Hartlepool United 2 Hereford United 4.

HEREFORD United’s faint hopes of beating the League 1 drop took another heavy blow with defeat at Hartlepool on Saturday.

With the home side in free-fall towards the relegation zone after five straight defeats, this seemed a good opportunity for the Bulls to pick up some points to help them towards safety.

But, despite having the better of the match for long periods on a very blustery afternoon, Hereford were again unable to translate good possession into goals.

And their defensive frailties were exposed once more as the home side eased in with two goals in a three-minute spell in the final quarter-an-hour.

United’s cause was not helped by an injury which ruled out on-loan goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, resulting in an unexpected debut for non-contract keeper Jose Veiga.

The Costa Verde international, who has been a regular fixture on the substitutes’ bench over the last three months, will not be likely to remember his Football League debut with much happiness.

He was caught out after eight minutes by a fierce angled drive from Joel Porter which flew in at his near post.

And then, in the second half, he came out for an Andy Monkhouse corner but completely missed the ball for Sam Collins to head in – a crucial goal, 13 minutes from time after the score had been locked at 2-2. “If you go anywhere away from home and score two goals then you expect, even in the worst case, to get a point,” said striker Steve Guinan.

“We had done ever so well, perhaps for one of the first times this season, to go a goal down and get back to 1-1. And then we went behind again and clawed another goal back.

“The conditions out there were very windy and I thought we dealt with that very well in the first half.

“At half-time, I thought that if we defended as we should have done, we would have been the only team in the game and gone on to win it.”

Hereford had indeed done well to claw back.

A fine pass from Ben Smith set up Febian Brandy to score the first equaliser.

Then, after Richard Rose’s clumsy, if small, push on Keigan Parker had allowed Pool to regain the lead from the penalty spot, another good pass from Smith sent Toumani Diagouraga to the bye-line to cross for Marc Pugh to bundle in his first Bulls goal.

All this gave some hope for the second half which failed to come to fruition.

“It is the same old story,” said Guinan. “Going forward we played some great stuff but if you concede four goals you will end up losing the game.

“It is desperately disappointing because we knew it was a big game. And it was a big game for them, too, and they have come out on top.”

Hereford: Veiga; Jackson (Williams, 82 min), Rose, Broadhurst, Taylor; Myrie-Williams, Diagouraga, Smith (O’Leary, 86 min), Pugh; Guinan, Brandy. Subs not used: Gwynne, Johnson, Jones.

Hartlepool: Budtz; Liddle, Nelson, Collins, Humhreys (Skarz, 63 min); Jones (Nardiello, 63 min), Clark, Sweeney, Monkhouse; Porter, Parker (Robson, 82 min). Subs not used: Cook, Mackay.

Referee: Clive Oliver (Northumberland).

Attendance: 3,579 (89 from Hereford).

Goals: Porter, 8 min, 1-0; Brandy, 10 min, 1-1; Porter pen, 12 min, 2-1; Pugh, 27 min, 2-2; Collins, 77 min, 3-2; Sweeney, 79 min, 4-2.

Yellow cards: Hereford – Taylor, foul, 88 min; Hartlepool – Nelson, foul, 54 min; Collins, 72 min, foul.