HEREFORD United and Luton Town might only be separated by goal difference in the Blue Square Bet Premier but the gulf between the two clubs could not be more stark.

The Bulls came within three minutes of winning at Kenilworth Road last Saturday, when Marlon Jackson’s strike was cancelled out by David Martin, just days after losing 3-2 to Newport in the final minute.

For United, and manager Martin Foyle, however, the Luton match was a real eye-opener as to what they are up against in non-league’s top flight.

Played in front of more than 6,000 supporters, new Luton boss John Still could have fielded two different teams with the personnel available to him.

Hereford, by comparison, could barely scrape together 16 players because of injury and are working on a fraction of the resources.

Foyle, whose side host Barrow today (3pm), said: “John had 15 unused players sitting in the stand. That did make me rather jealous.

“In the last two games, I wanted to throw on another front man in the second-half but we just did not have one available.

“With another striker to bring on, I’m sure that we would have won both of those matches.”

He added: “We have no scouts so Andy Porter (assistant) and I are covering a lot of miles looking at games.

“I went to one on Monday, one on Tuesday, another on Wednesday and then one on Friday.”