JOHN Coleman has always said Paul Mullin means so much to him that he jokes about having his picture on his bedroom wall.
And the boss will now be wallpapering the room with the striker's photo after Mullin delivered the best birthday present to his boss with two vital goals in front of the television camera's on Monday.
It was a victory Stanley badly needed after four winless league games and Coleman, who turned 42 on Tuesday, got an important present of three vital points to halt their slump.
Mullin admitted he is worried that two yard tap-ins are becoming his speciality - although no one is complaining least of all his manager.
"That's three tap-ins in two games. Two yards - that's about my range at the moment," joked the hitman. "You need these kind of goals though as, before Tamworth, I hadn't scored in four games so it keeps me ticking along. It was a scrappy three points at the end - but that's what we needed."
It keeps the striker more than ticking along as he now has eight goals for the season and is up there challenging for the Conference Golden Boot.
"It's not bad! Last year, I didn't get going until December so this year I have a head start. The aim, as always, is 20."
Coleman knew his side rode their luck, watched by the Sky viewers, against a side who finished second last season and are up near the top again in this campaign.
But the important moments just seemed to go their way and Mullin's double gave him, the players, the fans and the club just what they needed and this is, hopefully, the start of their revival.
"Sometimes you have that little bit of luck and things go for you," said Coleman. "We said if we kept plugging away our luck would change and it finally did for us.
"Paul's a great player and his picture will go back on my wall! He is as honest as the day is long, he's durable and works hard. By Paul's own admission, he is not the best finisher in the world but he gets himself into the areas.
"I scored goals all my life and I am a firm believer that scoring goals is luck and the more opportunities you have, the more tickets you buy for the lottery, the more chances you have to get a winner. He has got in there and got eight this season. That is a good return - eight out of 13 games."
Stanley seem to perform better against the sides who are up there challenging and when the television cameras make an appearance.
And everyone was still settling into their places when the Reds took the lead on 45 seconds - one of the quickest goals in Conference history.
Mike Flynn's long throw - fast becoming one of Stanley's most dangerous weapons - found Lee McEvilly and Mullin in the six yard box. McEvilly turned and fired forwards but his effort was saved by floored Jonathan Gould, on loan from Preston. The ball bobbled round but Mullin got the final telling touch to tuck the ball home.
"It was a real mess in the box," said Mullin. "It was a scrappy goal, the ball was bobbling all over. I had the first chance to have a shot, scuffed it, then Lee Mac had a go, it bounced out to me and I dinked it over him. It was a great start, though."
However, the Reds did have to weather a bit of a storm then as debutant keeper Danny Alcock - in for the injured Jon Kennedy and the Reds were without a goalie on the bench - pulled off a flying save to keep out a David Brown header.
And the lively Bulls striker fired just over minutes later.
The game went from end to end with Ian Craney having a good chance to double the score on 23 minutes when McEvilly set him up but he volleyed wide.
But Hereford equalised from a flowing move on 29 minutes when dangerman Lee Mills found Danny Williams, who had outwitted the Reds defence by moving from the wing inside, and his flick set up Brown who finished low into the net.
The Bulls are notoriously good travellers as they have only lost their last game on their travels this season - and won their previous four - and Rob Purdie wasn't too far away with a long range effort just before half-time.
But the hard-working Jonathan Smith, recalled to the starting line-up, also came close as the ball bobbled around the area from a Steve Jagielka corner but Gould denied him.
It was fast and furious in the second half although goalmouth action was at a premium.
Stanley had a good spell on the hour, Smith headed wide of the post and Craney's strike was touched out by Gould.
Free kicks in the danger area forboth sides came to nothing until Mullin sent the watching Stanley fans braving the cold - and in the comfort of their homes - wild with the winner three minutes from time.
It seemed the game would end in a what would have been a satisfactory point for both sides until sub Rory Prendergast, on for his final game before a hernia operation, played in a left wing cross which Craney got to.
The midfielder fired goalwards but Gould could only parry it into the path on the waiting Mullin for a nice tap-in into the empty net for the winner. And the striker had two late efforts as he went in search of a hat-trick.
"It was a great start," continued Mullin. "But after that I thought they played well. We defended well and it was anybodies game at half-time.
"In the second half, we didn't get going at all but we got the goal which counted. We have had a week where we have had to work hard. We had a meeting after Tamworth where everyone got everything off their chest and it needed to be said. We have worked all weekend and now it has paid off.
"It keeps us in there as, even though we have been dropping points, not many teams are running away from us and it drags Hereford back into it."
Coleman could not hide his relief as he knew his side needed to turn things around as quickly as possible.
"It was a massive boost for us. I think the lads were beginning to doubt whether they would ever win again and, I know as goalscorer, if you went a few games without scoring, you start doubting you will ever score again. It has set us up.
"You can't get a better start than to score within 45 seconds can you?
"We kept ourselves on the front foot for long periods in the first half and I think we shaded it. We limited them to not many chances and could have scored a couple ourselves and thankfully got the goal at the end.
"We had players carrying knocks - Lee McEvilly, Jonathan Smith and Paul Mullin and Ged Brannan broke his hand and played for a good 40 minutes. We had players who weren't fully fit but kept going and that is testament to their spirit.
"But it's nice to win and now hopefully we will go on a run."
