HEREFORD United overcame a disastrous opening 15 minutes to march into the last eight of the FA Trophy for the first time in four years.

The Bulls were lucky to find themselves trailing by just Peter Knox's 14th-minute goal as Craig Mawson, who in the words of Graham Turner had 'a dozy night', did his best to undo the good work he had put in on Saturday.

On four minutes, the Bulls goalkeeper failed to gather a high ball and saw Knox's effort come back off the bar.

Then, four minutes later, he tried to play a pass out of goal but only picked out Lindon Meikle before diving at the young forward's feet to retrieve the ball.

Knox's goal stemmed from hesitation between Mawson and Tony James which saw the impressive visiting forward lob home from 20 yards.

Fortunately for United, things began to improve from this point in the fifth round replay and the Bulls were back on level terms on 35 minutes.

James came steaming out of defence and released Brian Smikle on the right wing before nearly managing to get on the end of the West Brom teenager's cross.

But the ball ran under James' foot to Danny Carey-Bertram who, a couple of minutes earlier, had belted a shot against an upright.

This time, the young forward made no mistake and netted with a low drive.

With Hereford finally finding a higher gear, Craig Stanley almost put the Bulls ahead two minutes before the break when his shot clipped the top of the bar and went over.

United had to wait until the 61st minute to claim the goal much of their build-up play deserved and the strike when it came was a bit of a rarity.

Skipper Tony James got on the end of a Danny Williams corner to power a header into the back of the net.

It was the Bulls' penalty king's first goal from open play since March 2002 at Scarborough and his first at Edgar Street since the FA Cup defeat by Newport Isle of Wight in October 1998.

Eastwood, who had performed much better than their UniBond League Division One status would have led supporters to expect, now finally began to weaken.

An excellent move from Simon Travis and Rob Purdie allowed work experience signing Smikle to open his Hereford account.

Within a minute, goalkeeper Danny Bryant could only parry a Purdie effort and Danny Williams raced in to slide home number four.

There was still time for another Mawson aberration as the goalkeeper presented Knox with a second goal nine minutes from time but by then Hereford were already virtually in the quarter-finals.

Hereford: Mawson 4, Travis 7 (Green 84), James 7 (Tretton 84), Mkandawire 7, Robinson 6, *Smikle 8, Hyde 7, Stanley 6, D Williams 7, Purdie 7, Carey-Bertram 6 (Mills 74). Subs not used: Scott, Brown.

Eastwood: Bryant, Daniel (Shaw 40), Whitehead, Soar, Millns (Hutchinson 82), Gould, Fisher, L Meikle (Mushambi 74), Knox, Mitchell, D Meikle. Subs not used: Stevenson, Smith.

Referee: Steve Bratt (West Midlands).

Attendance: 1,090.