IN a season which has provided more good points than bad, Hereford have succeeded occasionally in throwing in a performance poor enough to make even their most devoted supporters despair.

And so it was at London Road on Saturday when Un-ited were swamped by the home side who must be wondering how they managed to scored only three times.

The Bulls were up against it after falling behind with just 20 seconds played and things did not get much better after that.

With Simon Travis sidelined by an ankle injury, Hereford recalled Alan Connell with Andy Williams dropping back to a position on the right of midfield.

But Hereford's revised formation had not even had time to settle before they were a goal behind.

Straight from the kick-off, Shane Blackett's through ball sent Jamie Day scurrying into the penalty area and he pulled a cross back from the by-line for former Dagenham striker Craig Mackail-Smith to head home.

With the Hereford defence creaking under the pressure, a second goal arrived on 12 minutes with Day the provider.

His sweetly-delivered right-wing corner picked out Alan White and the on-loan centre-back headed firmly into the far corner of the net.

Peterborough kept on pushing forward and only a couple of fine saves by Wayne Brown prevented George Boyd from extending the lead still further.

At this point, Hereford boss Graham Turner withdrew Danny Thomas, sent on Rich-ard Rose and reverted to a 3-5-2 formation which at least had the effect of stemming the Posh attacks.

Indeed, Hereford were seen for the first time as an attacking force and a couple of Williams shots reminded the home side that they were in a match.

But if United hoped they might stage a revival at the start of the second period, their hopes were swiftly dashed.

After 49 minutes, Hereford's attempts to clear a Boyd cross landed fortuitously for the home side and Gavin Strachan scored Peterborough's third goal from close range.

On-loan Steve Guinan miss-ed a good opportunity to pull a goal back in his final game before returning to Chelt-enham, shooting wide after running on to a Steve Jenn-ings pass, but mostly it was the home side in the ascendant after that.

Brown was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers and were it not for his good saves from Mackail-Smith, Boyd and Strachan, a bad defeat might have been turned into a rout.

Hereford: Brown; McClenahan, Gulliver, Mkandawire, Purdie; Williams, Smith, Jennings (Webb, 67 min), Thomas (Rose, 26 min); Guinan, Connell (Palmer, 73 min). Subs not used: Thompson, Sills.

Attendance: 3,579