Hereford United boss Graham Turner hailed his young stars for holding their nerve to dump Scunthorpe United out of the LDV Vans Trophy in a penalty shoot-out last night.

The Bulls kept their cool in a dramatic first round northern section cup tie at Edgar Street, edging out the Coca-Cola League Two club 4-3 on penalties.

The match ended 1-1 after 120 minutes, Hereford taking the lead on 35 minutes with a terrific solo strike from Craig Stanley before Steve Torpey levelled for the visitors on 57 minutes.

Mark Robinson, Tom Smith and Simon Travis all netted their spot-kicks in a tense shoot-out and 20-year-old striker Danny Carey-Bertram completed the job for the Bulls after 'keeper Jonathon Gould saved efforts from Tom Brighton and Cleveland Taylor.

Turner insists his side thoroughly deserved their place in the competition's second round draw which takes place on Saturday morning.

He said: "It would have been a real setback for the lads had they been knocked out on penalties.

"I'm really pleased for the players, especially the younger ones.

"Danny Carey-Bertram scored the winning penalty but he has not had a lot of first team action this season. It showed good strength of character for him to step up and take the penalty. It takes a lot of nerve to do that.

"I thought we were the better side overall. It was a very disciplined performance from us and it was almost a cultured game.

"We defended quite well and we let them have a lot of the ball in certain areas. But we kept our shape well and they did not harm us too much.

"Craig Stanley scored an excellent goal to put us in front, it was a terrific strike. But we should have scored more than just the one goal.

"We had a couple of chances in extra-time to put the game to bed."