THREE first-half goals from Oldham gave Hereford a mountain to climb at Boundary Park.
Hereford got away to an awful start after gifting the opening goal to the home side.
Goalkeeper Darren Randolph spilled Daniel Jones’ long-range effort at the feet of Lee Hughes and the former Wet Brom man had the easy task of slipping the ball into the net.
Hereford should, however, have been back on terms within a minute.
Andy Williams skipped past a defender on the right of the area and pulled the ball back to Toumani Diagouraga whose weak shot was blocked by Jones.
A minute later, goalkeeper Mark Crossley dropped a Kris Taylor corner and was relieved to see his fly-hacked clearance rebound off Stephen O’Leary but just clear the bar.
Referee Rob Shoebridge handed the Latics a chance to extend their lead on the quarter-hour.
Hughes and BrunoN’Gotty were shadowing the ball on the right of the penalty area when their feet tangled and Hughes hit the deck.
Shoebridge pointed to the spot and Andy Liddell did the rest.
Guinan’s speculative effort from the right touch-line had Crossley scrambling across his goal and relieved to see the ball drift a foot wide.
But the keeper did well on 19 minutes when he pulled off a point-blank save to block Bradley Hudson-Odoi’s fierce drive.
Hereford continued to build-up neatly without finding a way through and it was the home side who scored again on 36 minutes.
Richard Jackson’s lack of pace was exposed when Jones sped on to a Chris Taylor pass and shot across Randolph into the corner of the net.
Hereford’s luck was out a minute before the interval when Taylor’s curling free-kick from 20 yards smacked against the bar and bounced over.
