EXPERIENCED Football League midfielder Stephen Dawson admitted Hereford weren't good enough in their defeat at Curzon Ashton.

The 34-year-old, from Dublin, said the players let themselves down in the game with the Bulls on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.

"Let's be honest, they deserved to win because they outfought us first half," Dawson said.

"Second half we had a bit of a go but there was nothing really in it, it was a huff and puff.

"I felt in the first half we were so bad it couldn't get any worse.

"There's no excuses there as individuals we didn't perform well enough today, we let ourselves down."

Dawson remains an influential player on the pitch, using the experience gained in more than 450 Football League games to help the younger players in the squad.

But speaking after the game Dawson added that his individual performance wasn't up to a good enough standard, and the team didn't meet the same levels as they have done in recent games against Farsley Celtic and York City.

"Today, for my standards, wasn't good enough, I can only apologise to the fans because they've made the long way down as well," he said.

"They're passionate and I can see their frustrations but we've got to start putting these results right because we seem to be taking one foot forward and probably two or three steps back at the minute and that's what's so frustrating.

"You can see probably the last couple of games how we can perform, and when we do perform we're a decent team at this level."

Dawson signed for the Edgar Street club in October, having not played professionally for 10 months since the demise of his last club, Bury.