Played in blustery conditions of sunshine and showers Brackley started well and took an early lead as Callum Stead fired home on six minutes from Glenn Walker’s fine cross. But Hereford were level midway through the half gifted the equaliser that Ryan Lloyd gratefully tapped in from close range. That sparked a revival from the home side who went ahead on 39 minutes as Lloyd doubled his tally taking advantage of further poor defending. Danny Lewis pulled off an excellent one-handed save that tipped the ball onto the post meaning the sides went into the break with the visitors trailing by a single goal.

Brackley began the second half brightly and Sam Smart brought the scores level on 56 minutes, swivelling to shoot home from Adam Rooney’s knock-on. But Hereford forced their way back into game putting Danny Lewis’ goal under sustained pressure.

In an unusual moment on 74 minutes the referee awarded a penalty adjudging Matt Preston to have handled. Following fierce protestation the referee conferred with his assistant and reversed his decision as if in a Premier League VAR moment stirring an angry response from the vociferous home crowd.

Lewis saved well at the feet of substitute Dan Jarvis as Brackley survived Hereford’s pressure and finished strongly in Gaz Dean’s first match in the dug-out.

“Overall I am delighted with the application,” Dean said. “Everyone ran and ran and pressed and showed intensity and intelligence. We had a right go and on another day it might have turned out differently. We have something to hold onto now and build on. I am disappointed with the goals conceded because we started the game looking really solid and on top. That’s the problem really in that we had to work exceptionally hard for our goals but we gifted them the first and the same with the second.”

Brackley Town: Lewis, Carline, Walker (Calder 81), Murombedzi, Cullinane-Liburd, Preston, Matwasa (Smart 40), Bates, Rooney (Yussuf 86), York, Stead. Subs unused: Woods, Richards.

Hereford: Eve, Hodgkiss, Evans, Haines (Hanson 70), Lilly, Thompson-Summers, Lloyd, Amadi-Holloway, Pinchard (Jarvis 77), Storey, Pendley. Subs unused: McLean, Barnett, Egan.

Referee: Liam Corbett Assistant: David Hinton and Kurt Bartlett

Attendance: 1374 (50 away)

PIC: By Glenn Alcock