Joshua Popoola and Will Harris were both on target as Moors climbed to fourth in the National League North table with a 2-0 victory over Hereford at The Brewery Field.

Jamie Chandler’s men had been held to draws in frustrating fashion in each of their last two outings but returned to winning ways after a battle played out in hot conditions in County Durham.

Moors came flying out of the traps and could have been in front inside 60 seconds when Popoola’s trickery on the right set up Josh Doherty, but his low shot was well blocked by a defender.

Danny Greenfield chipped a nice ball forward for Will Harris who intelligently knocked it down for Rob Ramshaw, only for the midfielder’s powerful drive to swerve just the wrong side of the post.

The breakthrough arrived on 28 minutes when a training ground set-piece unlocked the visiting defence. Greenfield’s deep delivery from a right-wing corner was nodded back across goal by Ben Pollock and Popoola stabbed it home from close range.

Moors continued to look the more likely for the remainder of the half with Hereford only going close with Kian Ryley’s dipped shot into the roof of the net, while Glen Taylor was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when he appeared to be tripped in the area.

However, The Bulls came out with renewed determination after the break and James Montgomery had to make a big save to deny Adam Rooney just after the hour mark.

Hereford substitute Lassana Mendes came even closing to bringing the visitors level when he cut inside from the right only to crack a powerful left-footed shot off the cross bar.

Moors made the points safe a couple of minutes from time though. A lovely reverse pass from Taylor found Ramshaw in a pocket of space and he used to lethal effect, slipping a perfect ball through to Harris who scampered clear to clip home his sixth goal of the season.

Full Time: Moors 2 Hereford 0

Moors: Montgomery, Mbeka, Pollock, Staunton, Popoola (McKeown 75), Ross, Ramshaw, Doherty (Ferguson 58), Greenfield (Fielding 71), Harris, Taylor.
Subs not used: Curtis, Gallacher.

Booked: Montgomery (40)

Hereford: Pond, Southern, Downing, Cameron, Skinner, Singh (Arthur 67), Teixeira, Livingstone (Mendes 78), Babos, Ryley (Stanley 71), Rooney.
Subs not used: Cranston, Hewlett.

Booked: Singh (43), Skinner (54)

Referee: David Smith

Attendance: 1,210