Matt Healey continues the series.
Trevor Matthewson was born in Sheffield on the 12th February 1963.
He started his career at Sheffield Wednesday and later enjoyed spells at Newport, Stockport County, Lincoln City, Birmingham City, Preston North End, Bury and Witton Albion.
He joined Hereford in October 1996. The previous season the club had reached the 3rd Division Play offs, but a bad start had left the club bottom of the league in mid September.
“I had left Bury and had been playing part time in the non league for Witton Albion and I combined it with running a business. Graham Turner (Hereford Manager) had got in contact and wanted a bit of experience in defence, so he signed myself and Nicky Law. I trained a couple of days a week. The journey from Sheffield to Hereford was a long one, but I always remember on the way back stopping off at a place called Over the Hill and having some bread and butter pudding, it was a long journey and sometimes it would have been easy being a passenger, but I got on with it and we had a great set of lads at the club”
Matthewson made his debut in a 2-1 loss at Torquay on the 12th October 1996 and played every single league game until the end of the season.
He scored in a 3-2 home loss to Carlisle United on the 14th December 1996.
He was also on the scoresheet in a 3-3 draw with Lincoln on the 22nd February 1997.
Hereford were being sucked into a relegation battle. They lost on loan midfielder Carl Beeston who was recalled by Stoke City. Enforcer Keith Downing had also had to retire due to a recurring back problem, and with Gareth Stoker now at Cardiff City. The Bulls were light in experience in the middle of the park and were to lose form. Brighton who had seemed dead and buried around Christmas were now picking up points and building momentum.
There were four games to go, and Hereford were five points ahead of Brighton, but it was still extremely edgy and anxious. Next up was a 1-1 draw at Scarborough on the 12th April 1997, then another 1-1 draw, this time at home to Torquay a week later.
Brighton had closed the gap and with two games to go Hereford were three points ahead of them. Brighton though had a better goals scored column. Usually when a team is level on points, the usual system of goal difference would kick in, but that season it was changed to goals scored, and with Hereford scoring less than Brighton it made for a very nervous time at Edgar Street.
On the penultimate weekend Hereford would lose 2-1 at Leyton Orient on the 26th April 1997, whereas Brighton beat Doncaster Rovers 1-0 in a highly charged emotional final game at the Goldstone Ground (The ground was demolished the following season) Brighton were now ahead of the Bulls going into the final game.
“I remember a few things about the Brighton game, when they equalised I tried my hardest to try and block Robbie Reinelt’s shot, but I just couldn’t get there in time, then Adrian Foster had a great chance to win it for us at the end. When the final whistle went. I just collapsed in a heap and the Hereford fans were trying to console me. I still have the newspaper cuttings of the game at my house”
Matthewson would stay at Edgar Street for the 1997/1998 season.
Hereford had a bad start to the season and injury problems plagued Matthewson from early September. He missed out on the FA Cup run where Hereford reached the 3rd round. He would return to the side in February 1998 as Hereford began to turn the corner in their inconsistent league form.
“In the Conference everyone wanted to beat us, it was the old cliche that everybody raised their game against us, the financial problems weren’t great too and when I was there the club had made plans to move to a new ground”
Matthewson scored twice in a 3-2 win against Stalybridge Celtic on the 4th April 1998. They would finish the season in 6th position.
Matthewson would leave Hereford at the end of the season and played for a number of non league clubs.
When he was playing for Hereford he ran a retail shop in Sheffield. I asked him if he still had it.
“I sold my shops about 15 years ago, the supermarkets started doing deals that I couldn’t match, so I then got involved in driving. I work as a courier now in Sheffield. Its hard work and we start at 4am and I’ve had a cancer scare, plus had to have a hip replacement, but I just get on with it and there are people in the world with far greater problems than me, but the last couple of years have aged me a lot, but I loved my time at Hereford. I don’t speak to anybody from my days there now, but Graham Turner was such a great guy, I couldn’t fault him and he was very helpful. It was a travesty that the old club ended, but its great to see them hopefully on the way back”
*Photos supplied by Ron Parrott, MH Archive and Trevor Matthewson
