HEREFORD FC manager Pete Beadle believes Evesham United will still pose a threat to his team despite them losing yesterday.

A 2-1 defeat at Taunton Town halted an 11-game winning run for the Worcestershire side, resulting in Hereford extending their lead at the top of Southern League Division One South & West to nine points.

"They will be disappointed because I think 12 on the bounce would have been a record for them," said Beadle.

"I don't think it will affect them though – I think it will be a case of 'right, let's go again and lets see if we can win another 11 on the bounce."

Beadle added that momentum is vitally important for his unbeaten team.

"We talked about it loads last year and we've done it again this year," said Beadle.

"The momentum carried on from last year is vitally important.

"The boys get into a routine, they turn up and play the game almost without thinking about it.

"There are days when players have off days, but it will take quite a few of our players to have off days for us not to do well and with our crowd here, every mistake is pointed out.

"It's important that we keep going."

Hereford beat Salisbury 3-1 yesterday to make it 16 league wins out of 18 this season.

"For 20 minutes, I thought we were superb," added Beadle.

"We asked them for a big start and we got that, with the goals that came with it.

"I thought we had got out of the habit of getting a two goal lead and then taking our foot off the pedal because for the last 20 minutes of the first half, I thought they were better side and they could easily have come in at half-time at 2-2.

"At half time, we told them to come out with the same mentality that they started with and I thought in the second half, we were in control of the game and were certainly worthy of the three points."

Centre-back Mark Preece had to come off in the second half and was replaced by Jimmy Oates.

"Mark has got a tight Achilles, so we knew at some point we had to give him a breather," added Beadle.

"In the second half at 3-1 up, we thought it was the ideal time to slot Ryan Green inside and give Jimmy Oates a blast.

"Hopefully he will recover for Tuesday, but if not we will give him a rest and bring him in for the following week."

Leading scorer John Mills started on the bench after recovering from a hamstring injury.

"Unless he is 100 per cent healthy, we won't risk him and he's proved his fitness this week," said Beadle.

"He wasn't 100 per cent on Thursday in training, but had a good blast yesterday afternoon.

"I think by having someone like John on the bench, you can bring him on if it's tight or we're 1-0 down.

"As it is, we managed to give him another rest and hopefully that means his hamstring is healing all the time. and we will see how it is for Tuesday."