Hereford United have boosted their strike power with the signing of former Chester and Preston forward Mark Beesley.

The 23-year-old has been released from the Deva Stadium where he scored 32 times in 96 Nationwide Conference appearances.

Beesley scored for Chester against Hereford in a 2-1 win three years back but was also a victim of Matt Baker's penalty-saving skills when he failed from the spot in the following season.

"It was one of the quickest deals I've done," said United boss Graham Turner. "I phoned him at 9am on Friday, he called back half-an-hour later to accept and drove down from his home on Merseyside to sign at 2pm.

"He's coming here to resurrect his career and I like those circumstances. Money was not an object. It's a similar situation to when Michael Rose joined us and I hope it works out as well as that deal did."

Beesley, who has signed until the end of the season, did not put pen to paper in time to figure at Forest Green last Friday but will be available for the visit of Exeter City on Boxing Day, kick-off 7.45pm.

Hereford will be hoping that leading scorer Steve Guinan, who has missed the last two games with a knee injury, will also be available for the visit of the Grecians which will feature live on Sky Sports.