F.A. Cup 3rd Round. 1pm. 11.12.99 at Hereford.

Hereford United 0   Leicester City 0

Peter Gilbert 11.12.99

Wrong End of the Rainbow

Teams:
Leicester City: Flowers, Sinclair(Walsh 6 mins) Elliott, Taggert, Savage, Guppy, Lennon, Izzett, Impey, Heskey, Cottee.
Hereford Utd: Jones, Lane, James, Wright, Parry, Williams, Sturgess, Taylor, Snape, Elms, Hewins(Rogerson 75mins)

A wet raw December day with overnight torrential rain, a premiership side meeting a non league team with an ominous FA Cup track record - all the ingredients for an upset which Mr and Ms Average so like to see.

We packed ourselves into a tight little ground and sure enough it was all there to see, taste and hear. A fanatical home support, standing room only, a greasy pitch and if you add to that a 'keeper dilemma with Tim Flowers recovering from Flu and Peguy Arphexad with an injury combined with an early injury to Sinclair who had to go off and be substituted by Steve Walsh then the scene was set to see us undone.
City though are not a pretentious side, not a bunch of foreign stars introduced to English football by an Armani suited agent with a razor smile and Graham Turner the down to earth Hereford manager had already said that of all the Premiership sides they could have met he would rather have had almost anyone other than Leicester City.
City made a good start with an early shot from Heskey being deflected. Cottee, Walsh and Izzett had a bit of a go and we had cause for some measured optimism. However some shoddy defending from Taggert and a good save from Tim Flowers naturally gave some spark to The Bulls.
After 25 mins we had spent much more time in the opposition's half and won a string of corners plus had a shot cleared off the goal line, but that counted for nothing as Tim Flowers kicked away and hit a Hereford player and was lucky not to have the ball rebound past him into the goal.
There was no 'fancy dancy' football on display.  It was settling into a tough combative Cup Tie and every time our defenders relaxed or even got sloppy Hereford were on them hard and sharp.
Heskey tried muscle, Cottee tried guile but the Conference League side were not easily brushed aside.  Heskey even tried a shot from the half way line but even that didn't work as he appeared to be re-enacting former acts of heroism on this ground. Walsh and Taggert got their heads on the end of crosses but as half time loomed the game was still scoreless which realistically meant that Hereford were in the ascendancy.

A stiff breeze, some sunlight, sheets of rain in the sky and how we wished not to end up at the wrong end of the rainbow that appeared overhead.
The little ground became a cauldron every time Hereford gained a little ground and magic ingredients were poured in when a corner produced a good effort from Sturgess which had to be headed away by Heskey.
Blood curdling shrieks from the crowd greeted half time and in fact we had never really threatened to score although we had the advantage of the infamous 'slope'. Most worrying was the fact that we had not got ourselves organised with our midfield players clearly unsettled by the conditions and the total lack of respect they were being afforded.

Hereford kicked off the second half with the wind in their backs going with the slope. Izzett was kicked late and from behind and lay painfully on the ground -  a little cameo that seemed to sum up the afternoon so far. It was a hard work, backs to the wall physical challenge that no-one in our position would relish. They turned on the pressure with a couple of early corners and gained another when the City defence as a whole panicked much to the delight of the highly proximate and vocal yokels.

It was a hectic low quality performance from City with our penetrative players becoming more and more anonymous with the wind in the air and the slide on the ground providing Hereford with the perfect banana skin to present their game plan to a by now silenced City away support.

City's attacks were a scrambled messy affair which were dealt with accordingly and in similar fashion. We felt that a mistake or a slip could be a highly significant factor but a sustained City attack saw a Hereford break away in the shape of Parry who ran from the half way line chipped Flowers and .........hit the post.
City under sustained pressure tried to re-group but just couldn't get it together and our alarm bells rang as they won a free kick on the edge of the box which Tony Cottee of all people charged down. This was swiftly followed by Tim Flowers almost being bundled into the goal but quite properly he gained a free kick.

With 20 mins.to go I would happily have settled for a draw and I had no desire ever to return to Edgar Street as all FA Cup romanticism in me died away and turned into hard gritty resolve. This was a dangerous time and Hereford showed no signs of tiring.
A little bit of City pressure saw a typical muddy goal mouth scramble hacked away for a corner.
Heskey had a header from a Lennon cross but inside the six yard box he headed over.
It was I suppose a classic Cup tie, but we weren't enjoying it at all. The Hereford players tackled ferociously and covered every blade of muddy grass and our nerves jangled horribly.
A Guppy corner was headed goalwards by Izzett but it was deflected and well saved by 'keeper Jones. Cottee then shot straight at the keeper who was by now having a really good game.
One goal would win this we agreed and with 5 mins to play we won a corner which was plucked off Taggert's head by 'keeper James.
Hereford suddenly began to look ragged and desperate but never out of it. Cottee was frustrated yet again by the conditions as the ball slithered beneath him.
In the last minute we won a free kick but it was headed wide by a diving Impey.

In the end it was not the Cup upset the romantics had wished for and any accolades will quite rightly go to Hereford Utd who had City under the cosh for long periods of time.
So the non-league side who are seriously in debt gained a re-play and are still in the hat.They have a ritual down here of kicking swede's (the vegetable) into the goal before a game but this Hereford side showed far more resolve and ability than being a bunch of yokel swede bashers.

The replay is ironically scheduled for 22nd December the day of the EGM which will if nothing else serve to remind us that football does still exist.