HEREFORD manager Russell Slade felt his side should have beaten Bradford (Park Avenue) and capitalised on a dominant second half spell.

Jason Pope’s fourth minute opener was cancelled out by Nicky Clee’s strike during a 1-1 draw at Edgar Street.

Slade felt that the Bulls spell of chances which saw Victor Sodiende fire a one-on-one chance over and then a penalty over the bar was the chance to seal the points.

“Conditions were tricky for both teams and in the second period that’s when we should have wrapped the game up in the first 10 minutes of the second half,” said Slade following the draw.

“Victor (Sodiende) has gone through with one and fired over the top and then we’ve had a penalty which we’ve not converted.

“I think that’s number six not converted this season and all those measurements add up at the end of the day and have cost us two precious points.

“We have a smallish squad with five key players missing today and sub wise we were very stretched as a group today.

“Stephen Dawson is flued up, the same with (Peter) Vincenti and then we’ve got injuries to (Martin) Riley, (Kieran) Thomas and Jordan (Nicholson).”

Bulls goalkeeper Will Henry was handed the man of the match award after pulling off three saves to deny Bradford a winner in the second half.

“We’ve penned them in their box and I accept that a counter-attack is the way that they may get themselves back into the game and that’s what they did,” added Slade.

“Will (Henry) made those saved to keep us in it, he’s only had two saves to make in the second period and not had many to make in the first period.

“I think in terms of opportunity and balance of play in possession we should have won the game today.”

After taking the initiative with the opening goal Slade was disappointed to see his side concede after a long throw-in was flicked on Adam Nowakowski for an unmarked Clee to fire home.

“It was a great start to the game and something we haven’t done at home and we are capable of doing that with that little bit of pace we have from time to time,” added Slade.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve only conceded nine or 10 in open play that’s all, the rest have come from set plays, second phase and third phase.

“Again today from a long throw it was the same story. We’ve not dealt with the second phase of the throw, not got tight enough on the edge of the box and he’s fired home to give them a foothold in the game.”