HEREFORD FC fell to their first defeat of pre-season after League Two side Newport County scored a goal in either to take a 2-0 victory at Edgar Street.

A controversial first half penalty scored by Antoine Semenyo after Keiran Thomas was judged to have brought down Dan Butler.

Hereford had several chances to get on the scoresheet themselves with Harry White flashing a first half chance wide before Mike Symons saw his 66th minute shot fly just over.

Padraig Amond sealed the victory for County in the dying seconds of the game after Adam Hockey’s back-pass was intercepted and Amond beat Jordan Liburd before firing home.

“It was what we needed no disrespect to the teams we played in the previous four games,” said Hereford Assistant manager Steve Jenkins in replace of Pete Beadle who was absent.

“It was intense and a great speed to the game. It took us up until the second half to get up to speed where we had a bit of a go.

“First half we were a bit passive but that’s understandable because of where we are in pre-season. We’ve had some good opportunities throughout the game but we’re just not at that level yet but I would expect us too now with another two games and a week of training.

Speaking about the penalty incident Jenkins added: “Kieran (Thomas) is adamant he didn’t touch him and the boy has chopped back on it and it did look a little bit soft to be honest.

“He has given it and we can’t do anything about that. I was disappointed as well to concede in the 43rd minute because even though we hadn’t played on the front foot we saw the first half out.”

The game wasn’t without incident and several late challenges throughout the game was followed by a late lunge on Adam Hockey sparking pushing from both sides.

“It’s a game of football and there is no such thing as friendlies any more I don’t think,” added Jenkins.

“They were competitive from the off and I’m glad that we matched them physically, we stood up to it and sometimes it’s nice to see people involved and show a bit of backbone and not be intimidated. It is all part of the parcel in the game.”

Jenkins said the game was perfect preparation for the start of the National League North season in two weeks time with home friendlies against Forest Green Rovers and Cardiff City in the next seven days.

“I would expect us to be nice and sharp and bright around the box but today we had our opportunities but didn’t capitalise on them,” added Jenkins.

“As a club we want to get back to the Football League where we’ve come from and that’s the level we have to aspire to and get to.

“It’s great getting Newport here and them putting out their strongest team. It’s great for us to see where we are at this moment in time.

“These are the games we want and the games we learn a lot more from and players will get up to speed a lot more playing in these games.”

Mike Symons came off with what looked like an ankle injured which Jenkins said ‘wasn’t ideal this time of season’ but the extent of the damage will not be known for 48 hours.

Keyon Reffell is also currently out injured but Jenkins hopes that he will be fit before the end of pre-season.

Due to Hereford’s current shortage of centre-halves Ryan Green and Jordan Liburd played the full match which Jenkins said was 30 minutes longer than he would have liked to.