Hereford United 1 Halifax Town 1

Hereford United maintained fifth spot in the Nationwide Conference table after a 1-1 draw against in-form Halifax Town at Edgar Street on Saturday.

Leading scorer Jamie Pitman bagged his fifth goal of the season to secure United a deserved point against the Yorkshire visitors who defended well in numbers and were delighted to stretch their unbeaten run to five matches.

The former Yeovil Town and Woking midfielder hauled the Bulls level after the Shaymen had taken a sixth-minute lead with a superb strike by Sheffield United youngster Ryan Mallion.

Halifax's loan signing from the Blades picked up a poor clearance from Hereford goalkeeper Matt Baker and then cut inside from the right touchline before unleashing a 25-yard left-foot curler with sailed into the top corner of the net.

Until that point, Hereford had been the dominant side, with striker Chukki Eribenne, on a month's loan from Bournemouth, causing problems in the Halifax defence, while Paul Parry forced a comfortable early save out of Lee Butler.

Despite falling behind, Hereford continued to pass the ball well and Eribenne headed wide Danny Williams' free-kick shortly before Pitman grabbed the equaliser in the 27th minute.

Matt Clarke collected a deep cross from hard-working midfielder Mick Galloway and pulled the ball back for the on-rushing Pitman whose low right-foot shot flashed past Butler and into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box.

The Yorkshire side almost regained the advantage five minutes later when Ian Fitzpatrick found space inside the Hereford area but Baker make amends for his earlier error with a brilliant save from point-blank range and then Andy Tretton showed bravery in blocking the rebound from Phil Clarkson.

In the closing minutes of the first half, Parry fired powerfully over the crossbar but just six minutes after the interval, Baker spread himself well to block a shot from Fitzpatrick after a slip by central defender Richard Teesdale had let in the former Manchester United youngster.

However, Teesdale made amends for his lapse in the 68th minute when he trigged a move which nearly led to a winning goal for the Bulls.

Teesdale picked out Parry with an excellent cross field pass and the Welshman weaved his way into the penalty area from the left-hand touchline, only to hammer a right-foot shot into the side-netting.