STANLEY 2 HEREFORD 1

ACCRINGTON striker David Brown made sure he continued his record of scoring against his former clubs.

When Brown was at Hereford he slotted him against old teams Chester and Telford and this time the Bulls were on the receiving end as the striker sealed all three points for Stanley with a 55th minute strike.

The win maintained the Reds push at the top of the table on an emotional night for Stanley.  It was a sombre start as the home side wore black armbands and had a minute's silence for Anthony Cavanagh, brother of Reds skipper Peter, who tragically died on Wednesday after being punched once in Liverpool two weeks ago after accidentally bumping into someone.

And it was also 37-years on Friday since a meeting in the public library led to Accrington Stanley being re-formed.  The win was needed - and the Reds responded accordingly. John Coleman's side got off to a quick-fire start when a long throw on nine minutes was flicked on by Paul Mullin with the Hereford defence screaming for hand ball. The striker's ball found Ian Craney who turned in the six yard box and squeezed the ball between two defenders for the opener.

The midfielder has said there is nothing better than scoring and he should know as he has now scored four goals in four games. The home side didn't have their first shot on target until the 20th minute when Craig Stanley's effort was turned away by Darren Randolph.

Four minutes later and there was chaos in the home side area when tall striker Matt Bailey burst through and crossed only for Randolph's elbow to deny Andy Ferrell a goal. But then, within seconds of the re-start, the visitors finally found a way through. Midfielder Anthony Barry lost possession cheaply in midfield and the ball was passed to Bulls top scorer Danny Carey-Bertram who ran onto it and finished superbly, slotting the ball under the body of Randolph for his fourth goal of the campaign.

Their joy was short-lived though as, with their first corner of the game,Craney swung it in, it beat everyone and landed for Brown to finish on the turn at the far post, rifling the ball into the roof of the net for his sixth goal of the campaign - and his first against the club he left in March to join Stanley.

Accrington manager John Coleman admitted it had been a difficult week at the club.

"It was probably the most difficult week as regards to how the players felt," admitted the manager, as his captain watched the game from the stands. All the players are devastated for Cav. You don't want it as an excuse to motivate the lads but I know they were all really trying to get a win for
Cav and I know they were pleased that they did do for him."