The Gills made it two points from two games as Hessy's men opened their away campaign with a point from an engaging stalemate at Edgar Street.

Andy Hessenthaler made two changes to the side that lost at Norwich in midweek, with Matt Lawrence making his debut in defence while Kevin Maher came into the midfield in place of the injured Jack Payne.

The game got underway in driving rain, following an impeccably observed minute's applause for former Bulls' striker Adam Stansfield, who sadly lost his battle with cancer at the beginning of the week.

Gillingham started positively, debutant Matt Lawrence creating the first opening with a fifth minute throw-on, the ball was only cleared to Chris Palmer, who flashed a ferocious effort just over the bar. Moments later, Bulls keeper Adam Bartlett saved well from Spiller's rising shot and Andy Barcham's follow-up header was ruled offside.

On ten minutes Andy Barcham was ruthlessly chopped down by O'Neil Thompson, the winger required lengthy treatment and while he was sidelined, Danny Spiller curled the resulting free-kick onto the head of Akinfenwa, who headed narrowly over.

Hereford looked threatening on the counter and Alan Julian had to react quickly to deny Sean Canham. The forward ran clear of the defence, on to a long through ball, but was denied on the corner of the box as the Gills keeper raced out bravely to block.

The visitors survived another scare on fifteen minutes as a Hereford corner was met by Janos Kovacs but the Bulls centre-half headed his finish over the crossbar from six yards out.

By midway through the half, the game had developed into an even encounter, though the hosts were enjoying the better of the openings. Thompson rolling a low effort wide of the far post after Gillingham had failed to clear their lines.

A well worked free-kick routine created the Gills best chance in the 31^st minute, Spiller's deceptive run fooled the Bulls defence, while Nutter set-up Palmer, who beat the keeper, only to see his low drive ricochet wide off the inside of Bartlett's left-hand upright.

Six minutes later, Kevin Maher stung the keeper's hands with a well-struck drive from distance that was sadly hit straight at the Bulls No.1. Soon after Hereford's Janos Kovacs received the games first booking on 40 minutes for a robust challenge on Akinfenwa.

Two minutes before the break, Mark Bentley's far post header was cleared off the line from a Palmer corner before O'Neil Thompson's deflected 25 yard drive flew inches over the crossbar as the teams headed off the pitch, with the scores even.

HT 0-0

Gillingham started the second half with renewed impetus and saw a 48^th minute Mark Bentley header cleared off the line from Chris Palmer's lofted corner. At the opposite end Manset found space on the left of the Gills box to fire goalwards but could only hit the side-netting.

The Bulls responded in kind and went close again in the 52^nd minute, Alan Julian diving at full stretch to push James McQuilkin's low drive behind for a corner.

Four minutes later a foul on Akinfenwa gave Spiller a chance to shoot for goal from a free-kick midway inside the Hereford half. The shaven headed midfielder's low strike took a deflection off the wall and scudded past Bartlett's near post for a corner.

After the end to end tempo of the first quarter of the half, things settled down after the hour mark with both side's defences looking composed. Action in either box was reduced to a premium, though Joe Colbeck found room to test Julian with a shot from the right on 70 minutes.

Players on both sides seemed to tire in the closing stages, perhaps unsurprisingly given that the season is only two games old. With that in mind, Andy Hessenthaler sent on the fresh legs of Stefan Payne for the final ten minutes to inject some pace into the Gills attack.

The Bulls were forced to take evasive action to clear the threat from Danny Spiller's left wing cross five minutes from time. Spiller himself took the corner, finding Gowling at the near post who headed narrowly side after shaking off his marker.

Adam Bartlett had to palm Bentley's cross come shot over the bar soon after as the visitors finished strongly. Deep into injury time, Danny Spiller curled a neat shot from the edge of the box after neat hold-up play by Akinfenwa but Bartlett made a fine save as the winning goal steadfastly refused to come.

Attendance: 2915 (410 Gillingham)

Gillingham: Alan Julian, Tony Sinclair, John Nutter, Matt Lawrence, Josh Gowling, Kevin Maher, Mark Bentley, Danny Spiller, Chris Palmer (Stefan Payne 82), Andy Barcham, Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Subs not used: Luke Rooney, Nicky Southall, Andy White, Connor Essam, Lance Cronin.

Hereford United: Adam Bartlett, Ryan Green, Ryan Valentine, Janos Kovacs, Michael Townsend, Joe Colbeck, O'Neil Thompson, James McQuilkin, Mathieu Manset, Stuart Fleetwood, Sean Canham.