Hereford United Director of Football Graham Turner is backing his side to bounce back from the end of their unbeaten start to the Nation-wide Conference season.

The Bulls, who entertain Steven-age Borough tomorrow (3pm), went down 2-1 at Doncaster last week for their first defeat in nine attempts.

The result pushed them down to third place, five points behind leaders Rushden and Diamonds, and Turner admitted: "We didn't play as well as we have been at Doncaster, but we still felt a bit aggrieved that we didn't get a point out of it.

"But there is plenty of room for improvement.

"The reaction to that defeat will be very important. We need to start another good run straight away."

With tomorrow's game being followed by a home clash with Leigh RMI on Tuesday, Turner says two wins will be very handy for his side. "With two home matches coming up we need to take six points, which will keep that gap close."

However, Turner is concerned about his side's home form which has seen them win only one out of four matches.

"The main reason is that we haven't taken our chances, although we could easily have taken four more points from those games. We must start to get our home form right."

Midfielder Ian Rodgerson has a chance of returning to the line-up following a calf strain, but winger Paul Parry missed training yesterday with a back problem, although Turner still expects him to be fit.

Striker Steve Piearce played for the reserves in mid-week but suffered another setback to his continuing injury problems when he suffered a dead leg, ruling him out of tomorrow's clash.

Defender Paul Sturgess and striker Andy Moran remain on the sidelines.

Stevenage are currently in mid-table but have a good record of results at Edgar Street in recent seasons.

Turner added: "We have had them watched and they are not a bad side who have had a couple of good results at our place. We need to put that right."

Hereford (from): Cooksey, Lane, Clarke, Gardiner, Robinson, Wright, James, Parry, Snape, Giddings, Williams, McIndoe, Elmes, Hanson, Wall, Baker, Rodgerson.

* Hereford's trip to leaders Rushden on October 14 has been made all-ticket. The Bulls have been allocated 1,000 tickets.