The Pilgrim were beaten 2-1 by Hereford FC at Edgar Street despite a rousing second half comeback, headlined by Elliott's 57th minute strike to reach the 20-mark for the campaign.

United trailed to Tom Owen-Evans' fourth minute opener and Ryan McLean's driven finish in the 27th minute.

The Pilgrims, unchanged for a third match running, saw their afternoon defined by a sloppy opening half hour in which they fell two goals behind.

OWEN-EVANS twisted and turned before dispatching a fine effort from 18 yards high to Marcus Dewhurst's right with only four minutes on the clock - and McLEAN doubled their lead 23 minutes later when he ran on to Maziar Kouhyar's sublime throughball to beat the offside trap and angle home Hereford's second.

United thereafter sacrificed an already-cautioned Keenan Ferguson in favour of Scott Garner - and reverted to a flat back four.

First half headers from Scott Duxbury, substitute Garner and Fraser Preston all failed to trouble Brandon Hall in the Bulls' net.

United reduced the arrears 12 minutes into the second half when Connor Dimaio teed up ELLIOTT to beat Hall, low to his left, from 18 yards to reach his personal milestone for the season.

He almost made it 21 goals for the campaign two minutes later - but blasted straight at Hall after wriggling through.

Dewhurst kept United in the contest by denying sub Miles Storey, while Hall kept out Dimaio at the other end and Preston lifted a late chance over the bar, as the Pilgrims ran out of time to force a leveller.

Hereford (4-2-3-1): Brandon Hall; Jared Hodgkiss, Krystian Pearce, Ben Pollock, Seb Revan; James Vincent, Ryan Lloyd; Ryan McLean (Ellis Storey 66), Tom Owen-Evans, Maziar Kouhyar (Mo Touray 66); Jaanai Gordon (Jamie Egan 87). Subs (not used): Keenan Patten, Dinesh Gillela.

Boston (3-4-1-2): Marcus Dewhurst; Matt Tootle, Luke Shiels, Scott Duxbury; Keenan Ferguson (Scott Garner 32), Tom Platt, Shane Byrne, Joe Leesley; Connor Dimaio; Danny Elliott, Fraser Preston. Subs (not used): Jordan Preston, Finlay Armond, Ben Sault, Peter Crook (gk).

Referee: Jamie O'Connor.

Attendance: 2,019.

PIC: Steve Niblett.