HEREFORD players were praised for adapting to the pitch conditions as they secured a 2-1 victory over Farsley Celtic.

Goals in each half from Tom Owen-Evans and Kelsey Mooney was enough as the Bulls completed back-to-back away wins despite Farsley pulling a second half goal back.

Interim assistant manager Steve Burr said that the Bulls had to adapt to play on the difficult surface in West Yorkshire.

“It was hard to play on and the surface was really bobbly,” said Burr.

“In the first half we should have really gone in with more goals as we dominated.

“In the second half we spoke about getting that other goal to give us a cushion and we got that. I didn’t feel in any danger today and I thought it was a good all-around professional performance. 

“It was good to come here today after the performance mid-week and back up the performance on a difficult day today.

“Everything that the lads did today was spot on. I’ve always wanted to see the sides I’m involved in play football and we’ve got the same philosophy with Josh (Gowling).

“But today was a different kettle of fish because you just can’t play on that, so you have to play percentages and we certainly did that.”

The early Bulls’ pressure eventually told after four minutes when Jared Hodgkiss' cross was headed back by Lenell John-Lewis to Tom Owen-Evans who fired low into the bottom corner.

John-Lewis almost created the second after playing in Mooney who rifled across goal and just wide.

Farsley's best chance of the first half came on 20 minutes after a Jevan Anderson slip allowed Jimmy Spencer into the box, but he blazes over the bar.

After withstanding some early second half pressure the Bulls hit on the break and John-Lewis beat the off-side trap before squaring for Mooney to tap home on 65 minutes.

Mooney was denied by the crossbar moments later after his shot on the turn looked goal bound.

However, Farsley were given hope in the 75th minute when Will Hayhurst's free-kick looped over the wall and into the bottom corner.

Hodgkiss then almost handed Farsley an equaliser with his powerful header back to goal almost beating Brandon Hall.

With a minute left on the clock Dave Syers had the chance to equaliser but sent his header over.

Deep into injury time Jacob Jagger Cane played in Mooney who looked certain to score a third only for his effort to be cleared off the line with the goalkeeper beaten.

“The display from the lads in the first half was immense,” added interim manager Josh Gowling.

“That’s a better performance for me than the York game because going to top of the league it’s natural to raise your game but coming to a place like this where the pitch is not great and the conditions are what they are.

“We knew the pitch was going to be, different, during the warmup you could see they (the players) were getting frustrated as they tried to play as it was bobbling and stuff.

“We adapted and were maybe a bit more direct than what we usually are, we adapted to well, got our second balls and got our rewards.

“You have to be really focused, really concentrated and the lads did that. The best thing about the performance was digging in during the second half, they were lumping balls into the box and we had to clear it.

“We had to do that for large spells of the game, but the lads were solid and organised, that was a big plus for me.”

Hereford: Hall, Hodgkiss, Anderson, Pollock (Cullinane-Liburd 90+1), Pope, Riley, O'Sullivan (Thomas 82), Jagger Cane, John-Lewis, Mooney, Owen-Evans

Unused subs: Liburd, Davies, Ash,