The Bucks beat Hereford 3-0 on Tuesday night to jump into the playoff places for the first time this season.

There was very little to write home about in the opening 25 minutes of this, as both sides were slow to get going on a damp night at the SEAH Stadium. The game’s first real talking point came in the 26th minute, when Jordan Cranston whipped a lovely freekick around the wall, but Theo Richardson did well to spring across his goal to palm it away to the right.

That stirred the Bucks into life, as Wilkin’s men started to move up the gears albeit still struggling to break down the Bulls who were keeping 11 men behind the ball. But the Bucks made the breakthrough in the 34th minute. A ball forward from Cranston found Matty Stenson, who was rather needlessly dragged down by Bulls’ captain Lewis Hudson on the edge of the box, and the referee pointed to the spot. Stenson picked himself up and, banishing memories of his spot kick miss earlier in the season at Edgar Street, confidently fired his penalty past Richardson.

The game opened up a little now, with the visitors looking more threatening now. The Bulls forced a number of corners and freekicks in good areas, but they couldn’t make the most of the set plays and Josh Gracey remained largely untroubled. 1-0 to the Bucks at the break.

The Bucks made a fast start to the second half as they looked to double their lead. Three minutes into the half Stenson burst forward, but with Kyle Howkins on his shoulder he could only fire wide. Moments later, Charlie Williams fired in a shot from the left of the box that Richardson did well to push around the post. From the resulting corner, Stenson stabbed goalwards but Richardson just about managed to stop the ball crossing the line.

The Bulls then had two good chances of their own in quick succession. First, Cormac Daly cut inside and fired a shot that got a knick as it flew narrowly wide of the post. Matt Preston then had a decent chance from the corner that followed, but once again Hereford couldn’t make the set pieces count.

On 67 minutes, Andy Williams nearly scored a wonderful goal for the Bulls. The veteran front man did well to jink his way across the edge of the box before bending his strike tantalising wide of the post. The Bucks then went down the other end and Richardson did well to deny Jamie Meddows before Stenson blazed his effort over the bar.

Stenson should probably have made it two in the 73rd minute when he was put through by Jordan Piggott, but while his dinked effort beat Richardson, the ball came back off the bar. But the Bucks’ top scorer made no mistake less than a minute later. Picking the ball up on the right of the box, Stenson struck a shot that skimmed low under Richardson and into the far corner.

Stenson nearly had his hattrick just a few minutes leater as he flashed a header just wide, while Bulls debutant Cherif Baba Yaya probably should have done better with another header in the 81st minute, but again Gracey was untroubled.

The Bucks wrapped up the win in stoppage time. The Bulls defence failed to clear and Jimmy Armson scrambled home to make it 3-0.

Kevin Wilkin will no doubt be pleased to see his men bounce back from defeat on Saturday with all three points that see the Bucks climb up to 7th in the table.