2008–09 Hereford United F.C. season

The 2008–2009 season was Hereford United's 28th season in the Football League and they competed in League One, the third tier of English football. Hereford's previous season at this level was the 1977-78 season when they finished 23rd - despite having won the same division just two years previously.

Hereford United

2008-09 season
Chairman	Graham Turner
Manager	Graham Turner John Trewick
League One	24th
FA Cup	First Round (Replay)
League Cup	First Round
Football League Trophy	Second Round (South)
Top goalscorer	League: Steve Guinan (15) All: Steve Guinan (15)
Highest home attendance	6,120 vs Leeds United (17 February 2009)
Lowest home attendance	1,458 vs Swindon Town (7 October 2008)

Hereford reached League One on the back of two promotions in three seasons, having won the Conference play-offs in 2005-06, and finished third in League Two in 2007-08. Graham Turner was voted League Two Manager of the Year by the League Managers Association for the latter achievement and entered his 14th season at the club.

Hereford struggled in League One, and after the first 15 matches they were bottom with 9 points. For the vast majority of the season the Bulls were in the relegation zone and were relegated on 18 April after a sixth consecutive defeat - their worst form of the season. Hereford did manage to achieve the double over both Cheltenham Town and Carlisle United. Their two other notable results were a 5-0 home win over Oldham Athletic, and a 2-0 home win over Leeds United.

The top goalscorer of the season is Steve Guinan with 15 goals, all scored in the league. Guinan is the club's longest serving player with 68 goals in 176 appearances. In a cumulative four and a half season spell, he has featured for the club in the Football League, Conference, Play-offs, FA Cup, Football League Cup, Football League Trophy and FA Trophy during his three spells with the club - having been signed twice and loaned once.

Graham Turner stepped down as manager following confirmation of relegation and appointed John Trewick, first team coach for the last 5 seasons, as the new manager for the remaining two matches of the season and beyond.

Pre-season

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
8 July 2008	Ledbury Town	A	10 – 0	Guinan 2', 17', Taylor 16', Smith 27', 32', Hudson-Odoi 29', Done 39', Moses 50', Johnson 81', Gwynne 88'	c. 400
10 July 2008	Birmingham City	A	2 – 2	Rose, Jones	Training Match
14 July 2008	Kidderminster Harriers	A	0 – 1		661
16 July 2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1 – 3	Guinan 15' (pen)	1,538
19 July 2008	Birmingham City	H	2 – 2	Guinan 30', Johnson 85'	553
22 July 2008	Bristol City	H	2 – 2	Johnson 52', Breen 72'	830
29 July 2008	Southampton	H	0 – 0		1,209
1 August 2008	West Bromwich Albion	H	1 – 2	Ani 51'	1,692
5 August 2008	Wrexham	A	1 – 2	Barnes 22'	Training Match

League One

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	League position
9 August 2008	Leyton Orient	A	1 – 2	Beckwith 14'	4,727	18th
16 August 2008	Yeovil Town	H	1 – 2	Hudson-Odoi 82'	3,476	22nd
23 August 2008	Bristol Rovers	A	1 – 6	Guinan 90'	6,735	24th
30 August 2008	Crewe Alexandra	H	2 – 0	O'Leary 48', Hudson-Odoi 56'	2,894	22nd
5 September 2008	Swindon Town	H	1 – 1	Hudson-Odoi 68'	4,061	20th
13 September 2008	Southend United	A	0 – 1		6,393	23rd
20 September 2008	Scunthorpe United	H	1 – 2	Chadwick 25' (pen)	3,004	24th
27 September 2008	Leeds United	A	0 – 1		25,676	24th
4 October 2008	Walsall	H	0 – 0		3,900	24th
12 October 2008	Oldham Athletic	A	0 – 4		5,468	24th
18 October 2008	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0 – 0		5,608	24th
21 October 2008	Carlisle United	H	1 – 0	Williams 60'	2,300	23rd
25 October 2008	Stockport County	H	0 – 1		3,210	23rd
28 October 2008	Millwall	A	0 – 1		9,071	23rd
1 November 2008	Peterborough United	A	0 – 2		6,087	24th
15 November 2008	Cheltenham Town	H	3 – 0	Guinan 15', 26', Gwynne 55'	3,761	22nd
22 November 2008	Northampton Town	H	0 – 2		3,061	22nd
25 November 2008	Milton Keynes Dons	A	0 – 3		7,189	22nd
6 December 2008	Colchester United	A	2 – 1	Guinan 29', Ainsworth 39'	4,794	22nd
13 December 2008	Hartlepool United	H	1 – 1	Guinan 18'	2,490	23rd
20 December 2008	Huddersfield Town	A	0 – 2		13,070	23rd
26 December 2008	Tranmere Rovers	H	2 – 2	Diagouraga 45', Guinan 65'	3,495	23rd
28 December 2008	Leicester City	A	1 – 2	Broadhurst 79'	22,920	23rd
17 January 2009	Oldham Athletic	H	5 – 0	Guinan 3', 10', 41', Ainsworth 27', 62'	3,342	22nd
24 January 2009	Walsall	A	1 – 1	Guinan 58' (pen)	4,438	22nd
27 January 2009	Millwall	H	0 – 2		3,001	22nd
31 January 2009	Stockport County	A	1 – 4	Hewson 26'	5,586	23rd
14 February 2009	Cheltenham Town	A	3 – 2	Brandy 13', Hewson 67', 80'	4,660	22nd
17 February 2009	Leeds United	H	2 – 0	Myrie-Williams 39', Brandy 62'	6,120	22nd
21 February 2009	Peterborough United	H	0 – 1		3,217	23rd
28 February 2009	Leyton Orient	H	2 – 1	Brandy 6', Guinan 16' (pen)	3,286	23rd
7 March 2009	Crewe Alexandra	A	1 – 2	Diagouraga 79'	5,195	23rd
10 March 2009	Bristol Rovers	H	0 – 3		3,199	23rd
14 March 2009	Southend United	H	0 – 1		2,663	23rd
17 March 2009	Scunthorpe United	A	0 – 3		3,672	23rd
21 March 2009	Swindon Town	A	0 – 3		7,129	23rd
24 March 2009	Carlisle United	A	2 – 1	Guinan 7', Smith 24'	4,223	23rd
28 March 2009	Huddersfield Town	H	0 – 1		2,979	23rd
4 April 2009	Hartlepool United	A	2 – 4	Brandy 11', Pugh 28'	3,579	23rd
7 April 2009	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1 – 2	Taylor 90'	2,033	23rd
11 April 2009	Leicester City	H	1 – 3	Guinan 29' (pen)	4,389	23rd
13 April 2009	Tranmere Rovers	A	1 – 2	Guinan 90' (pen)	5,945	24th
18 April 2009	Colchester United	H	0 – 2		2,100	24th
21 April 2009	Yeovil Town	A	2 – 2	Myrie-Williams 27', Guinan 61'	3,780	24th
25 April 2009	Northampton Town	A	1 – 2	Williams 51'	5,518	24th
2 May 2009	Milton Keynes Dons	H	0 – 1		3,224	24th

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
8 November 2008	First Round	Dagenham & Redbridge	H	0 – 0		1,825
18 November 2008	First Round Replay	Dagenham & Redbridge	A	1 – 2	Taylor 34'	1,409

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
12 August 2008	First Round	Crystal Palace	A	1 – 2	Ashikodi 41'	3,094

Johnstone's Paint Trophy

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
7 October 2008	Second Round (South)	Swindon Town	H	1 – 2	Done 30'	1,458

Hereford United received a bye to the Second Round

Herefordshire Senior Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
4 November 2008	Quarter Final	Pegasus Juniors	A	4 – 1	Chadwick 23' (pen), 25', 90', Johnson	167
28 April 2009	Semi Final	Westfields	A	1 – 1 AET*	McPike 35'

Westfields won 3-2 on penalties

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		FL Trophy		HFA Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Darren Randolph	13	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	14	0	0	0
2	DF	Richard Rose	42	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	45	0	2	0
3	DF	Robbie Threlfall	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0
4	MF	Toumani Diagouraga	45	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	48	2	4	0
5	DF	Garry Breen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
6	MF	Kris Taylor	39	1	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	43	2	6	0
7	FW	Moses Ashikodi	6	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	8	1	1	0
7	FW	Febian Brandy	15	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	4	1	0
8	MF	Ben Smith	37	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	40	1	1	0
9	FW	Steve Guinan	43	15	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	46	15	5	0
10	FW	Bradley Hudson-Odoi	16	3	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	20	3	0	0
11	MF	Clint Easton	12	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	16	0	0	0
12	DF	Sam Oji	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	1	0
12	MF	Marc Pugh	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1	0	0
14	GK	Craig Samson	11	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	15	0	0	0
15	MF	Sam Gwynne	21	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	1	3	0
16	MF	Jack MacLeod	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	8	0	0	0
17	MF	Stephen O'Leary	15	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	19	1	2	1
18	DF	Karl Broadhurst	25	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	28	1	5	0
19	MF	Craig Jones	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	5	0	0	0
20	FW	Andy Williams	26	2	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	30	2	2	0
21	DF	Richard Jackson	25	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	26	0	0	0
21	MF	Luke Webb	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	MF	Matt Done	36	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	2	0	41	1	0	0
23	FW	Simon Johnson	29	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	34	1	1	0
24	FW	Nick Chadwick	10	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	13	4	1	1
24	MF	Michael D'Agostino	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	GK	Matt Murray	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
25	GK	José Veiga	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
26	MF	Lionel Ainsworth	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	3	0	0
27	DF	Bruno N'Gotty	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	1	0
27	DF	Godwin Antwi	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0
28	DF	Dean Beckwith	25	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	29	1	2	0
29	DF	Josh Gowling	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	0	1	0
30	MF	Sam Hewson	10	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	3	3	1
31	MF	Jennison Myrie-Williams	15	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	2	0	0
32	DF	Darren Dennehy	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	0
33	GK	Chris Weale	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
33	GK	Péter Gulácsi	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	0	1	0
	MF	Tyrone Berry	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	DF	Joel Edwards	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF	Sam El-Abd	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW	James McPike	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	MF	Alex Melbourne	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW	Aiden Thomas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	DF	Gary Warren	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	MF	Tyler Weir	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0

Transfers

In

Date	Pos.	Name	Previous Club	Fee
2008-06-17	MF	Matt Done	Wrexham	Undisclosed
2008-07-01	DF	Garry Breen	Manchester City	Free
2008-07-07	MF	Toumani Diagouraga	Watford	Free
2008-07-16	FW	Bradley Hudson-Odoi	Fulham	Free
2008-07-21	GK	Craig Samson	Dundee	Free
2008-08-07	DF	Sam Oji	Leyton Orient	Free
2008-08-28	MF	Stephen O'Leary	Luton Town	Free
2008-09-04	MF	Richard Jackson	Luton Town	Free
2008-09-10	FW	Nick Chadwick	Plymouth Argyle	Free
2009-02-20	MF	Michael D'Agostino	Blackpool	Free

Out

Date	Pos.	Name	Next Club	Fee
2008-05-16	GK	Michael Ingham	York City	Released
2008-05-16	DF	John McCombe	Port Vale	Released
2008-05-19	FW	Trevor Benjamin	Gainsborough Trinity	Released
2008-05-19	GK	Ryan Esson	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Released
2008-05-19	MF	Jordan Fitzpatrick	Worcester City	Released
2008-05-19	FW	Marcus Palmer	Gloucester City	Released
2008-06-05	GK	Wayne Brown	Bury	Free
2008-06-30	DF	Trent McClenahan	Hamilton Academical	Free
2008-08-29	MF	Luke Webb		Released
2009-01-08	FW	Nick Chadwick	Shrewsbury Town	Released
2009-02-03	DF	Garry Breen	Galway United	Released
2009-02-05	DF	Sam Oji	Ljungskile SK	Released
2009-04-03	MF	Clint Easton		Released
2009-04-14	GK	Craig Samson	Ayr United	Released
2009-04-21	MF	Simon Johnson	Bury	Released

Loan in

Date From	Date To	Position	Name	From
2008-07-11	2008-01-11	GK	Darren Randolph	Charlton Athletic
2008-07-16	2009-01-05	DF	Robbie Threlfall	Liverpool
2008-08-05	2009-01-03	FW	Moses Ashikodi	Watford
2008-09-01	2009-05-04	FW	Andy Williams	Bristol Rovers
2008-09-25	2008-11-25	DF	Bruno N'Gotty	Leicester City
2008-11-12	2008-12-12	GK	Matt Murray	Wolverhampton Wanderers
2008-11-20	2009-01-22	MF	Lionel Ainsworth	Watford
2008-11-27	2009-01-21	GK	Chris Weale	Bristol City
2008-11-27	2009-05-04	DF	Josh Gowling	Carlisle United
2009-01-05	2009-04-05	MF	Sam Hewson	Manchester United
2009-01-23	2009-02-23	MF	Jennison Myrie-Williams	Bristol City
2009-02-02	2009-05-04	GK	Péter Gulácsi	Liverpool
2009-02-03	2009-03-03	FW	Febian Brandy	Manchester United
2009-02-17	2009-03-17	DF	Godwin Antwi	Liverpool
2009-03-13	2009-04-13	DF	Darren Dennehy	Cardiff City
2009-03-26	2009-05-04	MF	Marc Pugh	Shrewsbury Town

Loan out

Date From	Date To	Position	Name	To
2008-12-12	2009-01-10	MF	Craig Jones	Redditch United
2009-03-06	2009-04-06	FW	Bradley Hudson-Odoi	Grays Athletic

References