GOALS by Febian Brandy and Steve Guinan put Hereford in control against Leyton Orient but Tamika Mkandawire pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time.

And the centre-back had a chance in the early exchanges, seeing a first-minute shot blocked by Richard Jackson from Jason Demetriou’s corner.

But, in a lively opening which saw plenty of attacking play from both sides, Hereford took the lead in the sixth minute.

Brandy received a pass from Done and turned quickly to shoot into the bottom corner of the net.

Eight minutes later, Brandy raced on to a punt forward by Godwin Antwi and went down in a heap after his feet got tangled with Alton Thelwell’s.

Referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty and Guinan scored his 11th goal of the season from the spot.

Orient continued to look purposeful in attack but their shooting was only from long range with Peter Gulacsi saving comfortably from James Smith and Adam Chambers firing over.

Brandy did superbly on 24 minutes, spinning away from Thelwell and speeding into the area only to fire into the swide-netting.

But the Manchester United loanee was guilty of a glaring miss six minutes later.

Done’s excellent 50-yard run finished with a pass which left Brandy one-on-one with goalkeeper Jones.

He rushed his shot, however, and lifted the ball over the bar.

The misses proved costly when Orient pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time.

The Hereford defence failed to clear Charlie Daniels’ free-kick and Mkandawire slid the ball home.