​The Pitmen ease their way into the second qualifying round of this season's F.A. Cup as they beat Northern Premier League Midland side Basford United at Keys Park this afternoon

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Having had their progress checked in recent games following a strong start to the new league season, Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren was able to bring back several big names for today's cup clash after being without them due to injury; Elliott Johnson and Nathan Blissett were both passed fit to take their place amongst the substtutes, although Joe Doyle-Charles remained absent as the only unavailable player in the squad. In the starting XI, there was one change to the side that had started Monday's 1-1 draw with Rushall as Dom McHale replaced Dan Turner

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Basford - relegated from step three to step four in the summer - had made an unbeaten start to their campaign, sitting in eighth place in the table as they took a break from league duties. Manager Willis Francis made three changes to his Ambers side for their first visit to Keys Park in six years as Dameer Rose, Finlay Armond and Wayde Hines replaced Cormac Maher, Callum Cocks and Jack Goodman. However, Francis could only name three substitutes for the game as Goodman, Lynden Joyce, Cocks, Maher, Dave Chapman, Tyreace Palmer and Tyler Dacres were all missing due to various injuries/suspensions/ineligibilities

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On a drizzly late August afternoon, the Pitmen looked to make all of the early running as Jamie Morgan and McHale linked up down the right wing, with McHale stepping past Louis Nicholson and Connor Dimaio before being dispossessed by Dimaio at the second attempt before he could get his shot away on the edge of the Basford penalty area

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Joel Taylor looked to make ground for the hosts down the opposite wing in the fifth minute, showing Basford right-back Eli Christie a clean pair of heels as he breezed past the defender and drove in a low cross from the byeline that was turned behind by Ethan Stewart of a Hednesford corner kick

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Ahkeem Rose had also started strongly, giving the Basford defence very little time and space with his constant harassment of the centre-backs. The former Grimsby Town striker opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a goal that was an almost carbon copy of the one he scored against Rushall on Bank Holiday Monday; Taylor was the creator, taking Jake Jervis's pass on down the left and brilliantly cutting it back across the face of goal with a low, driven ball back into the six yard box that Rose gleefully sidefooted home from four yards out

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Their early opening goal settled the Pitmen down, with the hosts reverting to a familiar controlled possession game that saw them stroke the ball around at the back for long periods of the first half. A long, raking ball forward from Kieron Freeman in the twelfth minute looked to play Taylor in down the left, only for a late and tight offside flag to pull the play back before Taylor could take the ball into the penalty area

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Another tight offside call pulled the hosts back once more in the sixteenth minute as Morgan and McHale combined to play Ahkeem Rose through on goal, but again the assistant on the Wimblebury side flagged the striker as being offside in the build-up

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Basford were really struggling to make a mark on the game thus far, being limited to generous refereeing decisions and set-pieces to get themselves further up the field. A corner kick floated in by skipper Henri Wilder on nineteen minutes was flicked on at the near post and towards Jordan Hallam, only for the striker to commit a foul on Wynter by pulling his shirt in the build-up

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Basford goalkeeper Matt Yates - a summer signing from Ilkeston Town - made his first save of the afternoon midway through the first half as he claimed McHale's low effort down to his left after the playmaker had picked up a loose ball just outside the Basford penalty area and unleashed a low driven effort at goal

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Nicholson picked the game's first booking of the afternoon on twenty-four minutes as he was shown a yellow card by referee Mr Gudger for a foul on McHale out on the Hednesford right. Chris Hussey came across to take the resultant free-kick and floated in a ball to the far post that was just too high for Jervis to make contact with at the far post, drifting out of play on the far side of the pitch

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Morgan was the latest player to be left frustrated by the assistant's offside flag three minutes later as the right-back was pulled up for another marginal call after an exchange between him and Ahkeem Rose just outside the Basford penalty area

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Jervis was narrowly off target for the hosts just before the half-hour mark, making a powerful run at goal inside from the left flank before driving in a low  angled shot at goal that flashed just past Yates's right-hand post

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More excellent play from Morgan on thirty-four minutes saw the right-back break into the Basford penalty area from McHale's ball, pulling it across goal and forcing Christie into putting it behind for a corner kick as Jervis threatened. Freeman's corner kick was absolutely begging to be turned home by anyone in a white shirt, but somehow his ball in ended evading everyone inside the six-yard box before going out for a throw-in on the far side of the pitch

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A quick and incisive piece of play from the home side on thirty-nine minutes saw Dan Trickett-Smith and Freeman link up to play Taylor in on goal ahead of Christie; his attempted shot appeared to strike the hand of the Basford defender which prompted muted calls for a penalty, only for a corner kick to be awarded by Mr Gudger

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A bustling run from Ahkeem Rose on forty-two minutes saw him burst into the penalty area, striking a low shot at goal that was deflected behind for another Hednesford corner kick. Hussey delivered another fine ball into the box that was aimed at Wynter, who was denied by a clearance by Dimaio

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The Pitmen had absolutely dominated the first forty-five minutes of action, taking an early lead but had once again simply sat on their solitary goal rather than pressed for a killer second one. This had kept Basford in contention going into the second half, with Francis sending his side out on the front foot at the restart; Dameer Rose made progress down the right two minutes after the restart and crossed for Hallam, whose weak effort was easily claimed by Tony Breeden

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However, a moment of madness from veteran Breeden was to cost the Pitmen dearly just three minutes later; a long, raking ball forward from Stewart towards Hallam saw Breeden race out of his goal to meet the striker as he looked to run the ball over the byeline. Hallam persisted with the battle and picked the pocket of the stopper, outmuscling Breeden before brilliantly lobbing the backtracking stopper from a tight angle and finding the back of the Hednesford net to equalise in bizarre circumstances

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Looking to get themselves back in front after conceding such a sloppy and unnecessary goal, the Pitmen pressed the Basford goal heavily in the next few moments, winning successive corner kicks on the left through Jervis and Taylor. Ahkeem Rose thought that he had grabbed his second goal of the afternoon on fifty-five minutes as he broke into the box and fired past Yates from an angle, only for a foul committed by Jervis in the build-up pulling play back 

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Two minutes later, Ahkeem Rose felt that his shot from just inside the penalty area had struck the arm of the covering Dimaio, only for Mr Gudger to gesture that it had hit the former Stockport County man's midriff

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Taylor had offered the Pitmen some real width on the left, making several barnstorming runs and sending over a succession of good balls into the box. One such ball in on fifty-nine minutes was met by the head of Jervis, whose glancing effort fell wide of the post

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Morgan picked up the Pitmen's first booking of the afternoon just after the hour mark as the Hednesford right-back was shown a yellow card for a foul on Kieran Cummings

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Basford were reduced to ten men on sixty-five minutes as Nicholson was handed his second yellow card of the afternoon from Mr Gudger; McHale took the ball down the right flank and got past the left-back, with Nicholson blatantly pulling McHale's shirt back to impede him, leaving the match official with little choice but to send the defender off

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The Pitmen made an immediate change of personnel before the game could restart, with the giant figure of Nathan Blissett sent on by the hosts as he replaced Labadie. This prompted a positional change for the Pitmne as they went with two up top, with Trickett-Smith dropping a little deeper

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The Pitmen wasted little time in taking full advantage of their opponents going down to ten men as they took the lead once more on sixty-nine minutes; a Hussey corner kick from the left was headed back to him by the Basford defence, with the veteran's deep return ball turned goalwards by Ahkeem Rose at the far post, hitting the crossbar and dropping just over the line before Basford could clear. Before Mr Gudger could award the goal, Wynter made absolutely sure as he forced the rebound home at the second attempt. Despite Rose initially being handed the goal, Wynter was eventually credited with his first-ever goal for the club after the game

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This seemed to knock the stuffing out of Basford, who were very much looking to cling onto a draw and take the Pitmen back to Greenwich Avenue on Tuesday night for a replay. The game reverted to its first half form, with the hosts again dominating possession for long periods as they forced their step four visitors to chase the ball down. Hussey made one of his patented driving runs out of defence on seventy-four minutes, taking the ball past three Basford players in a thirty-yard run that culminated in a scuffed low shot at goal from twenty yards out that was easily fielded by Yates

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Ahkeem Rose was looking to get himself on the scoresheet again and attempted to do so in spectacular circumstances on seventy-six minutes as he got on the end of another Taylor cross from the left, trying his luck with an overhead kick from twelve yards out that was off-target and flew well wide of Yates's left-hand post

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Hurren could now afford to make more personnel changes to his side, bringing Turner on to add his pace and trickery to the forward line on seventy-nine minutes as he replaced Jervis on the left

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Turner - still somehow looking for his first goal since returning to the club - went close to adding to the Pitmen's tally with his first involvement on eighty-one minutes as some superb footwork from the former Port Vale striker saw him trick his way past two players as he drifted in from the flank, driving in a low shot that was slightly miscued and ended up just wide of the far post

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Two minutes later, Ahkeem Rose was played clean through on goal by Morgan's long ball, drawing Yates out of his goal but making it easy for the stopper as his shot was straight at the advancing stopper. The ball ran to the incoming Turner, who somehow skewed his rebound inches wide of goal with a rushed effort from an angle

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Trickett-Smith finally put the game to bed as he picked up his first goal of the season on eighty-seven minutes - and what a goal it was too. Receiving the ball in midfield and with the Basford defence dropping off him, Trickett-Smith took the ball into acres of space before unleashing an unstoppable effort from twenty-five yards out that flew past the despairing dive of Yates and nestled in the far corner of the net. A superb strike

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Turner's luck in front of goal continued to elude him, as the substitute once again fired wide for the Pitmen on eighty-nine minutes after once again creating a chance out of nothing for himself, beating two players with his pace down the left before drilling in a low shot that was wide of the near post

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Basford made their one and only change of the afternoon as the game moved into added time, with youth team player Taylan Cevirir coming on in place of Hines

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McHale could also have added a late goal to the Pitmen's tally in added time as Hussey made a run down the left and pulled the ball back from the byline and into the path of the Magic Man, whose first-time effort from the edge of the box beat Yates but also drifted inches wide of the stopper's left-hand post

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It had been another largely dominant display from the Pitmen, who deservedly took their place in Monday's second qualifying round draw against a Basford side that had offered very little in the final third of the pitch. However, not for the first time this season, the Pitmen had yet again been found out for playing too pedestrian a game and had not been anywhere near ruthless enough in front of goal, allowing the opposition to get a foothold back into a game that they had no right to do so. Attention switches back to the Northern Premier League at the weekend, as the Pitmen make the short trip up the M6 to make a first-ever trip to in-form Warrington Rylands

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Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan ▆, Taylor ▆, Freeman, Wynter, Hussey, Trickett-Smith, Labadie © (Blissett 66), A. Rose, McHale, Jervis (Turner 79)   Subs unused: R. Brown, Edwards, Harrison, Johnson, Maye

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Basford United: Yates, Christie, Nicholson ▆▆ (65), Dimaio ▆, Stewart, Wilder © ▆, D. Rose, Armond, Hines (Cevirir 90), Hallam, Cummings       Subs unused: L. Brown, Deeney

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