HEREFORD manager Josh Gowling felt a change in formation boosted his side and resulted in them taking a 2-1 victory against 10-man AFC Fylde.

When Tyron Barnett’s first half penalty was cancelled out by a deflected Danny Whitehead strike midway through the second half the Bulls changed to a 3-5-2 formation.

Helped by Connor Barrett seeing red for a second bookable defence the Bulls responded with Orrin Pendley heading home the winner.

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“We know that they are a possession based team and have got (Nick) Houghton and (Luke) Charman in there and some goals in the team,” said Gowling.

“We sat in and were solid, we probably sat in a bit too deep at times but we stuck to our task really well. If you look at their goal in the second half it’s heading wide and he ends up shinning it in.

“Apart from that I thought overall we were excellent.

“When they scored your game-plan goes out the window a little bit as you want to win the game so we changed formation.

“As soon as we did that and played two up top it gave us a spark. Dropping Kane Thompson-Sommers in midfield and playing Luke (Haines) at the back it seemed like it came alive.

“We had two up front so we could apply more pressure on the centre halves.”

Fylde, who were beaten in the play-offs last season, almost went ahead after just four minutes when Nick Haughton's free-kick rattled the post with goalkeeper Dale Eve helpless.

The Bulls responded and Myles Storey almost latched onto a ball over the top but goalkeeper Chris Neal just did enough to clear.

Hereford were ahead on the 23rd minute when Barnett was through on goal before being dragged down by Harris Davis resulting in a penalty which the striker calmly dispatched.

Just nine minutes into the second half Fylde were level when Whitehead’s shot from outside the box took a wicked deflection off Aaron Amadi-Holloway and into the net.

Gowling then changed his side’s formation and was almost immediately rewarded with Barnett forcing a fine save from goalkeeper Chris Neal.

Fylde were then reduced to 10 men on 73 minutes after Connor Barrett was given his second yellow card for kicking the ball away.

Two minutes later Pendley headed home the winner rising highest to meet Jared Hodgkiss’ cross.

A large crowd of 3,240 supporters packed into Edgar Street for the game and pleasing them in attendance was part of Gowling’s team talk.

“We as a group have been disappointed as when we’ve had a good attendance we’ve not played well,” he added.

“If you’re not playing well they won’t come. That was a big thing for us in the team talk to be entertaining and try and win the game in front of a packed place.”

Hereford: Eve, Hodgkiss, Evans, Haines, Amadi-Holloway, Pinchard, Storey, Hanson, Pendley, Barnett (Caton 88), Holmes (Thompson-Sommers 56)

Unused subs: Derricott, Campbell, Tyler