Hereford United and hundreds of their fans will be hitting the road today on the first stage of what they hope will be a three-part journey ending back in the Football League.

The Bulls will head for Aldershot for the first leg of their Nationwide Conference play-off semi-final, kick off 7.45pm, as hot favourites to progress into the final at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium on Sunday, May 16.

The second leg of the semi-final takes place at Edgar Street on Monday, kick-off 3pm.

Although United know that the 21-point end-of-season gap between the teams will count for nothing, they can draw plenty of confidence from their two wins over the Shots this term, the most recent of which came in a 2-1 success at the Recreation Ground on Easter Monday.

Hereford's cause will not be helped, however, by a serious doubt over the fitness of leading scorer Steve Guinan.

The Bulls' 25-goal marksman missed Saturday's match with champions Chester due to a neck problem and the injury is still a sufficient worry to raise a question over his participation tonight.

The mood remains buoyant in the United camp, though, with few tickets remaining for Monday's return leg.

"It's creating a big buzz, not just for players and supporters but through the whole city," said Hereford director of football Graham Turner.

"But although we've done the double over Aldershot this season we shall be taking nothing for granted."

The Shots provided attractive opposition in the two league games with Hereford and plenty of good football should be in store.

The Hampshire side, although able to welcome back goalkeeper Nikki Bull after a two-game ban, will be without influential midfielder Adam Miller, who will miss both legs of the semi-final as part of a four-game suspension.

The Hereford defence will, however, need to be in top form to contain the lively strike duo Tim Sills and Roscoe d'Sane who scored 39 Conference goals between them this season, the same total as Hereford's preferred pairing of Guinan and David Brown.

Brown has been warned about his future conduct after accumulating 10 yellow cards this season. But he will not be suspended from any part of the play-off campaign because of this.