Hereford United's players and fans can surely rest more easily following their 1-0 midweek win over Chester City.

Ian Wright's early winner has left the Bulls nine points clear of the Nationwide Conference relegation zone going into today's game at Scarborough.

And favourable results both today and at home to Woking on Monday (3pm) should enable Phil Robinson's side to enjoy the rest of the season without worrying about looking over their shoulders.

With the three sides in the relegation zone - Dover, Hayes and Stalybridge - also winning in midweek, defeat against Mark Wright's in-form Chester side could have been very costly indeed. But good old-fashioned grit and determination saw them through, and it's going to take a major collapse now to suck Hereford into real danger.

Hereford still have to play Hayes at Edgar Street on April 20 but they should be safe by then, and now the Bulls can look forward to influencing matters at the other end of the table instead.

Second-placed Dagenham and Redbridge visit Edgar Street on April 16, but the long-time leaders are no longer favourites for the title with Boston United having moved into pole position. And if the Bulls can repeat the display that saw them win 4-3 at Boston in front of Sky TV cameras last month, then another notable scalp could be coming their way.

Meanwhile, former Bulls goalkeeper Scott Cooksey has joined the ranks of the press at Edgar Street. Cooksey, forced to retire from the game due to a serious wrist injury, has joined the Press Association and files blow-by-blow reports from the press box.

He said: "It's a good way of staying invol-ved in football. It's true what people say that when one door shuts, another one opens."