Exeter City 2 Hereford United 2.

Leyland Daf Trophy.
Wednesday 28 November 1990.

Referee:

Attendance 1962

(Football League trophy
Southern section Group 5).

Report by TRINA LAKE

Exeter City are through to the knockout stage of the Leyland Daf Cup but manager Terry Cooper slammed his side's performance in last night's drab draw with Hereford at St James's Park. The angry City boss labelled the players a complete disgrace after watching them let a two-goal lead slip against the Fourth Division side. "I'm absolutely fed up with them. We spend hours on the training pitch working on crosses and then on a match day they can't do a thing right," he stormed. "I've told them I don't want to see them again until 2 o'clock Saturday. I don't see I should waste my time getting cold and wet in training for nothing. "I've given them two days off to see if that works but I've told them that if they don't buck up they'll lose by six to Stoke on Saturday. "The honeymoon is over and we're finding out who can and who can't do it at this level. We've got to roll our sleeves up now and I've got a feeling it's going to be a long old season." City were 2-0 up and cruising against a busy but unspectacular Hereford side and Cooper admitted: "We started as if we really meant busi- ness and for half an hour we played smashing. "But from then on it was an absolute disgrace. If I had to go through all the things that went wrong I'd be here all night." Hereford hardly looked capable of getting back into contention after good goals from Paul Batty and Steve Neville had put City in a commanding position. But they capitalised on some slack defending to level the scores by half time and now have a strong chance of winning this qualifying group to guarantee a home draw in the first round. The outcome hinges on their December 12th home match with Cardiff, already beaten 1-0 by City. Batty gave City a tremendous start with a goal inside two minutes. Trevor Morgan was clearly fouled on the edge of the penalty area by Darren Peacock but Dorset referee John Carter allowed good advantage as Batty picked up the loose ball, cut in and shot past George Wood from 15 yards. They increased their lead in the 18th minute from a long kick downfield by Kevin Miller. The ball bounced over the Hereford defence and Neville nipped in to lob it over Wood who was left stranded in no man's land. It could have been 3-0 in the 31st minute but for Wood's full stretch save from a Morgan header. From then on, though, it was all down hill for City, Steve Lowndes put Hereford back in the hunt after 34 minutes, volleying home a Shane Jones cross after Miller's excellent save from a John Narbett header. City then looked increasingly uncomfortable as Hereford sensed and exploited a lack of confidence in their struggling hosts. On the stroke of half time they drew level from the penalty spot. An out-of-sorts Shaun Taylor clumsily brought down Paul Wheeler from behind and Narbett stepped up to slam the undisputable penalty past Miller. The second half was about as exciting as an episode of Twin Peaks. The match deteriorated into a scrappy and pat- ternless affair with little incident and even less entertainment. Miller made a fine 51st minute save from Shane Jones and Lowndes shot wide for Hereford while Taylor, Batty, Mark Cooper, Tom Kelly and Richard Young were all way off target from promis- ing positions for City. The result leaves City without a home win for two months and is hardly the best preparation for Saturday's big Third Division match against high-riding Stoke.

Exeter City: Miller, Hiley, Dryden, Brown, Taylor, Cooper (Young 82), Marshall, Batty, Morgan Neville, Kelly. Sub (not used) Eshelby.

Hereford United: Wood, M.A.Jones, Bradley (S.Jones 34), Pejic, Peacock, Hemming, R.Jones, Narbett, Robinson, Wheeler (Tester 80), Lowndes.

Attendance: 1,962.