HEREFORD manager Josh Gowling says his side need to sustain their pressure after going ahead following a 3-3 draw with Spennymoor Town.

The Bulls took a 13th minute lead through Ryan Lloyd but then conceded twice with Jordan Tuewlis netting twice for the visitors.

Despite Tyrone Barnett scoring two penalties Mark Anderson’s late leveller rescued Spennymoor a point.

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Gowling said that conceding twice after taking the early lead was a lesson for his side which saw five players making their full debuts and two more from the bench.

“The first two goals we gave away was in possession,” said Gowling talking to Keith Hall.

“We wanted to switch play but they turned the ball over and we ended up conceding from it which was frustrating.

“I think we were a threat all afternoon in possession, especially in the first half I thought we were excellent in possession and turned balls over well.

“I thought when we scored we had a little period where they went to 2-1 and we stopped doing what got us in front.

“That’s a learning curve for the boys to carrying on doing what got you there. It’s disappointing as it feels like a loss with the way we played but we’ve got our first goal of the season.

“At times we need to sustain pressure. I think sometimes we go wide quickly and do give it away.

“Where as you score then you want to keep the ball for a period and let the game settle down. We’ve just got to learn to manage the ball better at times, settle the ball down and keep it at the back.

“I don’t think we used the goalkeeper enough in that first half. It’s lads learning each other, we’ve had a good pre-season which you can see but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

A crowd of 2,205 were entertained by the opening match against a Spennymoor side that finished above the Bulls last season.

Gowling admitted that his side were tiring towards the end when Spennymoor struck a late equaliser.

“Fans can see the way we want to play this year,” added Gowling.

“We want to get forward, score goals and be entertaining. You can already see we are a lot stronger than last year. We went there (Spennymoor) in the back end of the season last year, we didn’t get bullied but I thought we didn’t really match their intensity and I thought we definitely did that today.

“The only thing missing today was the win. The last goal I thought we looked a bit tired, they (Spennymoor) had a bit of impetus towards the end.

“The ball got sent back to the edge of the box and we’ve just not squeezed the pitch. If we squeezed up we would have got a bit more of a block on it and then we would have won the game.”