The Bulls took the lead in 33 minutes with Joey Ansinyah and Danny Carey-Bertram combining for the latter to slip the ball under home custodian Scott Tynan. The visitors wrapped things up in the final minute when Jamie Pitman slotted in Adam Stansfield to round Tynan and clinch the points. There were no complaints from Bees boss Paul Fairclough, who admitted his team had been beaten by the better side. "The best team won by a mile. It was a 2-0 slaughter. Since the New Year our form's been a bit stop-start. There's been some disruption in places, we've lost key players at key times, but no excuses today," he said. Hereford are starting to show their form of last season, when Chester pipped them to the title by just one point but missed out in the play offs to Aldershot. However they are just one of an amazing FIVE teams on 47 points, all a point adrift of second-placed Aldershot who had a day off yesterday when their game at Morecambe was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch. Third-placed Carlisle failed yet again to close the gap significantly as they were held to a desperately disappointing 2-2 draw by Gravesend and Northfleet in a drab game. Returning to their flood-damaged Brunton Park home after six weeks, they were cruising at half-time thanks to two quick-fire strikes from defenders Tom Cowan and Danny Livesey. But the visitors stunned them with two second half goals to claim a point. Matt Lovell hit a fine long range effort with his left foot and Jay Saunders later turned in the equaliser. It was a good start for new Gravesend manager Laim Daish, although his charges failed to add to their one miserable league win in 18 attempts. A pitch that resembled a pudding contributed to a poor performance but Cumbrians supremo Paul Simpson was still unhappy at the final whistle. "The players let themselves down today and they've got to take a long, hard look at themselves. We should have played ugly football to get a result - I told them to play to the conditions - but instead we played tippy-tappy balls, cross-field balls, and made it difficult for ourselves," he said. Halifax are now level on games and points with Carlisle after they saw off the challenge of Stevenage Borough at the Shay. A Craig Midgeley penalty on 22 minutes followed by a Dean Howell goal in 52 put them in command, although Borough came back into it 17 minutes from time with a Dino Maamria strike. Woking and Accrington are also on 47 points in the congested play-off battle after wins over Crawley Town and Exeter City respectively. The match at Kingfield was marred by the remarkable ARREST of visiting manager Francis Vines after the final whistle and his detention by police after being reported for foul and abusive language. The incident is believed to be the first of its kind at this level of the game and it came after a stormy encounter in which two Crawley players, Sacha Opinel and Sean Hankin, were ordered off. Ian Selley converted a 55th-minute spot kick and Steve Evans doubled the lead four minutes later. Accrington pulled off a very important win at FA Cup heroes Exeter with in-form Lee McEvilly netting twice, either side of a Jake Edwards goal for the Grecians. In the top basement battle, York City earned a point at Forest Green to keep them well clear of relegation danger. Andy Bishop edged the Minstermen in front at the Lawn in front of an 870 attendance. Alan Lewer's battlers got back into it when Charlie Griffin slotted home a 73rd minute penalty kick. Northwich, with games in hand, managed to close the gap to fourth-bottom Farnborough when they drew away at Canvey Island, but it could have been better for them. They moved two in front through Jonny Allan and Michael Carr. Canvey pulled it back to 2-1 when Chris Duffy scored with a superb 35-yard strike. The Essex team kept plugging away in the second half and eventually earned a point when top scorer Lee Boylan netted in injury time.
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