Hereford Rugby Club survived a late onslaught from Longton to record an excellent 27-26 victory at Wyeside.
The home side started brightly and after putting their visitors under immediate pressure they found themselves ahead after just five minutes.
A lineout close to the Longton line saw the Wyesiders launch a powerful rolling maul from which hooker Gareth Miles was able to touch down.
A fine conversion from centre Richie Rees gave Hereford an early 7-0 lead.
Both sides enjoyed a healthy share of possession but it was Longton who scored next when centre Scott Rawlings crossed after a neat handling movement.
Rawlings converted his own try to level at 7-7 and give the visitors the ascendency, from which they took full advantage to grab the next score.
After Hereford had been penalised, Longton opted to kick for the corner and launch a rolling maul of their own from which second row Gareth Rawlings burst over for an unconverted score.
Hereford were struggling to compete with the Longton forward power and it was not long before the visitors were over again from a maul, this time through No 8 Keiran Healey.
Rawlings’ conversion put Longton further in front at 19-7 but Hereford hit back twice before half time.
Five minutes before the break winger Simon Sabel raced over unopposed after collecting a chip ahead from centre Colin Osborne.
Rees followed up his successful conversion with a penalty conceded by Longton flanker John Tavakece, who was sent to cool his heels in the sin bin.
The 17-19 score at the restart gave the Wyesiders every chance to steal the win but they soon found themselves down a man after hooker Miles was sin binned for an offence at the breakdown.
Longton forced their way downfield and, after forcing Hereford to concede the penalty, hooker James Staley forced over from a pushover scrum.
Rawlings’ conversion made the score 26-19 with 15 minutes left.
The closing stages saw Hereford continue to have the better of exchanges and after sustained pressure on the Longton line, a miscued kick for touch allowed fullback Keiron Hallam to score wide out.
Rees weighed in with the conversion and then a penalty to give Hereford a slender advantage at 27-26.
Despite piling on pressure, Longton appeared slightly overconfident and after opting to turn down a perfectly kickable penalty in favour of a scrum,
Hereford held out for the win.
The result will give the Wyesiders plenty of heart but they will need every ounce of effort if they are to beat near neighbours Luctonians at Mortimer Park on Saturday.