HEREFORD United Football Club are widening their scouting net to cover the Forest of Dean.

Despite being less than 10 miles away from parts of the Forest, the Bulls have not taken a proactive interest in finding talented footballers in the area. Until now.

This week, the club ran a three-day soccer school at Lydbrook Athletic's ground, which proved hugely popular with local kids.

A couple of seasons ago, Hereford brought their first-team to Lydbrook for a match to mark the opening of Lydbrook's new changing rooms.

Hereford United community trust manager Jamie Edwards admitted that smaller league clubs such as Hereford, with limited budgets, had to work much harder in the modern climate to find and nurture talent on their own doorstep.

He said: "We are now running age-group teams again, which we hope to expand over the next couple of years.

"We've already got a couple of boys from Mitcheldean in our under-12s who we scouted in the summer.

"I think a lot of people in the Forest have an affinity with Hereford.

"The schools are a great way of spotting talented kids."