ANDY Ferrell is adamant he will not come off the Edgar Street pitch tonight as a play-off loser (7.45).

Combative Ferrell will be a central figure in midfield when Hereford United bid to end Morecambe's challenge in the Conference play-off semi-final second-leg.

The Bulls boast a narrow edge over their Lancashire counterparts following Sunday's 1-1 draw.

However, the omens would suggest that score-line does not auger well for United.

In the last two seasons, United picked up identical score draws at Aldershot and Stevenage, only to crash out in front of their home supporters.

"A 1-1 draw was not the result we wanted," said Ferrell. "Because in the last two years, we've lost on penalties at home and got beaten 1-0 by Stevenage.

"Some of the players, Ryan Green, Rob Purdie, Craig Stanley and Jamie Pitman, know how they felt last year.

"The way they talk about it, it was like a death in the family. You can't explain how bad they felt.

"If it's anything like that, I don't want to come off the pitch at 9.30pm tonight feeling like that.

"But I don't see any reason why this cannot be our year. We deserve it more than anything."

In the first leg, United received two good slices of luck.

Purdie's second-half leveller came from a harshly awarded spot-kick, while Michael Twiss' strike was wrongly disallowed for off-side.

Aside from their good fortune, United deserved a draw and may have pinched a win but for several missed opportunities.

Ferrell was impressed with his side's second-half display, but hopes the Bulls are not left to dwell on those spurned chances.

He added: "We've got to play the full 90 minutes tonight like we played the 45 minutes in the second-half (at Morecambe).

"In the first-half we could have passed it a lot more than we did. I thought we were quite direct and that could have been because of nerves and a hostile atmosphere.

"But we passed it in the second-half. If we can play like that and keep to a high tempo, we will win, but we need to start putting our chances away.

"We are missing chances and come tonight when the game finishes, we want to hope the chances we missed are not crucial."

Bulls director of football Graham Turner is likely to start with the same side, although young striker Stuart Fleetwood may get the nod ahead of Adam Stansfield.

The Shrimps face an injury scare with captain Jim Bentley (leg), Garry Hunter (knee) and Danny Carlton (foot) all rated '50-50' by stand-in manager Sammy McIlroy.