HEREFORD United captain Tony James has warned his side they cannot take their foot off the gas in their pursuit of promotion.

The Edgar Street club's successful first half of the season has seen them installed as hot-favourites to make at least the play-offs but James insist nothing can be taken as read in this year's Conference race.

United, who were due to play Forest Green Rovers last night, go head-to-head with Exeter City twice over the festive period followed by a crunch clash with Stevenage Borough.

But while James believes the outcome of these results are important he stresses there is still a long way to go, irrespective of what happens.

"I think the league is quite tight. There are a lot of teams below us with just two or three points between each other and everyone is beating each other and no one is running away with it," said James.

"There is no way we can relax or take things easy we have to carry on full speed ahead.

It's definitely a key time over Christmas with some difficult games and it's going to be hard especially with the pitches getting heavier which will make it harder for us to play the style of football we do.

"But we won't change. We just have to be more careful, not make any silly errors and keep it simple at the back and get it forward and let the others play."

Full back Ryan Green and striker David Brown are suspended for the New Year's Day trip to St James' Park which means Bulls boss Graham Turner must juggle his small squad around, especially if leading scorer Steve Guinan fails to shake off his injury.

"We've got a few suspensions coming up and it's going to be interesting to see what the gaffer does," added James.