HEREFORD coach Bob Stewart praised his side's defence after they earned another important Midlands 1 West win, this time against Crewe & Nantwich.

The Wyesiders made a dream start when Matt Milsom dived over in the corner after receiving a pass from Tom Ewins.

Morgan Goodall was not able to add the extra points from a wide angle however.

Crewe & Nantwich had the better of the possession for most of the first period, but never looked like breaching a well organised home defence.

The big visiting pack attempted to impose themselves in the opening phases of the second half and, while they were able to keep play in the Hereford half, were rarely able to disrupt the home defensive plan.

Early in the half, the Vagrants managed to get behind the Wyesiders' defence and were only prevented from opening their account by a timely tackle from Nat Thomas.

A Hereford attack put the visitors under pressure and a minor altercation led to a yellow card for a Crewe & Nantwich player.

The resulting penalty attempt by Goodall from the touchline was just wide.

Hereford took advantage of the extra man to put more pressure on the visitors' defence and increased their lead when Thomas eluded the opposition tacklers to touch down, with Goodall adding the conversion.

The final 20 minutes had little shape aper from some determined defence from Hereford.

The sides exchanged penalties, with Goodall slotting over, before James Walters seeing yellow for making an early tackle.

The win sees Hereford increase their advantage in second place in the league table to four points.

Stewart said the victory was down to the hard work of the front five and excellent performances from back-rowers Matt Pritchard, James Harris and Callum Duncan.

Elsewhere, Ledbury maintained their winning sequence with a 21-19 win at Cheltenham North in Midlands 3 West (South) and Greyhound went down 49-8 at Barton-under-Needwood in Midlands 4 West North); a Robert Gummer penalty added to Ashleigh Layton's try for Greyhound.

Ross are now fourth in Gloucester 2 following a 33-3 defeat at leaders St Brendan's Old Boys.