Steve Burr's first game in charge of Hednesford ends in a narrow defeat this evening as the winless Pitmen suffer their fifth defeat in succession against the ten men of Alvechurch at Lye Meadow

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A lot had happened since the Pitmen had been knocked out of the F.A. Cup to Long Eaton Town ten days ago, with the notable news coming yesterday evening with the appointment of Hednesford great Burr as the club’s new manager. The 62-year-old was limited in his options for tonight’s game after defenders Josh Webb, Nathan Cameron and Lewis Hayden had all departed the club, handing a debut to Mason Birch at right-back and welcoming another club legend in the form of Ben Bailey back into the side for his fourth debut as a Hednesford player as they replaced Hayden and Cameron respectively. The final of three changes saw mercurial winger Joe Cuff return to the side as he returned from a two-week spell away from the team in place of the departed Hayden. Todd Parker had been handed the club captaincy ahead of Lewis Ison in the final piece of notable news for the visitors

 

Inconsistent Alvechurch had also been without a game for the past ten days, beating Mickleover 3-2 in the F.A. Cup first qualifying round to set up a home tie against Harborough Town in the next round. Manager Ian Long made three changes to his side from the one that had started at the Don Amott Arena as Harry Williams, Ethan Sephton and Danny Waldron came in for Ben Cassidy, Peter Taylor and James Spiers 

 

Before the game kicked off, there was an impeccably-observed minute's silence in memory of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, who had passed away on Thursday evening. Both sets of players wore black armbands for tonight’s game in recognition of the former Monarch, having been denied the opportunity to show their respects on Saturday after the Southern Football League had cancelled the round of games

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On a cool evening in Worcestershire, the all-blue clad Pitmen started on the front foot as they forced two early corner kicks. In the third minute, Harvey Portman's long throw was flicked on at the near post by Cuff and into the path of Lita, who was denied a clear scoring opportunity by Jamie Willets' intervention, turning the ball back to Dan Jezeph in the Church goal

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Bailey's first action after returning to the club was to bludgeon a clearance into touch in the fifth minute as he came across to deny Waldron a clear run at goal after the former Rushall man was played into space to the left-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area

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Alvechurch's first corner of the game a minute later was cleared by the Pitmen, with Luke Rowe sending the lively Cuff away down the left wing. The former Stafford man jinked his way into the box but was denied but some forceful defending from Jed Abbey

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Abbey turned provider for Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton in the eighth minute as his pass sent the striker scampering away behind Ison, only to drag his low shot well wide of Tiernan Brooks' near post from sixteen yards out

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The Pitmen went closest to taking the lead sixty seconds later as Portman and Parker worked the ball well down the left before playing Cuff in on the left-hand corner of the penalty area; the winger tricked his way past Brad Burton before unleashing a low angled drive that was parried away at his near post by Jezeph

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The visitors went even closer to opening the scoring in the eleventh minute after Riley O'Sullivan had earned them a free-kick thirty yards from goal courtesy of a foul on him by Burton. Kyle Bennett's free-kick was headed into the path of Bailey by Waldron, with the centre-back's first-time shot coming back off the underside of the crossbar before Alvechurch frantically cleared their lines

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An attempted tackle on Skeen-Hamilton by Bailey two minutes later saw the ball run kindly to Abbey, who had made a move forwards down the right. His shot from long-range lacked power, however, and was easily saved by the on-loan Brooks

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Cuff was playing well, linking up with Portman at every opportunity and causing the home side problems with his running. His forceful running earned the Pitmen another corner kick on fifteen minutes, which Parker took quickly and played out to Portman - his lay-off was whipped in by Rowe and aimed at Bailey, who just couldn't get his head to the ball at the far post as Willets saw the danger out

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Lita had worked hard up front on his own against Willets and Ash Carter to little reward so far, with the veteran doing well to break down the right on sixteen minutes and pull the ball back towards the incoming Parker, only for Abbey to come across and clear the ball

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Cuff created another great opening for the Pitmen a minute later, breaking down the left and skipping past Burton before pulling the ball back across the face of goal, where neither Lita nor O'Sullivan could apply the finish

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In the twentieth minute of a busy opening period, another short corner from Parker was rolled into the path of the impressive Portman, who in turn found Bennett on the edge of the penalty area. The forward's curling shot lacked precision, however, and his effort arced high over Jezeph's crossbar

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There was a long break in play midway through the first half as Williams required a lengthy bout of treatment after a coming-together with O'Sullivan just inside the Alvechurch half

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Play opened up for O'Sullivan three minutes later as he made a darting run in from the right flank but saw his angled drive from range deflected behind for a Hednesford corner kick

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Neat play from the Pitmen on the half-hour mark saw Portman, Bennett and Cuff all link up down the left, with Cuff once again escaping the attentions of no fewer than three Alvechurch players before he chipped a cross into the path of O'Sullivan, who was denied by Abbey

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Skeen-Hamilton picked up the game's first booking on thirty-two minutes as he was cautioned by referee Mr Scott for deliberately obstructing Brooks as he looked to take a quick free-kick

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More wing wizardry from Cuff two minutes later saw him leave Williams on the floor and cross for Lita once more, only for the ball to be a little too far behind the striker, who had to readjust his body and could only head wide of goal

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Williams finally had to admit defeat on the injury he had picked up earlier in the half and was forced off on thirty-seven minutes as he was replaced by Maxwell Itota

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O'Sullivan looked to take advantage of some slack defending from Willets on thirty-nine minutes as he charged down the Alvechurch skipper's clearance, but could not take advantage as the ball ran kindly to Carter to complete the clearance

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Alvechurch's one moment of quality in the final third saw them take the lead against the run of play on forty-three minutes as Abbey picked up a pass from Waldron down the left turning past Rowe and Birch and picking out Ethan Sephton, who in turn fed Jack Concannon out on the wing; the former Tamworth man returned the ball to Sephton, who had continued his run into the penalty area and fired a low shot beyond Brooks and into the corner of the net from twelve yards out

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The hosts could have doubled their lead right on half-time as Carter's long, searching ball down the left found Waldron darg into space in behind the Hednesford defence. Just as the striker looked to shoot, he was denied by a timely interception from Birch, who managed to slide in and turn the ball behind for a corner kick

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From the resultant corner, the Pitmen could only clear their lines as far as Concannon, who stretched to meet the ball but could only head it wide of Brooks's far post

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It had been another one of those frustrating halves for the Pitmen, who had yet again seen plenty of the ball but found themselves chasing the game, much in the way as their trips to Mickleover and Stratford Town this term. Cuff and Portman had looked dangerous on the left flank for the visitors and appeared to be their best bet to get back into proceedings at the start of the second half

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There was a delay to the restart of the game as one of the floodlight pylons in the far corner of the ground failed to come on at the start of the second half, prompting frantic efforts from the groundstaff to fire up the errant pylon so that the game could recommence

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The away side once again started the half on the front foot, forcing three successive throw-ins within a minute of the game restarting, only for Lita to be adjudged to have been offside for Portman's final throw into the box

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O'Sullivan - still being deployed in an unfamiliar right-wing role under the new manager - was played into space behind Abbey on forty-eight minutes after neat build-up play involving Parker and Bennett, only for the big, physical presence of Carter to shut the door on the move as he came across to take the ball off the forward before he could shoot

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Brooks made a fine double save to keep his side in contention on fifty minutes after good play from Sephton saw him take Concannon's slide-rule pass into the penalty area down the left and skip past Birch before forcing the Notts County loanee into a save with his legs down by his near post. The ball ran to Concannon, whose follow-up effort from the edge of the penalty area was pushed away by Brooks down to his right-hand side

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The ineffective Rowe somehow managed to avoid a booking on fifty-two minutes as a quick break from Church down the right saw Waldron momentarily get away from the young midfielder, who blatantly pulled the striker's shirt to hold him back. Despite this, Rowe was allowed to walk away from the challenge with only a warning from Mr Scott as the hosts were awarded a free-kick thirty yards from goal, much to the disdain of the Alvechurch players

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Waldron was thoroughly enjoying his battle with old foe Bailey as the pair clashed for the umpteenth time in the game a minute later; the Hednesford defender came out on top on this occasion as he was held back by the striker and a free-kick was awarded. The already-booked Skeen-Hamilton made his thoughts clear to Mr Scott and was warned about his conduct by the official, who also called skipper Willets across to have a word with his team-mate

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Birch was having a good game on his Hednesford debut, linking up well with O'Sullivan down the right on the overlap to take the ball to the byeline; however, he led onto it a little too long as he decided on his options and allowed Sephton and Waldron to double up on him and take the ball away

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Skeen-Hamilton went agonisingly close to doubling Alvechurch's lead just before the hour mark as he was played into the penalty area by Concannon's first-time pass but saw his rising shot from fifteen yards out come back off the crossbar. Play continued with Cuff's attempted ball up to Lita being cut out by Willtes, who overran the ball and clattered into Portman right in front of the two benches with a high, late challenge that left Portman flat out on the turf. Mr Scott had no doubt in his mind that Willets' challenge was worthy of a straight red card and sent the Church captain off

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The hosts made a swift change of personnel to counter going down to ten men as the more defensive-minded Cassidy came on in place of Concannon to plug the gap in the Church back line

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Once Portman had finally got back to his feet, Rowe took the free kick but floated it straight into the arms of Jezeph. It's been mentioned before, but Hednesford's set-pieces so far this season have been absolutely woeful in the main

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The Pitmen looked to take advantage of their extra man, with Cuff going close to an equaliser just three minutes later as Bennett chested down a Portman pass into the path of the winger, whose final touch was a little too heavy as he entered the penalty area and allowed Jezeph to smother the ball in front of him

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With Alvechurch closing ranks and the Pitmen struggling for inspiration in the final third, the game became very scrappy and lacking in fluidity from this point onwards. Chances were few and far between as the men in sky blue once again showed their lack of confidence with another plodding display

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A long throw from Ison midway through the half was flicked on by O'Sullivan and into the path of Lita, who looked to have held off a challenge from Carter until a late flag on the far side pulled the play back for the foul

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New player/coach Lita was continuing to work hard for the Pitmen, charging down a clearance from Jezeph on sixty-eight minutes but being pulled back for an earlier offside flag against him in the build-up

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Before play could restart, the Pitmen made their first change of the evening as Birch's debut was brought to an end with Cameron Ebbutt coming on in his place; this saw the Pitmen move to a 3-5-2 formation with Ebbutt playing further forwards down the right and O'Sullivan partnering Lita up front

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Portman had been carrying a limp ever since Willets' red-card-worthy challenge on him, with the youngster once again requiring treatment from sports therapist Shannon Kincade on seventy-three minutes. This was enough for the Pitmen to make the call and take the teenager off, replacing him with Martin Riley for the remainder of the game

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Two minutes later, the Pitmen made their final change of the evening as defensive midfielder Sam Wilding came on in place of Bennett, who had once again flattered to deceive in front of his new boss

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Abbey had to be alert to deny Lita a clear sight of goal on seventy-seven minutes, hacking the ball clear after Ison had punted the ball deep into the Alvechurch penalty area

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A minute later, O'Sullivan felt that he had a legitimate shout for a penalty kick as Rowe picked up a half-cleared Cuff cross in midfield and fed the striker, whose quick turn just inside the penalty area saw him clash with Burton and end up on the deck. Mr Scott took a look at the incident but allowed play to continue, despite the Pitmen's pleas

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A slack pass from Bailey on eighty-one minutes was seized upon by Waldron, whose run into the Hednesford penalty area down the left was cut off by Ison, who came across to block the shot and clear his lines

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The Pitmen's luckless evening was summed up somewhat by Cuff with five minutes remaining as the Pitmen were awarded a free-kick in a promising position after O'Sullivan was fouled just outside the Alvechurch penalty area. The winger - scorer of some memorable free-kicks in pre-season - lifted his effort high and wide of goal and into the car park, prompting many of the tiny 175-strong crowd to heckle the winger for his wayward effort

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Alvechurch looked to have seen off the Hednesford attack and actually finished the game the stronger, going close to extending their lead a couple of times late on. On eighty-eight minutes, Waldron raced onto a fine pass from Abbey in behind the Hednesford defence, only for a late offside flag to deny him a shot at goal

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In the first of six minutes of added time, Burton was the final player of the evening to be shown a yellow card as he was booked by Mr Scott for time-wasting with Alvechurch looking to run the clock down

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Another quick break from the hosts in the final minute of added time saw the big, powerful substitute Itota drive forwards from midfield before having his progress checked by Ison. The ball ran to Abbey, who exchanged passes with Waldron before playing substitute Emmanuel Olaloko into space, with his low driven shot beaten away by Brooks at his near post. Itota had continued his run into the box and picked up the rebound but lashed his shot high over the crossbar from six yards out

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All in all, a sobering first ninety minutes for the new boss, who will be fully aware of the job in from of him on the strength of tonight's performance as the Pitmen once again struggled to create openings against another big, strong, organised group of players. Burr has the luxury of ten days between games now as the Pitmen are not due to take the field again until a week Saturday when they travel to title favourites Coalville Town. Expect many changes between now and then as the new man at the helm looks to arrest the Pitmen's dreadful form and keep them in touch with the sides directly above them in the Southern Premier League Central table

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Alvechurch: Jezeph, Burton ▆, Abbey, Willets © ▆ (60), Carter, Abbey, Sephton, Williams (Itota 37), Edge, Concannon (Cassidy 61), Waldron, Skeen-Hamilton ▆ (Olaloko 90)      Subs Unused: Teixeira, Brown

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Hednesford Town: Brooks, Birch (Ebbutt 68), Portman (Riley 74), Bailey, Ison ©, Rowe, O'Sullivan, Parker ©, Lita, Bennett (Wilding 76), Cuff      Subs Unused: Hirst, Clayton

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