Hereford F.C (From The Cider Country) Away Days – FCUM.

What an away day this was. It started with me throwing up all over the place at 6 am. A quick power nap later and I was good to go.

I really wanted to make this. I had pencilled this down in my diary as an absolute must to be at. I was well up for it. A relegation six-pointer. As I explained in my Ashton United entry last week, my support of LFC gives this match an extra edge for me, personally. I do respect what they have done in creating a breakaway club from the Glaziers. They have a decent fanbase and in name, they certainly carry some clout. I suppose you could say it’s a game you might expect to have significance at the other end of the table. How wrong can you be?

I once again travelled up from Euston, this time with one of my old skool Hereford pals, who has been with me on a few of these trips. Ahh yes, Darlo, when I had my (unplanned) overnight stay being one of them. Top bloke is Shrewd though, salt of the earth. The trip meant we could have catchup and a few drinks. I thought that getting on it slowly and going with the, ‘it’s a marathon, not a sprint policy’ was best due to illness. I have to admit it was vodka and gin mixers though on my way from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. I had to play it safe early doors. Bottle job? Probably, but you gotta do whatever it takes!

From Piccadilly, we went over to Victoria to meet another pal and have a few pints. He’s from Warrington but was up for seeing a Bulls match and he brought his pal, who was also game. I think it was £2.80 a pint. Quality. We then had to get down to the stadium asap as another pal was travelling from Hereford and he was already there. Decent turn out from the lads in fairness. The Metro was three stops down to Newton Heath and Moston. We had to get a few drinks as we walked down to the Stadium as we weren’t allowed to drink inside. Texaco getting the neat assist here. Sweet.

The home end at Broadhurst Park Stadium looks decent, the away end doesn’t. Brightwell’s market in Hay-On-Wye has better facilities for their livestock than FCUM do for away fans. It reminded me of a market behind the goal, just a flat piece of ground that looked like a small yard. Someone even mentioned the toilets must have been an afterthought as we queued for a pokey portacabin. Also, what the fuck was that temporary excuse of a fence up for behind the goal? Viewing was bad enough as it was. I always think those kinds of things are out there to incite fans if anything. Just why? Same with letting the home fans alcohol in the ground but not the away fans. Doesn’t seem right to me, it is either a big game for both sets of fans or neither. Maybe I’m just too tit for tat when it comes to it.

A few of us had backed Hereford, even though I had said it was more for the banter than the value at 13/10. It was a similar to price at Ashton away and we have won neither. In betting terms we are overrated, especially since the New Year. I had shrewdly punted us for the first times of the season against Kiddy and Chester at home just after Christmas. We were about 3/1 and 2/1 for those. It is utter madness playing them at 13/10 away at F.C United.

Having gone one nil down early on, we turned the screw. Symo poked home an equaliser, which I reckon over half of our fans missed, including me. There was a bit of a commotion with the stewards going on at the same time. Then we realised a split second later that we had scored, queue (mass) wild celebrations, smoke bombs and flares etc. One of our fans had his coat ripped in the celebrations, this led to a feather party on a few occasions after. There was a fair bit of banter with this. I thought the chanting was spot on from the away support throughout too. I thought we should have been in front at half-time, but we weren’t. Roberts had earlier been booked for diving, a few of us thought it was a stonewaller and the others thought dive! Robbo ain’t that kind of player to me, so I’ll give him the benefit. There were chances though.

Elliot Richards, who has impressed again of late, scored an absolute screamer to give us the lead in the second half. He bloody caught hold of that from 20 yards. Once again though we failed to kick on from here and it was backs to the wall for the last 10-15 mins, with us looking to strike on the counter. I made the comment we would concede late on, it was the obvious trade out of bet time one would think…Nah). It can’t really happen again. Can it?

It wasn’t even a free-kick, then the wicked deflection to rub our noses in it. Bollocks! Absolute bollocks! It was really shite on us and the player’s efforts (once again) deserved better. Liburd had ‘conceded’ the free-kick and he definitely deserved better. I am a big fan of Libs and Gowling. It was getting frantic after that though (we had 12 minutes of injury time over the 90 mins) and their keeper even came up for the corner at the end, but it ended 2-2. In fairness, both sides gave it a go and I think both sets of fans appreciated that.

We wanted to get out and have another drink by now, so ended up having a few at Victoria station. The realisation that I was in Manchester hit me again at Piccadilly, where I heard the drone of the Manc’s chanting their anti-scouse songs. They have every reason to be buzzing right now in fairness. For me, as a Hereford and Liverpool fan, it’s certainly squeaky bum time and it has been for a while.

Al Davies