THE Accrington-Hereford rivalry goes back six years and the clashes are rarely dull.

There have been sendings off, late goals and which Stanley fan can forget that day at Edgar Street when the Bulls denied Stanley a Conference record of 11 straight wins with a controversial 94th minute equaliser?

So, although the Reds - with three wins in their last three games - went to Edgar Street full of confidence it was never going to be that straightforward.

All the statistics were against the Bulls who were on a club record 16 game winless run, they last won at home in February and hadn’t kept a clean sheet in 22 games.

But if it was so easy to read, it wouldn’t be the bookmakers who make the majority of the money and one important statistic was that the Reds have never won at Edgar Street in the rivalry going back to 2003.

And that was the one that held as Hereford, in the bottom two prior to the game and fielding three debutants, finally ended their losing streak.

Stanley boss John Coleman had said he didn’t want to give the Bulls a "leg up" the table but his side did - gifting them two goals.

New boy Craig King scored on his debut after a mistake from keeper Ian Dunbavin and Ryan Valentine headed home the winner from a corner while Hereford even had the luxury of missing a penalty.

And that left Coleman, whose side did have 13 shots on goal but still rarely tested Bulls keeper Adam Bartlett, fuming: "It was a poor performance. We were up against a team who are struggling, they haven’t won in 16 games and we have given them a leg up and we tried to guard against that.

"We knew we couldn’t afford to give them anything to lift them, they are in the doldrums as you could tell by the crowd. They are usually vociferious and they were quiet.

"The first goal we have conceded is a joke, it wasn’t a foul for the free kick but after that we have got to deal with that.

"We defended too deep and I had watched Hereford and I had warned the players about it.

"And the keeper has got to do better than that. He has to take most of the blame but the defence needed blame as well for being too deep and after that we huffed and puffed.

"I have no complaints about the penalty it was a good save and, just when we were getting on top in the second half, we give a silly goal away.

"Again it’s people not marking from a set-play and it’s killing us. And, as soon as the second goal went in, we might as well have gone home.

"I think our travelling fans deserved a lot better than what we showed.

"The frustrating thing is that Hereford didn't have to play well to win. We gifted them two goals and it’s diabolical defending full stop."

Coleman was scratching his head as he can never be sure which Accrington side are going to turn up.

The side who went all out for it against Darlington and created chance after chance or the one that started at Edgar Street who couldn’t get going - despite it being the same eleven.

The Bulls opener was quick in coming when a Valentine free kick - after what was judged a harsh foul by Chris Turner - was launched into the box.Outrushing keeper Dunbavin missed it and King, on loan from Leicester and making his Hereford debut, lashed the ball into the empty net for his first league goal.

Stanley showed only in glimpses what they can do with Michael Symes volleying over and Luke Joyce forcing keeper Bartlett to two-handedly keep out his hard strike.

But they still looked unsettled at the back and when Bobby Grant scythed Burnley-born Marc Pugh down on the by-line on 26 minutes a penalty was inevitable.

Dunbavin made amends by sticking up his hand as Pughwent for a chip straight down the centre and the relieved stopper grabbed the ball to his chest. But the Hereford wideman admitted he shouldn’t have done that.

"I should have just got my head down and hit it," said Pugh. "I wasn’t taking the mickey out of the keeper - I was just over confident and I have learnt my lesson. The gaffer wasn’t too pleased, to say the least."

Pugh could have made his manager slightly happier as he was Hereford’s main threat.

The Bacup-born wideman got his toe to the ball before Tom Lees and looped it goalwards but his lob landed just wide; Dunbavin denied him from a tight angle and Pugh hit the crossbar with a fierce shot near the end.

Stanley, meanwhile, couldn’t get their widemen into the game or provide service to their frontmen with Grant representing the main threat for the visitors through a series of free kicks - but Bartlett was equal to them or they were just wide.

And even the addition of Darlington hero Billy Kee couldn’t get the Reds going and the second goal then killed the game.

A Mark Marhsall corner fell to the far post and the Bulls were lining up to score with Valentine getting his head to it to steer it home - and, with that, Stanley continued their poor run at Edgar Street.

"We can’t win here - hopefully, it’s better luck next year if one of us stays up," said Coleman.