HEREFORD United chief Graham Turner wants his side to show more professionalism as they enter a hectic fixture schedule.

The Bulls welcome FA Cup third round opponents Bristol Rovers to Edgar Street on Boxing Day before hosting Wrexham next Saturday and visiting Wycombe Wanderers on New Year's Day.

But Turner, whose side are due to take on Notts County tonight, was unhappy with the way the players performed in the 3-0 defeat at local rivals Shrewsbury last Saturday.

As well as losing the game, Turner said his team had been guilty of ill-discipline, which saw defender Dean Beckwith sent off.

The manager, whose team had an overnight stop to prepare for the early kick-off, said: "A 3-0 defeat really rams home to us the continued need to be disciplined, organised and really focused on the job in hand.

"We felt that the preparation had gone reasonably well and was as professional as we could get it. The performance was not.

"For long periods, I do not believe Shrewsbury were any better than us and, for 15 minutes at the start of the second-half, we got ourselves right on top.

"But there are things that we do in training - things that we emphasise - that we just were not doing, particularly from a defending point of view.

"I have always been of the opinion that, the more free-kicks you give away, the more you invite pressure. So the more disciplined the side is, the better."

Turner, who watched the reserves beat Cardiff City reserves 3-1 at Edgar Street on Monday, has also admitted places are up for grabs in the team, particularly after the departure of on-loan pair John Eustace and Neil MacKenzie.

Eustace has been recalled by Stoke, while MacKenzie has returned to Scunthorpe.

He said: "We obviously have to fill a void left by John and Neil and have several games now where we will be unable to strengthen the squad until the January transfer window opens.

"But the challenge was thrown out to players who were playing regularly earlier in the season to show that they are good enough to take their places back. We shall see."