HEREFORD manager Peter Beadle felt his team shaded Saturday's game against Hull City Under-21's in the second half and were unlucky to lose.

Two late Jarrod Bowen goals saw Hull win 3-2 after Hereford had opened up a 2-1 lead.

"We know we're not going to play against teams like that every week, so it was a good exercise for us defensively and for our organisation to have a few more voices on the pitch because we've been a bit quiet recently," he said.

"But in the second half I thought we were better and shaded it.

"In possession, we were more decisive and were quite potent going forward.

"We defended stoutly right up to the last five minutes.

"It was a shame that it ended that way for us result wise, but I was really pleased with the performance.

"We want to make sure that our players are used in their best positions and our shape was much better second half.

"We certainly caused them more problems than they caused us, so to say that against a team like them is fantastic."

Beadle added that striker John Mills showed good work rate, especially after he missed a penalty.

"John's scored just under 120 goals in four seasons so that is not the sort of performance who gets disappointed if he misses a chance or two and he showed that because he missed a penalty then had another chance when he scored a goal and had another one disallowed," said Beadle.

"He showed his willingness to work and doesn't just hang up there and waits for a chance and will be a threat for defences this year."

Midfielder Aaron Birch came back into the team after not featuring for a few weeks.

"Aaron is a young pro who has come out of the game and played for West Bromwich Albion Under-21's for a couple of seasons," said Beadle.

"He played for us at Merthyr and did really well and I've obviously been in touch with him since then.

"He again played extremely well so I'll see if he's made his mind up and if we have some positive news, then that will be great because he'll be a great addition to the group."

Beadle added that Joel Edwards and Josh Emery were missing due to rib and hip injuries respectively, but is hopeful both will return for Hereford;s first league game against Dunkirk this Saturday.