Hereford United revived the flagging spirits of their supporters with a battling point at Nationwide Conference favourites Cheltenham Town last night.

Despite the late, and rather fortunate, nature of their leveller, there was no doubt that the Bulls deserved to hold the home side, for whom this was surely just a minor hiccup on their way to the title.

Their manager, Steve Cotterell, was naturally disappointed to see two points slip from his grasp, but was honest enough to admit: ''I'm not too sure we deserved a draw.''

Hereford boss Graham Turner was understandably delighted with his side, who fought back from losing experienced centre-backs Ian Wright and Stuart Evans with calf strains during the game to finish with seven players under the age of 21 on the field.

It seemed as though it was going to be the same old story five minutes from the break when, after Hereford had had the better of play, Gavin Williams failed with a great chance, heading a Mark Taylor cross straight at Steve Book when a goal looked likely.

The ball immediately went down to the other end of the field and Jamie Victory lashed a past Andy Quy to give the Robins the lead.

But Hereford fought back and were on level terms within 30 seconds when Taylor slipped a free-kick to Christian Roberts on the edge of the area and the Cardiff City youngster turned away from his marker, made ground and smashed the ball past Steve Book.

After a quiet period of play at the start of the second half, Cheltenham introduced their new signing from Macclesfield, Neil Howarth, on 58 minutes and sent ex-Bulls defender John Brough up to lead the attack.

The move paid off within three minutes when Brough rounded Wright and shot low past Quy into the bottom corner of the net.

After 76 minutes, Wright was withdrawn and Ian Rodgerson came on for his 200th appearance in United colours, but the game seemed to be slipping away until, 30 seconds into injury time, veteran Clive Walker, under pressure from Roberts, steered the ball into his own net to give Hereford their point.

Hereford: Quy, Lane, James, Evans (sub Cross 11 mins), Wright (sub Rodgerson 76 mins), Cook, Williams, Taylor, Roberts, Dennison, Parry. Sub not used: Shirley.