ONE Hereford United player has greater desire than most to see his side regain their Football League place.

Midfielder Jamie Pitman is the only player surviving from the squad that slipped out of the league seven years ago on that fateful day against Brighton.

Pitman didn't actually play in the Brighton game but is a key member of the Bulls side now trying to win that league place back via the Nationwide Conference play-offs.

He was man of the match in the first leg draw at Aldershot on Thursday -- although Sky TV favoured team-mate Michael Rose for the award.

And the 28-year-old should figure again in front of a sell-out crowd at Edgar Street on Monday (3pm) as the Bulls look to book a final meeting with Barnet or Shrewsbury Town at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke on May 16.

"It would be really nice to be part of the side which goes back into the league because for the players who were here at the time it was hard to take," said Pitman.

"You don't get many chances to achieve something in football so we really want to do that this time.

"We are the favourites and rightly so because we are the second-best side in the league.

"That puts the pressure on us but we've just got to realise that nobody will want to play us and that's a big thing."

Pitman is naturally disappointed that their sterling efforts this season have not been rewarded with the title, finishing an agonising single point behind Chester City.

He added: "If someone had said at the start of the season that we would score 103 goals and finish on 91 points then we would have taken it in the belief that we would have won the league.

"But you have to respect Chester for what they have done. They don't concede goals and if you don't do that then you're always in with a chance of winning something."