New-look Hednesford got their pre-season programme off to a flying start this afternoon as they showed plenty of ruthlessness in front of goal to put local rivals Chasetown to the sword at the Scholars Ground

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A huge summer of change for the club, both on and off the pitch, had seen the newly-promoted Pitmen become a professional football club for the first time in its history and recruited no fewer than thirteen full-time players off the back of this decision ahead of their National League North campaign. There were nine debuts in the starting XI and a further five at the half-time break when manager Kelvin Davis made wholesale changes to his side

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Chasetown - looking for an improvement this season on a very disappointing tenth-place finish in the Northern Premier League West last term - had also made plenty of new additions under new manager Carl Dickinson as they looked to a play-off push at step four; former Hednesford defender Ethan Patterson, Kev Monteiro, Leo Latter, Kyle Moseley, Logan Cousins, the vastly experienced Dan Bradley and Tak Sambizi had all joined the club in the close season to add to their experienced ranks

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It was a beautifully hot and sunny early summer afternoon that greeted both sets of players and supporters, with the Pitmen travelling in huge numbers as nearly 1,000 made the short hop across to Burntwood to swell the crowd to over 1,100

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A neat, controlled start from the men in white saw them force early successive corners, with Omari Stering-James delivering a fine ball into the near post in the fifth minute that was powerfully headed home by Niall Maher, who arrived in the six-yard box unchallenged to power his effort beyond Curtis Pond

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Chasetown looked to respond through the hard running of Monteiro, who was played into space behind Maher in the ninth minute, only for some excellent clearing up by Aaron Harper-Bailey to come across and clear the danger

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Lenni Cirino had been the pick of the visitors' new faces in the early exchanges, finding acres of space down the left flank to deliver some dangerous balls in. His run and cross in the eleventh minute looked to pick out Dylan Mottley-Henry at the far post, only for the former Chester man to just fail to reach the ball as it skipped past him

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Chasetown had failed to heed the warnings from Maher's early goal and switched off once more as the former Eastleigh man grabbed his second of the game in identical circumstances in the sixteenth minute; another Sterling-James corner from the left was once again aimed at the head of the defender, who again got a run on the Chasetown defence to powerfully head past Pond at his near post once more and double the Pitmen's lead

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Jack Langston looked to respond for the hosts seconds after the restart, turning on the ball on the edge of the penalty area and striking a low shot at goal that Sam Hornby held down to his right-hand side

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After the obligatory hydration break midway through the half, Chasetown went closest to pulling a goal back through triallist A, whose shot from the edge of the area skipped just wide of the post after ex-Hednesford captain Tom Thorley had found him on the edge of the penalty area with a free-kick

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Some excellent link-up play involving Dan Turner and Cirino opened up the Chasetown defence once more on thirty-one minutes, with Cirino dancing into the box and pulling the ball back into the six-yard box, where striker Jarvis was on hand to sidefoot the ball home from close range with a confident finish

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The visitors looked to force home another goal four minutes later as a free-kick into the box from skipper Dale Gorman dropped at the feet of Turner, who couldn't get his shot away and allowed the Scholars to clear their lines eventually

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Sterling-James tried his luck with a free-kick from twenty-five yards out a minute later, clipping the wall with his shot and forcing Pond into a save down to his right to hand the Pitmen another corner kick

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It had been a very impressive and authoritative first period from the Pitmen, who had looked composed on the ball and a real threat in attack, all whilst working hard off the ball to nullify the Chasetown attacking threat. Davis made no fewer than nine changes at the break as he looked to give minytes ot all of the members of his squad that were fit and available; George Williams, Jamie Morgan, Jacob Gwilt and Joel Taylor were all missing and will look to get minutes on the pitch in the forthcoming friendly games

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Langston looked to get the second half off to flyer for the hosts as he drove into the Hednesford penalty area on forty-seven minutes but lifted his looping effort over the crossbar as Harper-Bailey shut him down

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The hugely exciting Jay Fitzmartin - one of the half-time changes - created an opening for Jamie Cooke two minutes later as his free-kick on the left-hand edge of the Chasetown box picked out the former FC Halifax Town man at the far post, only for Cooke's header to drift just wide of the woodwork

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Pond was involved again for the hosts on fifty-one minutes, making a comfortable save to deny Ahkeem Rose as the striker got on the end of a Fitzmartin cross from the left and turned the ball towards goal, only to scuff his close-range effort straight at the former Hereford stopper

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The busy, bustling Cooke had started the second half well, pressurising the Chasetown defence and working incredibly hard off the ball. He got his reward with a first-ever Hednesford goal on fifty-nine minutes as Fitzmartin's cross was driven goalwards by Rose, taking a couple of deflections before eventually being turned into the net by Cooke six yards from goal

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Another hydration break was required shortly after the hour mark as the energy-sapping thirty-two degree heat slowed the game to walking pace at times and disrupted its flow

 

Fitzmartin continued to impress down the left for the Pitmen, making several excellent runs down the flank as he continually led the Chasetown defence a merry dance. He looked to create another opening for Cooke on seventy-three minutes as he clipped a cross to the far post, where Cooke headed wide from eight yards out

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A minute later, Monteiro tried his luck with a volleyed effort at goal from just inside the Hednesford penalty area that flashed inches wide of Xander Parke's left-hand post

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With Chasetown tiring and the Pitmen's full-time training and fitness starting to show, the visitors put a gloss finish on a good performance with a couple of late strikes. The hard-running Rose turned creator for Cooke on seventy-nine minutes, making a powerful run into the box down the left before pulling the ball back into the path of the new signing, who finished with aplomb from close range for his second goal of the afternoon

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With four minutes remaining, Mabbley got his name on the scoresheet with a fine individual goal as he was played clean through on goal, taking the ball around the despairing dive of Pond before slotting the ball into the empty net to wrap up the scoring

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A fine opening pre-season afternoon for the Pitmen, who had got good minutes into most of the squad whilst sharpening up their shooting with a ruthless display in front of goal. There had been some impressive standout performances from some of the new faces, with the likes of Cirino, Gorman, Maher and Cooke all showing their quality in spells throughout the game. Attention now switches to Warwickshire on Tuesday night when the Pitmen travel to  former Southern Premier League Central rivals Stratford Town, looking for more minutes and a continuation of their goalfest from today, before next Saturday's big return to Keys Park when they face National League neighbours Solihull Moors

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Hednesford Town: Hornby (Parke 45), Mottley-Henry (Teesdale 45), Cirino (Fitzmartin 45), Lomax (Hayden 45), Maher (Kinsella 45), Harper-Bailey, Gorman © (Sharples 45), Curran-Nicholls, Jarvis (Cooke 45), Sterling-James (Mabbley 45), Turner (Rose 45)

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