Bulls - held by the horns

Match report by Neil Metcalfe of WH Times.

Hereford 0 Potters Bar Town 0

A replay was no more than the ‘Scholars’ deserved but they also had a glorious chance with just nine minutes to go.

A corner found its way to Michael Murray when his shot from the edge of the area took a deflection, Hereford hearts were in their mouths. Fortunately Martin Horsell was able to change direction and stop the ball on the line.

This was a superb example of a dogged backs-to-the-wall performance.

But while Hereford had more of the ball and more of the chances, they couldn’t get through the solid banks of maroon shirts.

Bar’s workrate was tremendous throughout and they maintained their discipline, kept their shape and frustrated Hereford to shots from distance.

Berkley Laurencin had smothered one effort with the help of a post in the first half before tipping a Garyn Preen over the crossbar. He made even better saves at the start of the second half to deny John Mills and Mike Symons and saved the best until late on when he made a flying save to tip a Rob Purdie shot wide.

At the other end, the front pairing of Eoin Casey and Michael Murray faced a thankless task, chasing defenders and trying valiantly to find space when Bar did venture forward.

Casey still tested Horsell in the home goal with a low shot and Lee O’Leary pulled a chance wide after good link-up play by Murray. Murray hit a free-kick from a good position into the wall and then had that glorious chance inside the last 10 minutes.

They were rare sorties forward in the second half but this was all about the defensive side of the game and the Scholars didn’t need any lifelines, getting it perfectly right.

They certainly couldn’t have asked the audience for any more. The 17 fans 'in the away stand' who made the trip may have been vastly outnumbered in the crowd of 1,368 but they made their presence known, singling loud and proud.

Those supporters, plus quite a few more, will now get a second chance to sing their heroes to the big prize on Tuesday.

Hereford: Horsell, Oates, O’Shea, Purdie (Bird 88), Green, Dearman, Preen, Reffell, Mills, Haysham (Page 63), Symons (Smith 63)

Subs (not used): Franklin, Harris

Potters Bar Town: Laurencin, Doyle, Lomas, O’Leary, Brown, Boxer, Sota (Baird 71), Adcock, Murray (Ogunsola 82), Nicholas, Casey.

Subs (not used): Benavides Martinez, Wambeek, Vas

Attendance: 1,368 (17 from Potters Bar Town)

Referee: Greg Rollason (Wolverhampton)

Updated 11:00 - 1 Sep 2019 by Jeff Barnes