A GOALKEEPING blunder and a stupidly conceded free-kick gifted Morecambe a two-goal half-time lead atg Edgar Street.

Hereford almost gave the Shrimps a gift start when a cross by Izak Reid was deflected into the sidenetting of the Bulls goal by Harry Pell.

The corner was easily cleared by the United defence.

Adam Bartlett, however, was called into the action on five minutes when Danny Carlton was allowed too much space by Townsend and drilled in a 30-yarder which the Bulls keeper tipped over in acrobatic style.

Hereford worked hard to get into the game and a promising move in the 15th minute saw Joe Heath’s driven cross from the left flash across goal just out of the reach of Joe Colbeck.

Purdie tried his luck from 35 yards on 19 minutes but the effort flashed just wide.

A good break by Colbeck found Pell and, in turn, Fleetwood whose deflected shot was easily gathered by Barry Roche in the visitors’ goal.

Facey and Purdie broke out speedily into the Shrimps area but Purdie’s drive was comfortably helad by Roche.

With Hereford having much the better of the action, Facey sent Fleetwood away on the left and the striker cut into the area, only to fire into the side-netting.

Morecambe, who had been forced back on to the defensive, struck back to force a corner by Danny Carlton’s header flew high over.

But Hereford spurned a great chance when Green sent Colbeck away to deliver a great cross which neither Facey nor Fleetwood could get a full boot on.

Morecambe took the lead on 37 minutes with a goal out of the blue after a blunder by Bartlett.

Carlton drilled in a shot from 30 yards and Bartlett allowed the shot to flash through his hands, hitting the net half-way up.

Facey had a chance to level on 43 minutes, meeting a cross from Colbeck with a header which went well wide.

A minute before the interval, a clumsy foul by Townsend on the edge of the area presented the visitors with a free-kick.

Jevons stepped up and drilled his shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Bartlett’s net.