HEREFORD manager Paul Caddis praised his side for ‘defending manfully’ as they ground out a goalless draw at Alfreton Town.

After conceding three goals in their FA Cup defeat at Bishop’s Stortford the previous weekend Hereford answered all the questions asked of them by a physical Alfreton side.

“It was very tough, Alfreton have got a good side, they’ve been in the play-offs for several years,” said Caddis.

“They play a certain way, balls are put into your box and we had to defend manfully today and I thought we did. I thought we were excellent in terms of defending the box and putting our bodies in front.

“I think we’ve got to be respectful of a point, it’s a tough place to come and they haven’t lost here for a long time.

“They’ve got a good manager, good coaching staff. I’m really pleased with a point overall, there were moments in the game when I thought we could have done a bit better up the top end.

“I guarantee you can look in the next two, three or four months that there won’t be many teams who keep a clean sheet, I’m really proud of that.”

Hereford came closest to finding a winner when Ahkeem Rose netted in the 77th minute only for his goal to be ruled out for off-side.

Caddis said that the decision was ‘a close one’ but with no VAR replays in the National League North the decision was final.

“Initially everyone thinks that he’s onside, we’ve just had a look and it’s very tight,” added Caddis.

“It’s one of those in the Premier League that would go to VAR, so if the linesman has got it right then fair play to him.

“It’s a big call to make and if he’s got it wrong then we’ve lost out on four points to things that are out of our control.

“We hope the line that things will swing our way in terms of decisions. I think we deserved a point overall.

“There was some individual mistakes last week. Today was about coming and putting in a controlled team effort, which we did.

“It was a day to roll your sleeves up, fight for each other and then just hope that you get that little bit of luck in the final third.”