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| Merthyr boss Paul Michael has apologised to the travelling fans |
He slammed his side for being bullied, making poor decisions, giving silly fouls away, being weak and lacking a cutting edge as their play-off hopes fade.
Despite clinging onto the last play-off place by a point, the Martyrs have only won three of their last 15 games and three points from Edgar Street would have been crucial as they now only have four games left of their season.
Speaking to the club's media after the game, the former Cinderford and Yate Town boss, who masterminded their promotion from step three and a positive start to this season's campaign, apologised to the 593 supporters who made the trip.
"We just don't seem to deliver in the big moments," he said, adding: "They welcomed us on the pitch brilliantly. It was fantastic to see so many of them here and I just apologise that we didn't show up on pitch.
"Secondly, credit to Hereford. They were right up for the game and they absolutely bullied us. In that 21-minute spell, we've lost our bottle.
"Making poor decisions which brings pressure on us like giving silly fouls away, giving corners away when we don't need to.
'That's exactly the opportunities that they were looking for and then they executed them really well.
"They were physically bigger, stronger in winning duels in that first half. They ran all over us, which is really disappointing to see."
Michael was quick to praise Hereford, who ended their seven-game losing streak thanks to goals from Lewis Hudson, Mikey Lane and Matt Preston, but said his side "defended poorly".
"It's very rare that we've been run all over in the way that we were in the first half, so credit to Hereford," he added.
"They had some quality and some pace out there as well which hurt us. Second half was a little bit better, we won a few more duels, we ran around a bit more, but we had no cutting edge and didn't really look like scoring.
"That's a big issue for us at the moment."