AFC Telford United

Stenson (65)

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Hednesford Town

Curran-Nicholls (74)

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(0) 1

1,959

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Lenni Cirino

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L L D D

 

Harborough Town (H) 28.8.26

The Pitmen can be pleased with their efforts this afternoon as a battling performance sees them claim a good point in today’s local derby after falling behind in the second half at AFC Telford United 

Having dropped costly points in their last two home games, Hednesford made the very short trip across the A5 still smarting at late capitulations against Scarborough and Southport in the last seven days. Manager Kelvin Davis made two changes to the side that had started against Southport on midweek as Ahkeem Rose and Jai Curran-Nicholls came in for Omari Sterling-James and Aaron Jarvis

Telford had started the season in a very similar stuttering manner to Hednesford’s, picking up their first point of the campaign with a 1-1 draw at Merthyr Town in midweek. Manager Kevin Wilkin made just the one enforced change to his side from the one that had started at Pennydarren Park as youngster Rio Owen replaced the injured Charlie Williams up front

 

In front of a vociferous away following, the Pitmen looked to get on the front foot early on as Lenni Cirino won a free kick with the first action of the game; Dale Gorman's corner kick in from the left, much in the same way as many of his set-pieces in midweek, had too much on it for the big men at the far post and drifted harmlessley out of play on the far side of the pitch

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The Bucks' first attempt at goal also came from a corner kick on the fifth minute as Remi Walker's ball in from the right caused issues for the Hednesford defence as they failed to deal with the bouncing ball, allowing Matty Stenson to stab his first-time effort inches over the crossbar from six yards out

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The experienced Dion Kelly-Evans picked up the afternoon's first booking on seven minutes as referee Ms Lowe booked the former Nuneaton Town man after he had sent Rose clattering to the deck ten yards inside the Telford half

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A late run into the box from Cirino on eight minutes saw him get goal side of former Hednesford man Matt Curley as he nipped in to reach Jamie Cooke's deep cross, turning the ball towards goal and forcing on-loan Wolves goalkeeper Lewys Benjamin into a save down low at his right-hand post

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On twelve minutes, a forceful run from Dylan Mottley-Henry down the right saw him drift past Zak Lilly and cross for Rose, whose glancing header drifted wide of the far post from six yards out

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A minute later, Cirino made another late burst into the box as he got on the end of Rose's pass, but stumbled at the crucial moment and allowed Benjamin to make the save

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Sam Hornby did well to deny Stenson in the fifteenth minute, claiming Owen's outswinging cross to deny the burly striker a certain tap-in at the far post with a confident catch

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There were muted calls for a Telford penalty on twenty minutes as Kelly-Evans made a run into the box before a nudge from Mottley-Henry halted his progress. Ms Lowe was unimpressed with Stenson's pleas, however, and allowed play to continue

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Cirino had been the Pitmen's main threat in the final third so far with several late runs into the box, making another one of these runs from deep to get goal side of Curley once more on twenty-six minutes and meet Mottley-Henry's cross, but tamely headed straight into the arms of Benjamin

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At the other end, Hornby made a smart save to deny Sam McLintock on twenty-nine minutes after the former Rushall Olympic midfielder had struck a powerful low shot from range that forced the ex-Walsall stopper into a save down to his right. The ball ran to Walker, who was flagged as offside before he could turn the rebound into the empty net

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It was the Pitmen's turn to appeal for a dubious-looking spot kick on thirty-five minutes as Aaron Harper-Bailey took a tumble in the Telford penalty area under pressure from Alex Fletcher, but once again Ms Lowe was not sold on the players' appeals and Telford were allowed to clear their lines

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Lilly followed Kelly-Evans in the referee's notebook with five minutes of the first half remaining after the centre-back had clashed with Cooke and was adjudged to have fouled the striker by Ms Lowe 

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It had been a keenly-contested first period, but as in many local derbies, chances had been at a premium and the quality in the final third of both boxes was lacking. Davis will have been pleased with his side's workrate and solidity, keeping the game tight and using every opportunity to slow the game down when appropriate, kill the ball when required and look to break on the counter when available

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Two early corner kicks from Gorman once again failed to sufficiently test the Telford back line, with his second ball in delivered back to him to fire back into the box, where there were vague calls for a handball against Kelly-Evans 

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Telford broke quickly down the right on fifty-three minutes, with Curley playing Owen into space in behind Harper-Bailey and swung in a low cross to the far post where Jack Lambert narrowly missed the ball as he dived in to try and turn the ball home from close-range

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Two minutes later, Hornby made a breathtaking save to deny Lambert a certain goal; a huge slice of luck saw McLintock's miscued long-range effort take a wicked deflection into the path of Lambert, whose instinctive effort was diverted onto the crossbar and out for a corner kick by Hornby's presence from close-range. A really good stop

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Cooke had been fighting for scraps on his own against an experienced Telford back line but created an opening for himself on fifty-seven minutes as he played a neat one-two with Rose on the edge of the Telford box, racing into the box before firing into the side-netting from a tight angle

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On the hour mark, the aggressive Harper-Bailey was the first player in navy blue to pick up a booking as he incurred the wrath of Ms Lowe for a foul on Owen on the Telford right flank

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Rose looked to catch Benjamin out with a shot from long-range on sixty-two minutes as he took the ball into space before striking a wild effort into the ground and well wide of goal. In doing so, Rose injured himself after kicking the ground and was taken off after a spell of treatment, being replaced by Sterling-James

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The game was blown wide open midway through the second half as the Pitmen's defensive deficiency with balls into the box once again caught them cold; a deep cross from the right from Owen was not dealt with by the Pitmen, with Stenson nudging Aaron Hayden out of the way before turning the ball past Hornby from close-range

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Mottley-Henry was booked by the inconsistent Ms Lowe a minute later as he was shown a yellow card for lunging in on his former Chester team-mate Kelly-Evans in midfield

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Cirino was also booked for a foul just a few moments later as the Pitmen's left-back fouled the lively Owen out on the flank. Hornby did well to claim the deep free-kick from McLintock at his near post ahead of Stenson, coming out of his goal to take the pressure off his defenders

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On seventy-three minutes, the Pitmen made their second substitution of the afternoon in attack as young striker Will Merry came on in place of Harper-Bailey, changing the Pitmen's formation to a more attacking one in the process

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Almost immediately, the visitors got themselves back on level terms as a quick break down the right saw Mottley-Henry stand up a ball to the far post that Telford struggled to clear with Merry looking to get in at the far post; the ball looped up to the incoming Curran-Nicholls, who headed confidently past Benjamin from eight yards out to register his first goal for the club. In the scrum that followed, Gorman and Lilly clashed inside the six-yard box, with Gorman taking a tumble to the floor after the pair had touched heads

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Stenson was the latest player to pick up a yellow card from Ms Lowe on seventy-seven minutes as the burly former Solihull Moors striker was booked for deliberately blocking Hornby as the stopper looked to clear his lines quickly

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Telford made a double attacking change of their own on eighty-four minutes as recent signing Louis Moult came on in place of the booked Stenson, with former Redditch United midfielder Rhys Hilton also replacing Lambert

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Cooke went agonisingly close to giving the Pitmen the lead a minute later as Merry did extremely well to reach what appeared to be a lost cause on the left byeline, whipping in a superb cross for the striker to glance goalward, only for Benjamin to make a smothering save low down to his left

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The hosts had the ball in the net with two minutes of play remaining as Owen got on the end of Moult's knock-down to turn the ball past Hornby, only for an offside flag from the assistant to deny the Welshman a winner

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The Pitmen countered quickly, working the ball out to Merry once more on the left; he in turn played Cirino through with a neat through ball, only for the left-back's low cross-shot to find the gloves of Benjamin once more

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The away side proved that they had learned their lessons from the past two games as we moved into five added minutes by managing their minutes well and not allowing the opposition to break into their penalty area. Indeed, Cooke looked to steal a late, late winner for the visitors in the fourth minute of added time as he turned past Oliver Cawthorne and got his shot away, only for his effort to be deflected behind for a corner kick

After a fairly tepid first forty-five minutes, the second half had proved much more of a spectacle as both sides had chances to claim their first win of the season. In fairness, a point apiece is probably a fair reflection of today’s derby and a first point on the road for the men in navy blue. They return to action looking for that elusive maiden win when they play host to fellow league new boys Harborough Town on Friday night

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AFC Telford United: Benjamin, Curley, Kelly-Evans ▆, Lilly ▆, Cawthorne, Fletcher ©, Walker, McLintock, Owen, Stenson  ▆(Moult 84), Lambert (Hilton 84)    Subs unused: Hall, Pendley, Mitchell

Hednesford Town: Hornby, Langston, Hayden, Cooke, Gorman ©, Rose (Sterling-James 63), Mottley-Henry ▆, Harper-Bailey ▆ (Merry 73), Kinsella, Cirino ▆, Curran-Nicholls     Subs unused: Parke, Sharples, Abimbola, Morgan

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