Graham Turner was full of smiles as his team stretched its winning run to three games with a hard-fought victory at Hereford earlier today. First half goals from strikers Terry Gornell and James Collins knocked the stuffing out of Turner's former club and the game was all but over with Hereford offering very little in response. "It's another three points," said the Town boss, "which were won in the first half. I thought we were a bit scrappy in the second half and didn't pass the ball as well as we could have done but the surface was very difficult and the pitch was very narrow. I'm not using excuses but when the surface is bobbly it can be difficult to pass the ball, but we did enough to contain them and I think we deserved the win."

Goals have been at a bit of a premium for Town's strikers of late so the gaffer was pleased to see Gornell and Collins on the mark at Edgar Street: "They've had a bit of a lean spell of late save for Collo's penalty last week," said Turner. "But they were two good goals today - the first one was very well worked and the second was a great individual goal. James should have perhaps done better late on when he should have laid the ball back, but overall it's a great result for us. You know it's going to be very difficult coming here especially with the local derby element thrown into it and sooner or later they're going to start picking up points here. So we're glad to get it out of the way and get the three points."

Town's boss was asked if he expected the game to be as comfortable for his side in the 2nd half with the hosts stunned to be two adrift at the break. "There were a lot of high balls coming into our box from set plays but I thought we coped really well with the problems I thought we would face, and that was from high balls in as they have good height in their side. It was never going to be what you might call a comfortable game. Had any one of Hereford's shots gone in then it might have been a completely different game."

This victory saw Town land a second successive league 'double' over the Bulls since Turner's return to the Greenhous Meadow in 2010. Turner admitted that this was a nice stat but one he'd like to have against a few more clubs: "It closes the gap at the top and puts pressure on the sides above us. Any slip ups in the afternoon games will make it even more interesting and we could be within a couple of points at the top. Irrespective of whether it's a local derby or against my old club, the three points are the most important thing and we've got them."

Swindon and Crawley were both in Cup action so will now have a game in hand on Shrewsbury but Turner conceded that they are just two of a number of good sides in the league: "We've shown recently against Gillingham and Southend - who are both up there in and around us - that we can play against the top sides. If you look at it, we have a decent record against sides in the top half of the table but in the bottom half it's not so good. What we have to do now is to learn to beat teams in the lower half if we're to be serious promotion contenders."

It's another early afternoon derby next week when bogey side Port Vale make the trip along the A53. There's sure to be a decent crowd on and another win for Town could well see Turner's side in the top three this time next week.