Bulls-chat – A Pretty Good Guy

Jamie Pitman hit back at the poor attitude shown towards his team before the game by the Hythe camp, but also gave credit where he felt it was due and in doing so, showed a little more class than his part-time opponents. He said:

“It helped us in the respect that I don’t need to say to the players that they’re coming here and you’re supposed to e professional footballers and so you have to do what you’re good at and what you do day in day out. And that’s what they did to be fair.

I said to them that the first fifteen minutes was going to dictate what happens. If they score and you allow them into the game then it’s going to be very difficult. If you don’t then you’ll probably go on and win by five, seven or eight and in the end it could have been double figures.

In the end fair play to them, they worked very hard and they kept in the game all of the time and to be fair to them they weren’t bad, they weren’t bad.”

Pitman is also pleased with the atmosphere around the Bulls’ camp and said:

“The players seem to be enjoying themselves and so it’s just a continual progression for us at the moment.”

Two-goal hero Mathieu Manset allayed any fears the Edgar Road* faithful might have about Pitman’s managerial ability and revealed:

“He’s a real manager. He knows how to shout! He is a football man and once played and so he knows what to do.”

* Apologies to Bulls fans for calling Edgar Street 'Edgar Road'. A lazy error on my part, although it does explain why the Sat Nav took me to Hounslow first :-)

Hereford United 5 Hythe Town 1 - R.E.S.P.E.C.T

As a professional footballer you need no greater motivation than to read that the opposition manager thinks you’re “nothing special”.

Hythe Town were the smallest team left in the FA Cup on Saturday and were duly dumped out of it in emphatic style by the Bulls and it could have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for some sloppy finishing and inspired goalkeeping from Kieron Mann.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Hereford manager Jamie Pitman told me after the game:

“I didn’t need to say anything to the players before the game as they had done my job for me by showing a total lack of respect.”

Any chance of an upset died in the 8th minute when midfielder Richard Rose burst through the Hythe defence and planted a shot in the bottom left corner.

In the 21st minute Rob Purdie buried a shot from the edge of the box in the same place.

Hythe pulled one back in the 26th minute when Council Planning Officer Gary Mickelborough ran into the box and rifled another into the bottom left corner, but that proved to be the Kent side’s only high point.

Gallic flare then took over in the form of a Mathieu Manset brace before half time.

French striker Manset, 21, scored with an acrobatic overhead kick in the 39th minute before bundling home a header five minutes later.

Afterwards Manset said:

“As a child I dreamed of playing in English football and in the FA Cup, but last season I was sent off when we beat Sutton and so I was very unhappy. Today was better.

My hero back home in France was Jean-Pierre Papin who was known for his overhead goals and so I used to practice them and still do in training. To score one just like him was a great feeling.”

In the second half I fully expected Hereford to reach double figures such was their dominance, but they struggled to find a way past the vertically challenged, pink-shirted Mann who made several excellent stops – three in particular from winger Stuart Fleetwood.

But Fleetwood had the last laugh.

In the 93rd minute Fleetwood’s shot hit the post and rolled along and over the line and while substitute Sean Canham appeared to make sure by belting the ball into the back of the net, the winger wheeled away in delight at finally overcoming the amateur stopper.

More quotes from this game tomorrow.

Hereford United versus Who? – Where?

Hythe Town? Who are Hythe Town? Where is Hythe Town?

Most people will never have heard of the Kent seaside town of Hythe, but I have the dubious honour of having stayed there as a kid while on a choir holiday.

I was eleven and remember that – aside from playing football against some lads from Manchester – it was the worst holiday and dullest place.

Our choirmaster eventually saw sense and kicked me out citing that fact that I was both tone deaf and the spawn of Satan who had no place being in a church anyway! Okay, I exaggerate, but the fella didn’t appreciate my vocal skills, that’s for sure.

According to Wikipedia “a French fleet approached Hythe in 1293 and landed 200 men, but ‘the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them: upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail and made no further attempt’.”

So the French don’t like the place either then.

Hythe Town play in the Kent Premier and the fixture against Hereford tomorrow will be the biggest in the club’s history having never made it to the 1st Round of the FA Cup before.

They are the smallest team left in the Cup and, on paper, you would expect them to take nothing more than a couple of cases of cider back with them to celebrate the achievement of being knocked out at this stage. However, and it may be a cliché, football is never played on paper.

But hold on. Isn’t this fixture what the FA Cup is all about? David versus Goliath? The favourites against the underdogs? Newcastle against, er, Hereford?

The Hythe Town website edi9or is certainly getting excited, This from the home page (http://www.hythetownfc.co.uk/index.htm):

“where do we start....the first Kent League team in 53 years to reach the First Round Proper, a 7th consecutive win, a 6th consecutive F.A. Cup win, a 4th consecutive clean sheet! The FIRST time Hythe Town FC have EVER reached the first round of the F.A. Cup!!!!!!!”

The Kent side are currently mid-table in the Kent League Premier Division (a feeder for the Isthmian League and the 9th level down on in English football’s footballing pyramid), but have played four fewer games than leaders Herne Bay and are only nine points off the pace.

Their goal scorers this season (up to 23rd of October are):

Goals (League Cup and then Total)

Brendon Cass 6, 3, 9

Dave Cook 4, 4, 8

Kieran Byrne 0, 5, 5

Gary Mickelborough 1, 3, 4

Craig Thompson 1, 2, 3

Gary Lockyer 2, 0, 2

Pat Kingwell 1, 0, 1

Lee Shearer 0, 1, 1

Lee Winfield 0, 1, 1

Ronnie Dolan 1, 0, 1

Billy Somerville 0, 1, 1

Damian Abel 1, 0, 1

Hereford have picked up in League Two under the guidance of physiotherapist Jamie Pitman who has been handed the caretaker manager’s job until the end of the year.

Hythe boss Scott Porter watched Hereford’s 2-2 draw at home to Aldershot on Tuesday, which saw the Bulls move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season and said his side – who will head West on Friday and return on Sunday – have nothing to fear.

He said: "They were quite ordinary and if we can stop them playing, then we have every chance."

Brave words? Or a red rag to the Bulls? We’ll see.

One thing is for certain, if Hereford win you my miss my piece if you blink while reading Monday’s copy of The Sun – if they lose I will be spending most of my weekend writing!