Hereford FC suffered a third consecutive away defeat as Will Hatfield’s free-kick gave Darlington a slender 2-1 victory in their Tuesday night tie.

Paul Caddis’ side came up against a Quakers side who had lost just once in the league at home this season,  Darlington showed their confidence early on as Jack Maskell picked out the run of Caden Kelly who blazed over.

The Bulls gave a first start to American forward Declan McGlynn who linked up with Jason Cowley before the latter saw his effort saved.

Moments before half-time McGlynn felt he deserved a penalty, but the referee controversially judged that the foul was outside the box.

Cowley was looking dangerous and on 51 minutes his rifled effort was only denied by goalkeeper Peter Jameson.

However, five minutes later Darlington were ahead after Jack Lambert’s looping effort hit the post and was judged to have crossed the line, despite the goalkeeper’s best efforts.

On the hour mark Hereford were level with McGlynn steering his first goal for Hereford into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.

The Quakers goalkeeper Jameson was back in action with 11 minutes remaining denying Jaiden White’s effort.

However, it was Darlington who triumphed with Will Hatfield looping his free-kick over the wall and into the net.

Hereford: Donaghy, Robinson (Rooney 87), Bartley, Howkins, Hudson, D’Ath (Babos 83), Mitchell, McGlynn, Ceesay, White, Cowley (Rose 77)

Unused subs: Derricott, Teixeira

The Bulls have also had some changes amongst their squad with winger Cosmos Matwasa leaving to join fellow National League North side Alfreton Town.

Matwasa has made 16 appearances for Hereford this season, with 10 of those coming from the bench.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Tom Donaghy has extended his loan spell for an unknown period.