HEREFORD FC manager Pete Beadle has apologised for 'overreacting' to an offensive comment made by Tiverton Town's physio, saying it was 'totally out of character'.

Beadle had to be held back by his assistant Steve Jenkins following the incident on Saturday and was told by the referee that he would be sent to the stand should there be a repeat.

Hereford were leading 2-0 at the time, but saw Tiverton reduce the deficit thanks to a Tom Gardner goal shortly after play was restored.

However, the Devon side never looked like they would force an equaliser and Hereford secured a 2-1 win to go 19 points clear at the top of Southern League Division 1 South & West.

"What I was surprised about was my reaction because it was totally out of character – I can't remember the last time I reacted like that," said Beadle.

"I will be paying a fine this week in the players' pool because there's no point me setting rules if I don't abide by them myself.

"Because of the intensity of the game, people said the wrong thing but it was made out to be bigger than it was.

"But I apologised to the physio afterwards and he apologised to me and we had a beer after the game.

"You have to be man enough and apologise afterwards and that is what we did|"

Beadle added that he wasn't told to sit in the stand following the confrontation.

"I think the ref got a bit muddled," said Beadle.

"He pointed to the stand but I think it was to warn us that if there was any more trouble from the dugout then he would send us to the stand."

Beadle admitted that his team struggled to match their tempo following the incident, which allowed Tiverton to get back in the game.

"We were certainly in the ascendancy, but after the incident we lost that momentum," said Beadle.

"The second half was quite frantic and we had to combat what they threw at us.

"But apart from the goal and another shot I can't remember any other chances they had."

Hereford opened up a 2-0 lead thanks to a John Mills penalty in the 13th minute and a sublime Pablo Haysham volley in the 26th.

Haysham has now scored in his last two games and Beadle has targeted him to now score more goals.

"He has played more games out wide than last year, but he needs to contribute more goals," said Beadle.

"Tristan [Plummer] also needs to score more, as does Molyneux.

"There also isn't enough goals from Purdie, McGrath and Edge, especially with the amount of possession we have.

"But they all contribute massively with assists for Symons and Mills."

Hereford had chances to increase their lead, but Mills hit the crossbar and Symons had an effort disallowed for offside.

Hereford: A Harris, Oates, Edwards, Purdie Green, Preece, Plummer (Molyneux 87), McGrath, Haysham, Symons.

Subs not used: Sinclair, Fortune, Williams, Horsell.

Tiverton: Perry, Mammola (Carter 57), Gardner, Kingdon, Price, Hurst, Short, Norrish (S Rogers 73), Bath, L Landricombe, M Landricome.

Subs not used: G Rogers, Walton, Carter.

Yellow cards: Hereford – Edwards, Haysham, Oates, McGrath; Tiverton – Kingdon, Mammola.

Attendance: 3,049 (72 away fans).