HEREFORD gained an excellent 22-17 win at Burton that closes the gap on the top three teams in Midlands 1 West.

The Wyesiders controlled the first half, but had to play the second period without Lewis Jordan and Ben Osborne, who both sustained leg injuries.

Burton took and early lead after Hereford were penalised for a breakdown.

A cleverly worked set play from the line-out caught the Wyesiders out and resulted in a converted try.

But, in a 15 minute spell, Hereford took control and registered three tries without reply to race into a 19-7 lead.

After an elusive run from Nat Thomas was stopped short of the home goal-line, a series of forward drives resulted in James Harris touching down for an unconverted try.

Further driving play from the forwards set up more pressure and the ball was moved out smartly to Perry Pudge, who ghosted over for the second try, converted by Will Ford.

The Wyesiders added a third try when, after more excellent forward play, scrum half Fran Jennings, starting a league game for the first time, exploited an opening in the defensive line to dart over and touch down.

Ford again added the conversion.

Early in the second half, Hereford forced a penalty, which was converted by Ford with an excellent kick.

Shortly after, Osborne left the field with an ankle injury and the visitors were subjected to a period of intense pressure, which ended when Burton moved the ball smartly right and then left to create an overlap and to score in the corner. The try was not converted, but the deficit was reduced to ten points.

For the remainder of the game, play was mainly in the Hereford half as Burton put in determined effort to add to their score.

The Hereford defensive pattern held out, despite losing Nat Thomas for ten minutes in the bin for retaliation and even created a number of opportunities to increase their own score which came to nothing.

Burton did grab a try, which was unconverted, near the end, but Hereford held on for the win.

"The squad is beginning to play as a team just as we did in our pre-season games," said Hereford coach Kieram Hallam.

“Every member of the squad fronted up and played their part in the result. The boys now need to put in some hard graft on a Tuesday and a Thursday to build upon the steady improvement. Success on a Saturday will follow.”