Hereford United 3 Gravesend & N 3

GRAVESEND found the killer finish at the right time to claim a heroic point at league leaders Hereford.

Plucky Fleet took a 2-0 lead at the Conference Giants and then went 3-2 up before hanging on for a valuable point.

The Kent team have been guilty this year of squandering too many chances but at Edgar Street they gave a master class in making the most of their opportunities.

Striker Rob Haworth shocked the 3,731-strong crowd by firing the visitors into the lead in the 19th minute after taking an advantage of a mistake by Bulls defender Richard Teesdale.

Fleet keeper Paul Wilkerson kept his side in the lead by making a fine save from a Danny Williams free kick as Hereford piled on the pressure.

But it was Fleet who grabbed the next goal, going 2-0 up after Adam Miller stole the ball 30 yards out and fired a blistering shot past Matt Baker on 33 minutes.

The second goal shocked Hereford into action and the home side began to play the sort of football that had seen them win all five home games this season.

Within two minutes off Miller's wonder strike the home side had pulled a goal back when Bulls' top scorer Paul Guinan headed home a Williams cross.

Hereford weren't done yet, though, and David Brown fired home the equaliser in first half stoppage time.

The home side probably imagined they had survived their scare at the interval but within two minutes of the re-start Fleet reminded everyone they were still at the races.

Haworth silenced home crowd yet again by getting in behind the defence and firing Fleet into a 3-2 lead.

Once again Hereford hauled themselves off the canvas to equalise within minutes - Jamie Pitman setting up a goal for Ben Smith.

Hereford threw everything into grabbing a winner in the last 40 minutes but Fleet defended resolutely.

Brown and Williams both went close for the home team but Fleet held on even after defender Chris Moore was sent off for a second yellow card with three minutes to go.

Fleet's assistant manager, Phil Handford, was deputising for the holidaying Andy Ford on Saturday. He said: "I'm very pleased with the performance. Our lads were dead on their feet at the final whistle because they had given their all on the pitch.

"Previously we've needed to create five or six chances to score one goal but today we finished most of our chances. I was particularly pleased to see Haworth get a goal.

"For a club like ours to come to an intimidating place like Hereford and get a result is magnificent. We shouldn't be able to live with them and I think they thought they were in for an easy three points. We had to defend a lot but we kept our nerve."

Gravesend & Northfleet: Wilkerson, Strouts (Perkins, 77 mins), Shearer, Moore, McClements (Drury 17 mins), Owen, Miller, Gradley, Walshe, Pinnock (Duku 89 mins), Haworth. Subs not used: Abbey, O'Reilly