Fleet had a day to forget as their coach broke down, Liam Bellamy was sent off and they were soundly beaten by Hereford in a much-delayed game they will want to forget about as soon as possible.
With the game not kicking off until 4.30pm, and an unchanged side, Fleet succumbed to two goals in 10 first-half minutes, the first through Marley Watkins’ shot on 27 minutes after he brought down Sean Canham’s ball over the top and then the two swapped roles, Canham himself heading Watkins’ cross into the net.
Before and after the goals, the home side had chances through Canham, Harry Pell and Tom Nichols when he robbed Craig Stone and forced Preston Edwards into a save. Fleet weren’t really at the races and suffered further discontent on the stroke of half-time when Liam Bellamy received his second yellow card for a foul on Nichols.
Unsurprisingly, Hereford extended their lead three minutes after the break when Chris Carruthers fired home from distance, though within two minutes of the restart, Moses Ashikodi was well-placed to turn Joe Howe’s ball in over the line.
Hereford sat back a little and Ashikodi shot at the goalkeeper and then headed over in as good a spell as Fleet had enjoyed all game. But the home side were in no mood to see their lead eaten away and Edwards was forced into a good one-handed stop from Canham on 73 minutes. Will Evans then fired a low shot just wide from Simon Clist’s pass before substitutes Brian Smikle and Ryan Bowman combined two minutes from time, the latter heading home to make it 4-1.
Fleet grabbed a consolation in time added on, Howe firing past the goalkeeper from the edge of the box but it was scant reward for a disappointing day all round.
TEAM: Edwards, Stone (Azeez 82), Howe, Ada, Lorraine, Barrett, Bellamy, Enver-Marum (Walsh 46), Phipp, Elder, Ashikodi (Greenhalgh 68). Subs not used: McNeill, Blake.
Att: 1,906
