GODALMING Town captain Lewis Taylor has thanked the Hereford fans for the reception he got after having to play in goal.

The left-back ended up wearing the jersey just three minutes into the FA Cup First Round Qualifying match due to Aaron Bufton being sent off for handling outside of the area.

It was then a baptism of fire for Taylor, with Hereford peppering his goal on numerous occasions.

The Bulls ended up scoring eight, but Taylor made a number of decent stops as well as saving a John Mills penalty.

"We came here to try and keep the scoreline as low as possible and when that happened," said Taylor.

"I went over to the management and no one volunteered to go in.

"So it was best if I did it being captain.

"I felt I touched the ball more than my whole team so I was happy with my saves.

"It was nice to get a bit of a round of applause from the away fans, I did enjoy that."

Taylor said he had played in goal before.

"It was a similar scenario a couple of years ago, but I only did about 20 minutes then, whereas here I got 87 minutes in front of 1,700 people," he said.

"We played a Step Four side in pre-season, but Hereford were a cut above them.

"When the draw was made, it was probably the biggest club we could have got in this round, so we came to have a good day and for everyone to enjoy it.

"I think they will do really this year and have got great support.

"They are working their way back up and will have to keep adapting, but I'm sure they will kick on."

Godalming manager Simon Funnell said that Taylor came out of the game with a lot of credit.

"No-one stepped up to go in goal apart from Lewis," said Funnell.

"He's the only one who volunteered, in front of 1,700 people, and that's why he's my captain.

"He saved a penalty and made two or three good saves.

"Ok, he made a mistake for one of the goals, but he's not a goalkeeper, he's a left-back.

"But that's not to take anything away from the Hereford boys.

"You could see the difference in class and they were superior and we just came here and gave it our best shot.

"Coming here was hard enough with a full 11 and a proper goalkeeper and after four minutes we're putting our captain and left-back in goal.

"We had to change the shape and the players and it is what it is.

"We changed the shape at half-time and tried to soak it up as much as we could and my boys worked their socks off.

"They clapped us all the pitch and that is class.

"I think Lewis deserved that."

Hereford manager Pete Beadle also praised Taylor.

"That's exactly what you want from your skipper – you want him to put the armband on and lead by example and that's exactly what he did.

"But I was gutted for them a little bit because they've travelled a long way and wanted to have a fighting chance."