Hereford United go into the Nationwide Conference play-offs as the team all the others wanted to avoid.

But tonight, and in the semi-final second leg on Monday at Edgar Street, it will be Aldershot Town who must attempt to stop the charging Bulls who finished 21 points clear of their fifth-placed Hamp-shire opponents over the 42-game league season.

Whoever makes their way through will then line up in the final at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium on Sunday, May 16 against the winners of the other semi-final between Barnet and Shrewsbury Town.

Barnet earned fourth place with a 2-1 win over Leigh RMI at Underhill on Saturday while Aldershot were being held 1-1 at home by Tamworth and Bees midfielder Joe Gamble was relived to avoid a semi-final clash with the Bulls.

"We kept thinking we were going to be playing Hereford who are very unlucky not to be going up," he told The Times. "I am happier to be playing Shrewsbury than Hereford."

Aldershot survived a late scare against Tamworth on Saturday when Paul Barnes blazed over an open goal with just two minutes to play. Defeat would have opened the door for Exeter City to qualify in fifth place.

The Shots have won just once in their last six matches but manager Terry Brown was not short of confidence after Saturday's game when he spoke to the Non-League Paper.

"Congratulations to Graham Turner," he said. "He's assembled a fantastic team, but we're going to give you a game on Thursday all right."

United's previous experience of the play-offs was hardly a happy one. Back in 1995-6, the Bulls made a late run into the Division 3 top six and were pitted against Darlington in their play-off semi-final.

The two ties went very much to the form of the season with the North-East club, who had completed a double over the Bulls, winning both legs 2-1.

A similar outcome of form this time would suit the Bulls just fine after winning both league games against Aldershot in entertaining matches.