HEREFORD gained a hard-earned draw against Dudley Kingswinford that sets them up for a home game against Midlands 1 West pacesetters Worcester Wanderers this Saturday – the side that pipped the Wyesiders to a play-off place last season.

Dudley enjoyed plenty of possession courtesy of their forwards, while a below-par Hereford pack were not firing on all cylinders.

But the Wyesiders managed to nick a draw with a stoppage time penalty from Morgan Goodall and earn two points.

"I was disappointed with the performance, but was pleased with the way the team responded to going behind late in the game," said Hereford coach Bob Stewart.

"The way they reacted to the set-back and dogged out a draw and two valuable league points was much to their credit and reflected a great improvement in attitude over the season."

The first 25 minutes produced little in the way of scoring opportunities.

Goodall and Dudley's Duncan Tompkins exchanged penalties in the first 10 minutes and the Wyesiders were unable to take advantage when the home side were reduced to 13 men. Both Rich Kelley and Ed Parry were shown yellow cards and given ten minutes in the bin.

Shortly after, Dudley were returned to full strength, but it was Hereford who scored to take a seven point lead into the interval.

Leon Parsons moved the ball on to scrum half Fran Jennings who eluded the defence to cross for a try which was converted by Goodall.

Hereford's lead was increased to 10 points early in the second half thanks to another Goodall penalty before Dudley hit back with two three-pointers from Tompkins.

The game was then suspended for a short time when James Jefferson collided with Hereford's Josh Bell, resulting in the Dudley full-back requiring medical attention on the touchline. The resulting try saw Stef Shillingford cross for a try before the match was halted for a second time to allow an ambulance to arrive.

The game was subsequently switched to the adjacent pitch, which started with Tompkins converting the try to put Dudley 16-13 up.

But Hereford battled back and earned the draw after Goodall kicked over a penalty.