The fat lady has, for now, been sent back from the wings of the stage to her dressing room.

Albion secured, with unexpected comfort, the win they so desperately needed at Edgar Street last night to keep their League One survival hopes very much alive.

A rare Tommy Fraser goal early on was supplemented by Lloyd Owusu deep into the second half. Kris Taylor scored a consolation for Hereford two minutes into stoppage time, moments after Michel Kuipers had saved a Steve Guinan penalty, but they are surely doomed now.

Not so Russell Slade’s Seagulls, who can close to within three points of Swindon with a game in hand if they beat Danny Wilson’s team at Withdean on Saturday.

Slade made three changes to the team beaten at MK Dons on Saturday.

Tommy Elphick, back from a two-match ban, returned to the centre of defence at the expense of Matt Heath and Gary Borrowdale recovered from a calf injury to take over from Adam El-Abd at left-back.

Chris Birchall was handed his first start since the end of February on the right of a midfield diamond in preference to Doug Loft.

Gary Dicker was given the holding role, with Fraser on the left and Dean Cox in behind the strike partnership of Owusu and Craig Davies.

Hereford welcomed back teenage Hungarian international Peter Gulacsi in goal. Gulacsi, on loan from Liverpool missed Saturday’s 4-2 defeat at Hartlepool with a knee injury.

Slade left his players under no illusions about the significance of the match in his pep talk before kick-off.

The message was simple and brutal – do you want to be playing next season at Southampton or Accrington?

Judging by the way Slade’s troops started, they fancied the plush surroundings of St Mary’s on the south coast rather more than the long journey north to Stanley’s Fraser Eagle Stadium.

Albion’s Fraser was an ironic and improbable source of a breakthrough just nine minutes into the contest.

It was well-worked too, Owusu heading back a free-kick by Andrew Whing for Fraser to score with an overhead kick from eight yards.

Individual and collective droughts were ended in the process. For Fraser it was his first League goal since December 2006, for Albion their first in six hours and 19 minutes.

The unexpected strike from the flame-haired midfielder rewarded a bright start by the Seagulls. The drawback of the diamond formation is a lack of width but there was no sign of that as Albion dominated possession and were quick to support Owusu and Davies.

Fraser broke into the Hereford box twice before he scored and Cox also shot wide twice, the second an audacious dipper from 30 yards.

The diminutive playmaker had an opportunity to stretch the lead when Fraser was brought down just outside the ‘D’ by Hereford captain Karl Broadhurst. Cox’s low free-kick had Gulacsi diving to his left to save at full stretch.

Hereford, kicking down the slope and with a strong wind in their favour in the first half, were contrastingly impotent.

They produced nothing to worry a back four bolstered by Elphick’s determined presence and the return of an orthodox rather than makeshift left-back in the shape of Borrowdale.

Albion’s record away from home this season has been impressive when they have scored first. The only disappointment was that they had not established a more decisive advantage by the interval.

There were several other narrow escapes for the home side. Elphick had a header and Owusu a shot blocked from a corner by Cox, flicked on at the near post by skipper Adam Virgo.

Dicker nodded wide from another corner by Cox, who turned provider once more with a crossfield pass for Davies. The angle was unkind for the former Oldham striker but Gulacsi still had to be alert to keep out his low drive with his legs.

It was hard to imagine Hereford could play much worse than they did in the opening 45 minutes but they continued to give the ball away with reckless abandon.

Dicker, enjoying his best game since his loan move from Stockport, looped a header narrowly over six minutes into the restart after the influential Cox worked a short corner with Birchall.

Davies, goalless in ten appearances and wasteful since a debut strike, was desperately unlucky when he unleashed a right-foot shot from 25 yards which rattled the crossbar.

Hereford fashioned their best, indeed first, chance a minute later when Ben Smith cut the ball back to Fabian Brandy inside the area.

The striker borrowed from Manchester United notched the only goal against the Seagulls on the final day last season during a loan spell with Swansea. Fortunately, this time, he sliced wide.

Davies, booked for dissent, was sensibly replaced by Gary Hart and El-Abd came on for Birchall in a switch to 4-4-2.

The changes paid off as Hart, making his first appearance since September after injury problems, set up Owusu for the all-important second goal 15 minutes from time.

He chested the ball into the path of Owusu, who made amends for his misses at MK Dons with an emphatic left-foot finish.

Hereford’s misery was summed up by Kuipers keeping out Guinan’s spot-kick, awarded for a foul by Virgo on Brandy. Taylor’s last-gasp strike seconds afterwards was scant consolation for the relegation-bound Bulls.

ALBION (4-1-2-1-2): Kuipers; Whing, Elphick, Virgo, Borrowdale; Dicker, Birchall, Fraser; Cox, Davies, Owusu. Subs: Hart for Davies (withdrawn, 71), El-Abd for Birchall (withdrawn, 72), MacLeod for Owusu (withdrawn, 90), Sullivan, Loft.

Scorers: Fraser (9), Owusu (75).

Yellow cards: Davies (66) dissent, Whing (82) foul.

Hereford: (4-4-2): Gulacsi; Jackson, Rose, Broadhurst, Taylor; Myrie-Williams, Diagouraga, Smith, Pugh; Guinan, Brandy. Subs: O'Leary for Myrie-Williams (withdrawn, 46), Done for Pugh (withdrawn, 78), Johnson for Smith (withdrawn, 78), Gwynne, Veigo.

Scorers: Taylor (90) Yellow cards: Nil.