MALVERN TOWN 1-2 HEREFORD LADS CLUB: THE INDEPENDENT MATCH REPORT...

Grappling Lads Grab The Points At Malvern, As Beer-Inspired Unpleasantness Spoils The Day

Malvern Town 1-2 Hereford Lads Club

The wind was a problem during this important clash near the top of the Hellenic League’s Division 1 West but the problem of the bluster between clashing supporters will be remembered more… Ugly scenes around the time of Hereford’s equaliser and their subsequent penalty miss erupted in front of the grandstand as the game continued. Alcohol was certainly responsible for a good number of the verbal and non-verbal clashes which was unfortunate, for the lively and good humoured audibility of Hereford’s fans had previously brightened a surprisingly dour match. That the Lads won this encounter was important for the Hereford based outfit in that it made the remaining contests in this division that much more intriguing. A draw might have been acceptable to both clubs perhaps, given the way the match panned out but certainly the second period saw to it that the opening half paled into obscurity.

MY VIEW WAS DECENT, ALSO OUT OF THE WIND...

The previously quiet Harry Clark opened the scoring for Town during the first-half but after the break Olly Price regained parity for the Lads with a low drive, as five home defenders made their separate ways towards him. The influential Adam Hockey then won a penalty for the guests but Adam Newbury saw his spot-kick saved and so the game rattled on towards the end until Hockey’s long corner (get it?) was met by defender Jamie Cuthbertson’s head and his close range effort bulged the home net. The Hereford defence, in which both Cuthbertson and Kalum Wildig were uncompromising and effective, kept 43 goal home forward Matt Turner on a leash and marked Kyonn Evans closely and physically, leaving Town looking hesitant in attack, with their best shots coming from the left boot of the deeper lying Dave Reynolds.

READY TO GO...

The visitors won the match without striker Kiea Cowley-Hair, who suffered an early and serious ankle injury, leaving much reliance upon Hockey and he didn’t disappoint, albeit well supported by the busy James Hancocks, who was down on the team sheet as ‘Hancock’, hence the missing ’s’ on the commentary…  Despite threatening less often than their hosts, there was often more directness in the Lads’ offense, as the Hillsiders seemed hesitant around the 18 yard box, resulting in several shots being blocked by massed defenders or saved by visiting skipper Steven Bell. However, following a slow start, Town began to affect the game more and more until the interval, although fate was later to favour the Lads…

ARCHER SHOWS HOW HE DRAWS BACK HIS BOW...

TURNER: ONE REAL CHANCE...

COWLEY-HAIR: REALLY BAD INJURY...
I SEND MY GOOD WISHES TO HIM...

Two low Price shots for Hereford, both from inside-right, were stopped, first by Jordan Dibble’s comfortable save, then by Sauntson’s block, before a Hancocks drive was fielded by Dibble the gloveman too. Trouble soon emerged from the Hereford dugout, as one coach was cautioned at the insistence of a maligned linesman and really, this started the verbal conflicts generally, for some Town followers engaged the coach in bouts of argument and disagreement. The visiting contingent took the bait and thus, during the second period, when a number of the Lads’ fans had moved to the right of their team’s bench, they too became involved in the skirmishes, both verbal and ultimately, physical. Badly done folks… 

REYNOLDS, LOADER & HIBBARD...

REYNOLDS ON THE KARAOKE MICROPHONE...

CUTHBERTSON (RIGHT):
"SUPPOSE I'D BETTER SCORE AGAIN, NOW THAT THE MOWDOG'S HERE..."

Mark Hibbard was the calming influence upon the Hereford team in the trenches and Newbury was the bodyguard, making several fouls too in his workload. He would later receive a yellow card, as the referee finally lost patience with him. Malvern’s goal attempts were spasmodic, with Clark having a shot blocked by James Fennessey and later shoving a low centre across the face of goal, whilst Reynolds drove wide and then too high. The previously prolific Evans and Turner had just one attempt each, as the former drove a shot from inside-left off target with Clark unmarked inside him and then the latter went clear, veered right past Bell’s challenge but in doing so, he stumbled slightly and the ball ran too wide for him, so that his angled shot flew high past the near upright. 

Clark’s goal was simple, for Evans’ rampaging run into the right side of the penalty-box allowed him time to pass the ball across to the strangely unmarked winger and really, he couldn’t miss… 

WATCHING, WONDERING, WAITING...

"CAN'T HELP IT REF, I'M JUST A TRIFLE PHYSICAL..."

"REF, I KEEP THINKING THAT THERE'S SOMEBODY FOLLOWING ME..."

"SO, WILDER, OR FURY TONIGHT?"

Two free-kicks, both from inside-right were also wasted by Town, skipper Louis Loader lifting his effort well over the goal-frame and the belligerent Sam Hunt, later to be booked, rapping his attempt into Hereford’s bullish defensive wall. And so half-time arrived for the spectators with a refilling of beer glasses and a lighting up of fags and for the players the reviving sniff of a cut of Stinking Bishop cheese and a swig of rum…

SECOND PERIOD...

WILDIG, EVANS & CUTHBERTSON...

The second period brought a blocked Clark volley for Malvern and another effort by the tricky winger which was stopped by Wildig. James Febery hit a low shot wide of the left upright from 19 yards and Loader shot way too high from downtown, before a low cross by the energetic Curtis Smith was palmed out by Bell. Reynolds, in that hiding role, was denied three times by the Hereford goaltender. First the ‘keeper beat down a 25 yard effort, then saved well with his legs from the Town number 10 and Bell finally turned another Reynolds shot wide for a corner. 

HUNT CAUTIONED? SURELY NOT...

Hereford simply had to chase the game though and after Price had clipped an effort past the right angle of crossbeam and post, with replacement team-mate Tom Bendall unmarked nearby, he scored the wildly celebrated equaliser. A pass from the left edge of the 18 yard box by Hancocks was the catalyst and with five defenders cutting across him, Price shot low, probably through a defender’s legs and the ball beat Dibble. 

NEWBURY CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S BEEN BOOKED AFTER ONLY ABOUT FIVE FOULS...

Hockey had seen a shot pass just wide, another deflected wide off Phil Harris and a third had ballooned too high but when Sauntson was mugged by the quick forward, Hockey had seemingly done the hard work by rushing into position to shoot at 18 yards, before his low effort was parried well by the encroaching Dibble. Then the action really kicked off, when the Lads won their penalty and incredibly, missed it. A challenge by Sauntson, a fall by Hockey, then the slowly approached penalty by Newbury simply heightened the tension but his low shot towards the bottom left corner of goal was touched round the pole by the diving Dibble. 

NEWBURY IS ABOUT TO TAKE THE PENALTY...

Sauntson was cautioned for his part in the penalty incident but with the teams trading offensive thrusts, the Lads won a left-side corner which was taken by Newbury. Dibble though did well to palm the ball out for a right-flank corner as it swirled in towards the far stick. Hockey took the right-wing flag-kick, Dibble was lost in the crowd and Cuthbertson rose to plant a strong header into the Malvern net from 5 yards.  In truth, Town were unable to respond, their offense being unable to get through the robust defending of Sam Archer, Fennessey, Cuthbertson and Wildig. Hibberd kept calm in the closing moments, the odd rush by Clark saw Fennessey concentrating and the shooting of Reynolds was dealt with by Bell, so that Hereford saw the game out to score a landmark victory. 

THE REF IS EITHER BOOKING SAUNTSON OR CHECKING AN OLD £5 NOTE FOR THE WATERMARK...

Substitute Jamie Bell appeared for the visitors in the closing moments and was soon pointlessly cautioned for kicking away the ball, as Malvern prepared to take a very late free-kick… 

WHEN THEY WERE ALL GOOD FRIENDS...

At least the trouble had been doused between the supporters and the Lads left in high spirits, as the Hillsiders departed looking somewhat forlorn…

TEAMS:

MALVERN TOWN:

JORDAN DIBBLE, CURTIS SMITH, SAM HUNT, PHIL HARRIS, JAMIE SAUNSTON, MATT TURNER, JAMES FEBERY, LOUIS LOADER (CAPT), KYONN EVANS, DAVE REYNOLDS, HARRY CLARK.

SUBS:

GEORGE HAYES, MATT FUSCO, BRYAN CRAVEN, EHTAN MORAN, CHRIS PINDER (GK).

HEREFORD LADS CLUB:

STEVEN BELL (CAPT), JAMES FENNESSEY, SAM ARCHER, MARK HIBBARD, KALUM WILDIG, JAMIE CUTHBERTSON, OLLY PRICE, ADAM NEWBURY, KIEA COWLEY-HAIR, ADAM HOCKEY, JAMES HANCOCKS.

SUBS:

ASH LEAR, CAM GODSALL, TOM BENDALL, JAMIE BELL, JASON DAVIES.