one on Murray by Cowley was awful and should have resulted in a red, rather than a yellow - he went in studs up, but thankfully missed and only got second prize with his shin connecting with Iwan instead. Then Burke was caught with a nasty scissor tackle in the far corner in the second half and the ref didn't even give a free kick.



The result was fair - I think we should have been 2 up at half time and Hereford were comfortably 2 goals better than us second half. The set piece delivery from Babos was quality.

Those last two minutes were the worst I’ve ever witnessed 😉

Looking at those highlights the penalty is harsh.
Whitehouse and the Hereford player are both wrestling each other. Problem is, Whitehouse then pushes him away and to the ground. Decent Officials and VAR would normally say both at it and not give anything.

If you have a poor twitchy referee teams can play them. A penalty is a huge advantage over an attacker just giving a free kick away. Its worth creating contact and pushing to catch his attention, then go over.

Pardon my French but what an absolutely fucking awful penalty to give away that was.