HEREFORD fought back twice to gain a New Year’s Day draw against promotion hopefuls Torquay at Edgar Street.

Stuart Fleetwood and Mathieu Manset struck in each half, but Hereford are still without a home win as the season enters its 2011 phase.

With Rob Purdie ruled out by a hamstring injury, Ryan Green was able to return on the right after suspension.

But boss Jamie Pitman was able otherwise to name an unchanged team.

Torquay went on the attack in the early stages and a cross from Lee Mansell struck a Torquay had in the Hereford area to concede a free-kick.

At the other end, though, Scott Bevan, had to react acrobatically to tip a cross from Guillem Bauza out for the first corner of the game.

James McQuilkin’s flag-kick was eventually fired wide by Joe Heath.

The Gulls responded through Joe Oastler whose cross was grasped by Adam Bartlett, with some assistance from Richard Rose.

Bartlett then got down well to save from former Hereford triallist Chris Zebroski.

Torquay continued to impress with their approach work but Hereford held their nerve in defence and Manset was next to try his luck on goal, blazing wide from 20 yards.

Torquay gained their first corner on 14 minutes in somewhat bizarre circumstances.

Michael Townsend’s 50-yard back pass reached Bartlett who slipped as he went to clear and allowed the ball behind.

Fortunately for Hereford, the flag-kick came to nothing.

On 20 minutes, a crunching tackle by Guy Branston on Stuart Fleetwood brought Hereford a free-kick 25 yards out.

McQuilkin’s cross almost reached Manset but Bevan did enough to put him off and allow the ball to run out of play.

On 25 minutes, O’Kane received the ball from Zebroski on the edge of the area and neatly side-stepped a defender before lashing a left-foot shot past Bartlett.

Hereford immediately won two corners in quick succession, but neither came to anything.

But Ashley Hemmings almost added a second for the visitors on the half-hour, cutting in from the right and hammering in a left-foot shot which clipped the bar on its way over.

Hereford, though, were back on terms within a minute.

Nicky Featherstone played a long ball forward and Mark Ellis and Bevan got in a tangle allowing Fleetwood to slip in and fire home.

Bevan did well moments later to race off his line to block as Manset picked up another long pass from McQuilkin.

The big Frenchman did well to get a cross in from the left and found the head of Guillem Bauza, whose effort was saved by Bevan.

Bauza’s pass sent Manset away on the right and the ball was worked to Green whose left-foot shot was saved by the diving Bevan.

But, a minute before the break, Torquay were back in front.

Kevin Nicholson’s cross from the right sent the Hereford defence in to a panic.

Hemmings’ shot was half-blocked but fell to Benyon who blasted in his 11th goal of the season from an acute angle.

Hereford started the second-half promisingly and Bevan did well to turn a McQuilkin free-kick from 25 yards over for a corner.

Torquay were certainly not content to sit on their lead and Bartlett had to be quick off his line to block as O’Kane raced in.

And the Bulls were lucky to get away with a tackle on Benyon by Richard Rose which might easily have brought a penalty had referee Steve Rushton seen the incident differently.

Hereford, though, continued to have their moments and a strong run by Manset ended with a shot which flashed inches wide.

The Bulls top scorer had better luck on 66 minutes.

Bevan and Manset went up together to try to reach a McQuilkin free-kick and, when the ball dropped, the Frenchman skilfully backheeled the ball into the net.

With Hereford piling forward, their confidence boosted, substitute Joe Colbeck had a shot turned away by Bevan for a corner.

The keeper then did well to turn away another Colbeck effort and did even better to push Manset’s follow-up behind for a corner.

Torquay, though, suffered a bad setback when the impressive Branston, with no-one near him, went down with what appeared a hamstring injury on 72 minutes.

But the visitors did not allow the enforced change to upset their rhythm with a brilliant effort by Benyon striking a post and coming back into play with Bartlett well beaten.

Bevan continued to be the busier of the keepers, however, and pulled off another fine stop to push away a McQuilkin drive.

Substitute Billy Kee shot weakly at Bartlett when he had a chance to restore the visitors’ lead eight minutes from the end.

And Hereford hearts were in mouths as Benyon sped clear, only to be flagged offside.

Hereford: Bartlett; Rose, Kovacs, Townsend; Green, McQuilkin, Featherstone (Colbeck 56), Heath; Bauza (Lunt 56); Manset, Fleetwood (Stratford 78). Subs not used: Heister, Weir, Evans, Werling.

Torquay: Bevan; Mansell, Ellis, Branston (Robertson 72), Nicholson; Zebroski, Wroe, Oastler, Hemmings (Kee 81); O’Kane (Stevens 69); Benyon. Subs not used: Potter, Gritton, Rowe-Turner, Lathrope.

Referee: Steve Rushton (Staffordshire).

Attendance: 2,373 (including 327 from Torquay).

Goals: O’Kane, 25 min; 0-1; Fleetwood, 31 min, 1-1; Benyon, 45 min, 1-2; Manset, 66 min, 2-2; Yellow cards: Hereford – Heath, foul, 78 min; Townsend, foul, 89 min.