Torquay United 0 Hereford United 0 HEREFORD fans might have been forgiven for feeling that they had slipped back in time as their League 2 campaign came to an end with a goalless draw at Torquay.

Hereford's final game of the season, no goals and referee Andy Woolmer in charge. The deja-vu scenario was complete when an opposing forward raced through and was brought down by a Bulls centre-back.

It might have been Hereford's play-off with Aldershot three years ago all over again when the Northamptonshire official's decision to send off Andy Tretton for a foul on Aaron McLean in similar circumstances which stalled United's promotion hopes.

The 756-strong travelling band of supporters went quiet as Woolmer marched up to the scene reaching for his cards.

Mercifully, however, there the flashback ended as Dean Beckwith, the offender on this occasion and a sending-off victim at Walsall for a similar offence last month, was shown just a yellow card.

"I didn't think it was a sending off," said Beckwith. "The forward never really had the ball under control.

"It was a bit like the incident at Walsall - I think I should have been booked or even got a free-kick myself there rather than got sent off. Today the referee said the forward didn't have the ball under control and we were both tussling for it."

The drama of the incident was not yet passed, however, as it was to produce one of the two moments of class in the game.

From the free-kick, 30 yards out, substitute Ryan Dickson's perfectly-struck free-kick was heading for the top corner of the net.

But Wayne Brown showed all his athleticism as he flew through the air to tip the shot away for a corner.

The other moment of quality was also produced by a Hereford player, 10 minutes into the second period.

Andy Williams, happily restored to the front-line, received a pass from Rob Purdie and worked some space for himself on the edge of the penalty area before rifling in a shot.

The dipping effort beat goalkeeper Ryan Horsell but crashed against the bar and was cleared to safety.

Goalscoring chances had been few and far between in the first period, although a strike by Williams was ruled out for offside.

The best two efforts fell to the home side with Rob Purdie heading Kevin Hill's effort from a Steve Cooke corner off the line in the 17th minute and expert defending by Tamika Mkandawire depriving Cooke of a chance to score four minutes before the break.

In the second half, Hereford were mostly restricted to long-range shooting as they failed to score for the ninth time in 10 matches.

Torquay, in their final league match after 80 years before slipping into the Conference, also rarely threatened.

Pools pundits will, however, be sorry to see the end of this fixture as, down the years, 40 clashes have produced 21 draws.

"It was a bit of a stalemate, said Beckwith, in summing up the encounter. "We had enough chances to win and we came here to win the game.

"We have not had a very good end to the season with one win in 13 games and everyone was geared up to win, we just didn't have much luck with the chances."

Hereford: Brown; McClenahan, Beckwith, Mkandawire, Purdie; Travis, Webb, Smith (Fitzpatrick, 73 min), Thomas; Connell (Sills, 73 min), Williams. Subs not used: Thompson, Gulliver, Gwynne.

Torquay: Horsell; Andrews, Robertson, Woods, Robinson; Cooke (McKoy, 71 min), Hockley, Mansell, Hill; Reid, McPhee (Dickson, 71 min). Subs not used: Gordon, Wheeldon.

Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire).

Attendance: 2,942.

Yellow cards: Hereford - Beckwith, foul, 81 min; Torquay - McKoy, foul, 88 min.