O’Leary’s wonder strike puts United on way to their first win of season

5:30pm Thursday 4th September 2008

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Hereford United 2 Crewe Alexandra 0.

THE smiles returned to Edgar Street on Saturday as the Bulls finally recorded their first win of their first League 1 campaign for 31 years at the fourth attempt.

Hereford looked confident on the ball and conjured up two fine goals to be deserved winners.

And probably the biggest of the smiles belonged to newcomer Steve O’Leary who impressed with an energetic display, capped with a superb opening goal.

Three minutes into the second half, O’Leary picked the ball up 25 yards out after a cross from Ben Smith was only half-cleared and let fly with an unstoppable drive into the top corner.

But the 23-year-old acknowledged that his contribution could have been even greater.

“To be fair, I think I should have had a hat-trick,” he said. “I missed a header I should have done better with and then missed my easiest chance towards the end.

“I like to get forward into the box and hopefully I can score more goals.

“There are still a lot of games to go and from what I have seen of the lads since I came into the club, there are some really, really good players here.

“Now we have got our first win, I think we will really kick on from here.

“It is nice to get a fresh start here. I was offered a new contract at Luton but left off my own bat and backed my ability because I wanted to play in this league. Thankfully, it has worked out.”

Experienced striker Steve Guinan, whose energy level in leading the attack, belied his 32 years, was impressed with his new team-mate.

“From his first day in training, we could see he was a good player and everybody stood back and took notice of him,” he said. “He’s capped his debut off with a goal that would not have looked out of place on Match of the Day.”

O’Leary played a major role in setting up the second goal, collecting Kris Taylor’s cross and slipping the ball to Bradley Hudson-Odoi who scored from close range.

Hudson-Odoi also impressed on the right, partnering Matt Done on the left to give support to Guinan, who thought that the system had worked well.

“It was hard work, it is always hard work playing as a lone striker but the two wide men, Done and Hudson-Odoi, were pushed up a bit which meant that I was not so isolated,” said Guinan.

“Today it worked, they made a lot of good runs and got up with me. Brad got his goal but that formation will only work when everybody puts 100% into it and really slogs their guts out.

“But that is what you have to do as a professional footballer, you have to do that in every single game.

“It is a relief to win. The sooner we got those three points the better.

“We can take confidence from this.

“We have scored two and kept a clean sheet and we can look forward to Swindon on Friday.”

Hereford: Randolph; Rose, Oji, Beckwith, Taylor; Hudson-Odoi (Johnson, 70 min), O’Leary, Smith, Diagouraga, Done (Easton, 85 min); Guinan,. Subs not used: Samson, Threlfall, Ashikodi.

Crewe: Collis; Woodards, O’Donnell, Baudet, Jones; Moore, Bailey, O’Conner (Schumacher, 66 min), Grant; Pope (Donaldson, 66 min), Elding (Zola, 85 min). Subs not used: Donaldson, Rix, Miller.

Referee: Pat Miller (Bedfordshire).

Attendance: 2,894 (428 from Crewe).

Goals: O’Leary, 48 min, 1-0; Hudson-Odoi, 56 min, 2-0.