The Pitmen extend their lead at the top of the Northern Premier League table this afternoon as they are held to a draw by an impressive FC United of Manchester side in front of a record Keys Park crowd

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Having extended their unbeaten run to nine games last week at Warrington Town, manager Gavin Hurrenfaced the prospect of being without key man Joe Doyle-Charles for an extended spell after the experienced midfielder picked up a serious knee injury last weekend. Joss Labadie came back in to replace Doyle-Charles in the first of two changes, with Dom McHale also returning to the starting XI as he replaced Ahkeem Rose

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Third-placed FC United - making their first trip to Keys Park since 2015 - had been in mixed form in the past five games, having beaten Lancaster City 2-1 last weekend to remain in the title hunt, sitting five points off top spot with two games in hand. Manager Mark Beesley - a former Hednesford player from back in the 2011-2012 season under Rob Smith - made two changes to his Reds side from the one that had started against Lancaster as Matty Thomson replaced Adam Sudworth at full-back and Jay Fitzmartin was preferred to Jordan Buckley up front. The Hednesford connections continued on the pitch with two more ex-Pitmen in the FC United starting line-up, with centre-back Rudy Misambo and playmaker Paul Ennis both lining up against their former club

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With a lot of history between the two sides and plenty at stake in the race for the title, it perhaps came as little surprise that the game was a complete sell-out, with a new record Keys Park crowd of just shy of 4,800 crammed into the ground for today's clash. Joel Taylor - man of the match at Warrington Town last time out - made a forceful run into the FC United penalty area in the fourth minute, taking on Thomson and crossing low into the box, where visiting goalkeeper Dan Atherton was alert to the danger and smothered the ball ahead of the incoming Montel Gibson

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Gibson was involved once more for the Pitmen in the eighth minute, getting on the end of a pass from Dan Trickett-Smith and taking the ball into the box before being forced wide of goal by Misambo, culminating in the striker firing high and wide of Atherton's goal with a wild effort

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FC United were happy to play the ball to feet and retain possession without really making any inroads into the Hednesford third of the pitch. The experienced Ennis was their main link man, spraying balls all over the park from his central role. His corner kick on nine minutes was swung into the box and punched unconvincingly clear by Tony Breeden, requiring a further clearance from Labadie to clear the danger as the ball dropped towards Ruben Grewal

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Ennis tested Breeden's reflexes three minutes later as a deep free-kick from Thomson on the halfway line was headed out to the midfielder by Chris Hussey, with Ennis striking a crisp first-time shot at goal from twenty-five yards out that forced the veteran stopper into pushing the shot over the crossbar

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Good build-up play from the Pitmen on fourteen minutes saw Max Sheaf play the ball out to Taylor on the left, with his probing pass spotting the run of Gibson once more; the striker nipped in ahead of Misambo to get goal side of the defender, but was pulled back by the assistant on the Wimblebury side of the ground for straying into an offside position

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The game's first booking was handed to FC United midfielder Matt Grivosti in the eighteenth minute, as the former Warrington Town man was rightly shown a yellow card by referee Mr Durno for a firm and clumsy challenge on Labadie in the centre circle

 

The Pitmen's first real sight at goal was handed to Gibson on twenty-one minutes as the striker once again used his pace to good effect, racing onto Sheaf's long ball forward and escaping the attentions of Misambo and Jan Palinkas before firing narrowly wide of Atherton's right-hand post and he looked to steer his effort into the far corner of the net from fifteen yards out

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Both defences were very much on top ruing the opening half hour of the game, giving the opposition no quarter in search of the game's opening goal. Ennis again probed for the away side on twenty-three minutes, looking to pick out veteran former Reading and Wolves striker with a clever through ball that Hussey came across and cut out, showing some neat footwork to get himself out of a tight position and clear inside his own penalty area

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Ollie Harrison was having another one of his towering displays at the back for the Pitmen, sticking to his task well to step across Grewal and take the ball away from the former Wigan Athletic striker four minutes later as he looked to turn on the ball inside the penalty area after more neat one-touch build-up play from the visitors

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Just after the half-hour mark of a cagey, chess-like game, Ennis tried his luck again from an angle as he ran onto a clever chipped pass from Grivosti, lifting his half-volley over the crossbar tight to the right-hand byeline under pressure from Trickett-Smith

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Gibson was again off target for the Pitmen two minutes later, racing onto a pass from McHale but getting his angles all wrong as he fired a low shot well wide of Atherton's left-hand post under pressure from Palinkas

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A clever effort from Labadie almost caught the FC United defence out on thirty-eight minutes as the Hednesford skipper made a move into the six-yard box unchallenged to get on the end of a low left-wing cross from Taylor, turning the ball goalwards with a clever backheel that was inches away from finding the net at Atherton's near post

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Jamie Morgan - ​amazingly, still looking for his first Hednesford goal after a year at Keys Park - saw the frame of the goal in front of him a minute later as some frenzied play from the hosts in and around the FC United penalty area saw McHale, Niall Watson and Sheaf all involved in keeping the move alive before Morgan got on the end of a clearance from Misambo, lashing his first-time effort over the crossbar from twelve yards out 

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A moment of magic from former FC United man McHale was to finally open the game up on forty-two minutes as the Magic Man scored his sixth goal of the season in typical swashbuckling McHale style; watson brought the ball inside from the left and laid it off to McHale, who took the ball on a further five yards before striking a curling effort from twenty-fve yards out that nestled in the far corner of the net, beating the despairing dive of Atherton to send Keys Park into raptures. On closer inspection, Atherton will probably feel that he should have done better with the strike, allowing the ball to bounce under him and into the net from long-range

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Back came the away side, with Ennis allowed too much time and space to turn and play in Grewal once more a minute before the break. The striker looked to pull the ball back into the path of Le Fondre, who was denied by Hussey's excellent awareness to steal the ball away from his old Championship adversary and clear

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It had been a fairly even encounter thus far, with FC United enjoying plenty of possession without really giving Breeden much to think about, whilst the Pitmen had had the game's best two chances, culminating in McHale's fine goal just before the break. You felt that FC United certainly had enough quality to get back into the game and that the hosts would most likely need another goal to feel a little more secure

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Harrison looked to use his height to good use just two minutes after the restart as he met Hussey's inswinging corner from the right with a downward header, only to be pulled up by Mr Durno for a push on Palinkas in the build-up

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The visitors were forced into a substitution just four minutes after the restart as Andre Wisdom - the former Liverpool, West Brom and Derby County player - was forced off with a knock and replaced by Michael Donohue in midfield

 

A quick break on the counter from the visitors a minute later saw Grivosti play Grewal into space, only for a late and contentious offside flag to pull play back, much to the ire of the large 600-plus away following at that end of the ground

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McHale looked to create an opening for himself three minutes later as he drifted inside from the right flank and looked to work the ball into a shooting position across the face of goal, but was jockeyed away from the box by Misambo before Trickett-Smith's attempted shot from twenty yards out was blocked and cleared

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The Reds found their way back into the game on fifty-seven minutes as the excellent Grewal was rewarded for a hard-working display with the equaliser. Some patient build-up down the right from FC United saw Donohue make a move inside and play a neat ball into the feet of Grewal, who found himself goal side of Hussey and fired a shot that beat Breeden at his near post and found the net from an angle, twelve yards from goal

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With the momentum swinging their way, FC United pressed for a quickfire second goal; Ennis's ball in from the left on the hour mark found it all the way through to Grivosti at the far post, who could only skew his effort into the side netting from a tight angle

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A minute later, McHale brilliantly pulled Breeden's kick out of the sky down the right flank and drove into the box, curling an effort at goal that Misambo somehow managed to divert away from goal with a downward header to hand the Pitmen a corner kick. From Husey's resultant corner, Atheroton made a complete hash of the ball as he went up with McHale to challenge for the ball, seemingly dropping it under no pressure at all and fumbling it over the line. The Pitmen's celebrations were premature, however, as Mr Durno ruled the goal out for what you could only assume was some kind of contact between McHale and the goalkeeper, which appeared to be minimal at best

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 The Pitmen made their first change of the afternoon before play could restart as Labadie made way for Rose, triggering a reshuffle in the ranks that saw Sheaf drop into a deeper role in midfield to allow Rose to join Gibson up front

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A minute later, Dan Turner was also sent on up front as the Pitmen looked to turn the screw some more, replacing the hard-running but well-shackled Watson on the left

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McHale was again off target for the hosts midway through the second half as he picked up a pass from Sheaf and dribbled past two red shirts before miscuing his shot from twenty yards out and shaking it over the crossbar

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The 4,000-plus home fans had been left dumbfounded at the disallowed goal just a few moments earlier but were left even more frustrated and confused on sixty-six minutes as what appeared to be a perfectly good goal was yet again chalked off; Morgan's angled ball into the box from the right was brilliantly chested down by Gibson, before firing a spectacular volley beyond the reach of Atherton and into the far corner of the net from twelve years out. Once again, however, the referee was to intervene as the Pitmen celebrated, ruling Gibson's goal out for an apparent handball. On closer inspection, the ball clearly hit the chest of the striker as he controlled the ball, with the assistant happy to give the goal but was overruled by Mr Durno, who had less of a view of the incident than the assstant

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FC United's second change of the afternoon came on sixty-eight minutes as Sudworth came on in place of Fitzmartin to play wide on the right flank and give the visitors extra options

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Hussey again delivered a fine ball into the box from the left flank a minute later, picking up the head of Harrison at the far post before FC United managed to clear their lines with the ball bouncing around inside their six-yard box

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The away side felt that they had a shout for a penalty kick on seventy-one minutes as a cross from Grewal to the far post was aimed at Donohue, who took a tumble in the box under pressure from Hussey before Breeden could claim the cross. Mr Durno took a look at the incident but allowed play to continue

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Wth fifteen minutes remaining, Beesley made his third and final change of the game as he sent on Buckley to play up alongside Le Fondre as he took off the already-booked Grivosti

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McHale picked up the Pitmen's only booking of the afternoon a minute later as he 'took one for the team' to blatantly halt Donohue's progress and stop FC United from breaking quickly into the Hednesford half on the counter attack

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Breeden made a superb save to deny Buckley a chance so soon after coming on in the seventy-ninth minute, making a fine diving save at his near post to push the substitute's right-footed effort over the crossbar for a corner kick after a firm low shot at goal from fifteen yards out

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Ryan Wynter continued his return to the squad after his spell out injured on eighty-four minutes as he replaced Morgan, with the hosts reverting to three centre-backs for the remainder of the game

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Another good save from Breeden denied Grewal a late winner on eighty-seven minutes, pushing the goalscorer's cross-cum-shot from the left away from goal low down to his left and keep the ball from sneaking in at the far post; Thomson followed the ball into the box but could only fire high over the bar from the rebound

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FC United full-back Ajay Wewston picked up a late booking from Mr Durno on eighty-nine minutes as the left-back was cautioned for bringing McHale down in full flight on the Hednesford right

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A late flurry in and around the visitors' penalty area in the five added minutes saw the Pitmen put FC United under pressure in search of a late, late winner; In the first added minute, Hussey's inswinging free-kick from the right was flicked on by man of the match Harrison, but just too far in front of anyone in a white shirt gambling at the far post

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A frenetic final few seconds saw the Pitmen throw bodies into the box as Hussey's ball in from the left was flicked on by Rose into the path of Turner, whose attempted lob over Atherton from a tight angle ended up on top of the net

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It had been an entertaining ninety minutes for the mammoth crowd to enjoy, with both sides not quite having enough on the final third to clinch all three points. The Pitmen will be smarting at the two disallowed goals in the second half no doubt, but had to be content with a solitary point that extends their lead at the top of the table to two points from Hebburn Town. New Year's Day sees them make the very short trip across to Walsall to face struggling Rushall Olympic, looking to pile the pressure on Ian Long and his misfiring team as they look to make it eleven games unbeaten

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan (Wynter 84), Taylor, Labadie © (Rose 62), Harrison, Hussey, Watson (Turner 63), Sheaf, Gibson, McHale ▆, Trickett-Smith    Subs unused: Maye, Parke

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FC United of Manchester: Atherton, Thomson, Weston ▆, Wisdom (Donohue 49), Misambo, Palinkas, Grivosti ▆ (Buckley 75), Ennis ©, Le Fondre, Grewal, Fitzmartin (Sudworth 68)      Subs unused: R. Sithole, Lawrence

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