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Wolverhampton City (A) 26.7.25

A game of two halves at the Grove this afternoon sees the Pitmen come from two goals down to defeat Southern Premier League central side Halesowen Town and record their second win of pre-season

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Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren was forced into several personnel decisions ahead of their short trip down the M5, with Joe Doyle-Charles missing for personal reasons, joining Dom McHale (suspended), Jonny Edwards (injured) and Chris Hussey (injured) as a notable unavailable quartet. Hurren was able to call upon man moutain Ollie Harrison for the first time in the pre-season programme, with the centre-back amongst the substitutes as a triallist was handed the number six shirt to start the game alongside former Halesowen man Ryan Wynter

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The Yeltz were making their first appearance at the Grove in pre-season, having beaten Chasetown and Malvern Town on their travels in the past two weeks. Manager Russ Penn handed home debuts to Jason Cowley and Alex Gudger, whilst also welcoming back forward Charlie Wragg after the Walsall youngster returned this week for a further loan spell at the club

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On a day of changable weather, the game was played out in bright sunshine as the showery outbursts managed to avoid the Grove for the ninety minutes of action. The home side were straight on the front foot, looking to exploit the lack of understanding between Elliott Johnson and triallist 1 though the tricky Ben Cassidy. A break down the right on the fifth minute saw Cassidy and Cowley link up, with Cassidy pulling the ball back into the danger zone where Kyle Finn saw his effort deflected into the arms of Tony Breeden

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Cowley went agonisngly close to opening the scoring two minutes later as he picked the picked the ball up on the right-hand corner of the penalty area, turning past triallist 1 once more before unleashing a rising shot at goal that beat Breeden but came back off the underside of the crossbar before Jamie Morgan cleared the danger

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Cassidy was proving a slippery customer for the experienced Johnson to deal with as the former Alvechurch man showing neat footwork to turn past the left-back before pulling the ball back to skipper Josh Smile, whose cross was headed just wide at the far post by the incoming Cowley, who was put off by the presence of Wynter

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The Pitmen just hadn't got going so far, with several simple mis-placed passes out of defence from the likes of Morgan and Johnson seized upon gleefully by the bright and pacy Halesowen attack. One such ball out from Morgan on fourteen minutes was picked up by Finn, who drove into acres of space in behind the Hednesford defence but was to be denied by a covering challenge from the excellent Wynter

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A minute later, triallist 1 picked up a knock after being turned well by Cowley and left beind by play, resulting in a stoppage for the tall defender as sports therapist Adam Paget came on to tend to him

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The Yeltz finally grabbed was had been a deserved lead midway through the first half as another quick and incisive break caught the Pitmen out; Milan Butterfield and Cassidy were involved, playing a ball through the lines and into the path of Cowley, who took the ball past the hapless triallist 1 before confidently firing past Breeden from twleve yards out 

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Butterfield went close to adding to the Halsowen tally on twenty-seven minutes as Wragg won a free-kick just outside the Hednesford box, to the left of the 'D'. The former Kidderminster Harriers man took responsibility for the kick and forced Breeden into an excellent fingertip save, pushing the ball onto the crossbar as he curled his effort towards goal from twenty yards out

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Breeden came to the Pitmen's rescue once more shortly after the half hour mark as another quick break down the left from Halesowen saw Wragg played into space behind Morgan by Smile's ball, only for the on-loan youngster to tamely place his shot across goal and straight into the arms of the veteran stopper

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With ten minutes of a one-way first half remaining, Cassidy showed Johnson another clean pair of heels and he danced past the left back and took the ball into the box, but elected to shoot from a tight angle rather than pull the ball back to Cowley and fired just wide of the far post

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Breeden looked to be in some discomfort and slumped to the floor twice in quick succession with what appeared to be a wrist issue at this juncture, with the 38-year-old continung on in some pain after two visits to the pitch by Paget

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This injury may have been a factor in the lead-up to Halseowen's second goal on forty-one minutes as a loose ball out by the normally-accurate Breeden felle some way shot of intended target Jake Jervis, with Finn picking up the ball in space and playing Wragg clean through; Walsall forward took the ball on before calmly slotting past Breeden from ten yards out to make it a deserved 2-0 lead at the break for the hosts

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It had been a totally dominant first half from the hosts, who had given the Hednesford defence a nightmare with it's pace and direct nature, particuarly through Cassidy and Wragg. The Pitmen, meanwhile, has mustered absolutey nothing in response in the final third in a disappointingly poor first forty-five minutes. Half time saw changes on both side as Harrison came on for triallist 1, Ahkeem Rose replaced Niall Watson and Simeon Maye dropped into defensive midfield in place of Kieron Freeman for the Pitmen. Penn elected to only make one change to his Halesowen side as Finn was replaced by triallist B

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This triple change made an instant impact to the Pitmen's fortunes, as the introductions of the three players down the spine of the team paid dividends. Ex-Hednesford stopper Dan Platt made his first save of the afternoon on forty-eight minutes, denying Dan Trickett-Smith his third goal of pre-season with a flying save to tip the playmaker's inswinging free-kick over the crossbar and away for a corner kick to the visitors

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From the resultant Trickett-Smith corner, Harrison rose highest at the far post to flick the ball back across goal but saw his header cleared by Smile inside his own six-yard box before Dan Turner could turn the ball home

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Trickett-Smith was far more involved than he had been in the first period, taking another free-kick for the Pitmen out on the left on fifty-three minutes that was swung into the box but just too high for Harrison or Rose to get the heads onto at the far post

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On fifty-nine minutes, Johnson's race was run as the former Barnet defender was replaced by Joel Taylor at left-back as Hurren looked to add more attacking width to the left side of the pitch

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Two minutes later, the looming presence of veteran Nathan Blissett was added to proceedings as the 6ft 7" striker was brought on by the visitors in place of Jervis, who had really struggled to get into the game

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The Pitmen were handed a route back to the game midway through the second half as they were awarded a penalty kick on sixty-four minutes after a neat move involving Turner and Rose saw the former felled just inside the penalty area by Ryan Wollacott. Rose stepped up and confidently blasted his spot-kick down the middle of goal to beat the dive of Platt and reduce arrears 

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This was to spark a seven minute ruthless streak in front of the Pitmen, who dragged themselves level three minutes later; Turner - another who had come alive in the second half and was giving the Halsowen defence all sorts of issues with his movement - was on the end of a move involving Harrison and Blissett, given time and space to take a touch inside the Halesowen penalty area before calmly sidefooting past the despairing dive of Platt and slotting the ball into the far corner of the net from twelve yards out. A fine, confident finish from the striker

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With twenty minutes remaining, Halesowen made a further change in personnel as the experienced Butterfield was replaced by triallist E in the centre of midfield

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The turnaround was complete on seventy-three minutes as Rose grabbed his second goal of the afternoon, creating and finishing a move himself as he picked the ball up from deep and rive into at the Yeltz defence before dispatching a powerfully-struck effort from the edge of the penalty area that had too much on it for Platt, who couldn't keep the ball from beating him and ending up in the left-hand corner of his net

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Before the game could restart, Breeden's indifferent afternoon was brought to an end by Hurren as the veteran was replaced by Ryan Brown between the sticks. Halesowen also made changes at this point as Cowley was replaced by the returning Richard Gregory up front and Wragg came off in favour of triallist F

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​Three mnutes later, the home side made two further changes as skipper Smile was replaced by Jack Birch in midfield and the hard-woking Cassidy - who had faded in the second half after such an impressive first period - was brought off in favour of triallist D

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The Pitmen made their final changes of the game on eighty-two minutes as triallist 2 came on in place of Wynter in defence, youngster Harvey Barlow came on at right-back in place of Morgan and Jacob Gwilt replaced Trickett-Smith

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Brown made an outstanding stop to keep Hednesford in front on eighty-three minutes, diviing full-length to his right to make a superb fingertip save down by his post to tip Gregory's goalbound header away from goal after the substitute had risen above Harrison to head triallist F's deep cross towards goal

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With three minutes remaning, Halesowen made their final change of the afternoon as Makauley Manning was brought off and replaced by youth team winger Luke Postle

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A good workout for both sides and plenty of positives for both managers to take away from a typically comepetive all step-three clash. The Pitmen return to this part of the world on Tuesday night as they face Halesowen's local rivals Stourbridge at the town's rugy ground Stourton Park

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Halesowen Town: Platt, Hickman, Manning (Postle 87), Smile © (Birch 78), Wollacott, Gudger, Cassidy (Triallist D 78), Butterfield (Triallist E 70), Cowley (Gregory 75), Wragg (Triallist F), Finn (Triallist B 45)      Subs Unused: Triallist A, Triallist C, Triallist G, Triallist H, Triallist I

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Hednesford Town: Breeden (Brown 75), Morgan (Barlow 82), Johnson (Taylor 59), Labadie ©, Wynter (Triallist 2 82), Triallist 1 (Harrison 45), Turner, Freeman (Maye 45), Jervis (Blissett 61), Watson (Rose 45), Trickett-Smith (Gwilt 82)      Sub Unused: Barlow

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