Hednesford Town

Cooke (48)

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Connah's Quay Nomads

Mehasseb (90+4)

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755

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Jamie Cooke

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W D L D D

 

Boston United (H) 1.8.26

The Pitmen are held to their second home draw in a week this afternoon as a late, late equaliser from Connah's Quay Nomads denies the ten-man hosts victory

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With the National League North season starting to loom on the horizon in a fortnight, Hednesford manager Kelvin Davis named a strong starting XI to start today's friendly, although he was without key first-teamers Liam Kinsella, Jamie Morgan, Joel Taylor, Aaron Hayden, George Williams and Jay Fitzmartin for selection today. There was some good news on the selection front however, as Aaron Jarvis came back into the side after missing the past three games, whilst George Langston was named amongst the substitutes in his first pre-season outing

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Connah's Quay arrived at Keys Park off the back of a short, but eventful, Europa Conference League campaign that had seen them beaten over two legs by Kosovan side Balkani; manager John Disney - a former Hednesford favourite from back in the Northern Premier League days of 2012 - took the opportunity mix up his numbers for today's trip to Staffordshire with several triallists in the Reds ranks for Disney to take a look at

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Jamie Cooke looked to make an immediate impact on the game with just twenty seconds on the clock, racing clean through on goal after a knock-down from Dylan-Mottley-Henry, forcing former Southport goalkeeper Chris Renshaw into a smothering save down low to his left to turn the shot away at his near post with his legs

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It proved to be something of a chess match in the opening stages, with both defences on top and a distinct lack of creativity from both sides in the final third. Mottley-Henry looked to get going down the right as he exchanged passes with Gorman on eleven minutes, but saw his cross into the box cut out

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Cooke was involved again in the fifteenth minute after Lenni Cirino had won a bouncing ball in midfield and played the forward into space down the left, with Cooke's cross-cum-shot drifting over the head of Renshaw and out of play on the far side

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On twenty-two minutes, Mottley-Henry's wonderful cross from the right flank was headed down by Jarvis to Cooke, whose first-time effort on a sixpence was pushed away by Renshaw before Ahkeem Rose's follow-up shot was deflected wide 

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Four minutes later, a corner kick from Callum West was headed back across goal by Harry Franklin to triallist A, who shanked his first-time effort over the crossbar from twelve yards out

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On the hour mark, Aaron Harper-Bailey sent Rose away into the left inside-forward position with a lofted pass, wth the striker looking to weave inside and get a shot away, only to be denied by some keen defending from Joe Ferguson to turn it behind for a corner kick

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Mottley-Henry looked to be the Pitmen's best option to break down the stubborn Nomads defence in the first half, making another powerful run down the flank on thirty-seven minutes and sending over a deep cross that had just a little too much on it for the likes of Jarvis and Rose at the far post

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With two minutes of the first half remaining, Nomads broke quickly down the right as Ferguson played Franklin in on goal with a slide-rule pass; however, the former Hereford man was deemed offside by the assistant on the main stand side and play was pulled back before he could get his shot away

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It certainly hadn't been a half for the purists, with both sides struggling to create much at either end and neither goalkeeper really having to do anything as yet. Nomads made a triple change at the break as Freddie Redshaw, Hussien Mehasseb and Abdi Sharif came on for Ferguson, Mikey Stone and West

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The Pitmen were rewarded for a bright and industrious start ot the second half as Cooke added another goal to his pre-season tally with the game's opening strike on forty-eight minutes. Rose did brilliantly to steal the ball from a dawdling Frankie Deane in midfield and drove into the Connah's Quay half before squaring the ball to Cooke, whose initial shot forced a good save out of Renshaw. The loose ball ran kindly for the forward, who had the simple task of following the ball in and tapping home the rebound from close-range

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That rarest of things in a pre-season friendly - a red card - was brandished in the direction of Cirino on fifty-one minutes as the left-back was rightly dismissed for a late and reckless challenge on Mehasseb in midfield that left the Connah's Quay man requiring attention

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Cirino's red card prompted a positional shift for the Pitmen to cover, with Sharples moving to left-back temporarily to fill alongside Harper-Bailey. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Pitmen dealt well with the limited threat posed by the Connah's Quay attack, although the tall and rangy Mehasseb offered something different as a target man for what was a rather diminutive Reds side in some places

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Jarvis's race was run in fifty-eight minutes as the striker was brought off and replaced by Omari Sterling-James - this saw Cooke moved into the centre-forward position alongside Rose to allow Sterling-James to probe just behind the forward line

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Midway through the second half, Langston was finally given some much-needed pre-season game time as the former Braintree Town and Eastleigh defender came on in place of Sharples, prompting another shift in positions for some of the Hednesford defenders

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Three more changes for the visitors on seventy minutes saw triallist B replace Renshaw in goal, the hugely experienced striker Darren Stephenson come on for Deane and triallist C replace Murray in midfield

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Sterling-James tried his luck with a curling effort at goal on seventy-three minutes as Dale Gorman's free-kick into the box was cleared as far as the playmaker, standing just to the left of the Connah's Quay penalty area. His right-footed curling effort beat Renshaw but dipped just wide of the far post

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The Pitmen's final change of the afternoon came with thirteen minutes remaining as the willing running of Dan Turner came on up front in place of goalscorer Cooke

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Turner did brilliantly to create an opening for the hosts three minutes after coming on as he jinked his way past Redshaw down the left flank, driving into the box along the left touchline before looking to pull the ball back to Sterling-James, only to be denied by skipper Jamie Jones's clearance

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Langston did well to deny Mehasseb a tap-in at the near post on eighty-two minutes, diverting a low cross from Alex Hughes over his own crossbar for a corner kick after the young defender had pulled the ball back from the right-hand touchline

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Some late pressure on the Hednesford back line saw Sam Hornby called into action for the first time in the afternoon on eighty-eight minutes, pushing away a rasping long-range effort from Conor Partridge after the ball had moved in the blustery wind en route to goal

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With the Pitmen looking to hold on to their slender lead in added time, the visitors finally found a way through with the last action of the afternoon as a speculative long-range effort from Max Woodcock bounced awkwardly in front of Hornby, who could only parry the ball back into play and into the path of Mehasseb, whose effort took a huge deflection off Langston and dribbled into the net from a couple of yards out. A scrappy goal to concede, so late in the game and one that the Pitmen will not want to watch back later on

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A good workout between two fairly evenly-matched sides, although once again there were questions on the terraces about the Pitmen's lack of quality and threat in the final third, particularly in the first period. Only one game remains in this pre-season schedule for the Pitmen, who host National League side Boston United at Keys Park next weekend before the real business starts at Merthyr Town in two weeks' time

Hednesford Town: Hornby, Harper-Bailey, Maher, Curran-Nicholls, Cirino ▆ (51), Gorman ©, Sharples (Langston 66), Mottley-Henry, Rose, Cooke (Turner 77), Jarvis (Sterling-James 58)   Subs unused: Brown, Mabbley, Teesdale
 
Connah's Quay Nomads: Renshaw (Triallist B 70), Ferguson (Redshaw 45), Hughes, Jones ©, Triallist A, Stone (Mehasseb 45), Deane (Stephenson 70), Murray (Triallist C 70), Woodcock, West (Sharif 45), Franklin (Partridge 70)

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