The Pitmen are back in the mire this evening as back-to-back defeats in the Northern Premier League West leaves Harry Harris's men with a mountain to climb in their remaining eleven games of the season

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Last weekend's poor performance and heavy defeat against City of Liverpool was still fresh in the memory for the travelling Hednesford supporters on this rare Friday night outing. Harris made two changes to his misfiring side as fit-again Sam Griffiths came in for Ritchie Sutton and young loanee Max Martin replaced James McQuilkin in midfield to add much-needed stamina to the centre of the park

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Hanley had slowly been dropping into the relegation scrap throughout January, sitting in sixteenth place in the table after a winless run stretching back six games. Player/manager Ryan Shotton made three changes to his Hanley team from the one that had lost at home to Avro last weekend as Kyle Blake was preferred to Reece Jones, Luke Walsh came in for ex-Hednesford man Tim Sanders in midfield and another former Hednesford man - Louis Dodds - replaced the manager's cousin Saul Shotton in the number ten role

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In front of a season's league-best attendance of 340 - swelled significantly by a large percentage who had made the short trip up from the south of the county - the Pitmen looked to strike early on as Jai Verma won a second-minute free-kick out on the left, allowing Jack Kelly to play a deep cross into the penalty area that was claimed by ex-Stafford Rangers goalkeeper Adam Whitehouse ahead of Ryan Boothe and Josh Endall

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Hanley's first move into Hednesford territory saw the hosts steal into an early lead in the fourth minute; the wild-haired Walsah was given time and space down the left to pick out Joe Mwasile in the penalty area, with the Zambian - a recent signing from City of Liverpool - given far too much time by a dawdling Kelly to control the ball and fire past Kieran Boucher from six yards out

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To the Pitmen's credit, they brushed off the shock of conceding this sloppy early goal and equalised almost immediately through Rackeem Reid; an initial clearance from James Askey dropped to Martin, who showed great composure to play a perfectly weighted first-time pass into the path of Reid, who managed to get to the ball ahead of the advancing Whitehouse and prod the ball underneath the stopper and into the empty net from twelve yards out. Game on

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The Pitmen enjoyed much the better of the game in the next ten minutes, controlling possession well but struggling to make any inroads in the final third of the pitch. A short corner kick from Tom Thorley in the eighth minute was played into the path of Kelly, whose deep cross was a touch too high for both Boothe and Endall at the far post as the pair challenged Askey at the far post

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Three minutes later, veteran Dodds turned provider for the hosts against his former club as his free-kick looked to pick out Kieran Brown, who was denied by a fine covering header from the returning Griffiths inside his own six-yard box

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Boucher - culpable for two of the City of Liverpool goals last weekend - made a good save to keep the game level two minutes later as he pushed a deflected effort from Dodds away from goal after the former Port Vale man had struck a shot at goal from the edge of the box that took a nick off Endall

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Hanley continued to press, with the busy and dangerous Walsh driving in a shot at goal on fifteen minutes from the corner of the Hednesford penalty area that Boucher watched just over his crossbar

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The game hit boiling point on eighteen minutes as a succession of dubious-looking challenges on both sides were ignored by referee Mr Beard, culminating in a frustrated late challenge by Martin on Walsh right in front of the benches. Walsh took exception to the challenge and promptly shoved the teenager to the floor, sparking a melee involving most of the players on the pitch and both sets of club officials. After taking advice from both assistants, Mr Beard chose to only book both Martin and Walsh for their parts when many were expecting a red apiece

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More corner kick opportunities came and went for the men in white, as Kelly's outswinging corner kick from the left midway through the first period headed upwards by Endall at the far post, allowing Whitehouse to clear the danger ahead of Boothe

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Martin earned the Pitmen a free-kick thirty yards from goal on twenty-six minutes as his progress was checked by Blake, prompting ironic cheers from the travelling fans after the official's perceived bottle job in not sending Walsh off earlier in the game. Thorley played the ball into the feet of Verma on the left, who jinked his way past Jack Bostock and crossed towards Boothe, who timidly turned the ball wide of goal from six yards out under pressure from Askey

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Verma was growing into the game after a quiet opening quarter, beating Bostock once more after picking up a corner from Thorley and crossing for Reid, who was beaten to the ball at the far post by the covering Josh Green

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The Pitmen repeated the trick from their next corner kick on thirty-three minutes as Kelly rolled the ball into the path of Verma once more, whose cross was hacked clear by Blake inside his own six-yard box as Reid tried to get goal side of his marker

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At the other end, Walsh got the better of Michael Williams down the left with eight minutes of the half remaining and stood up another cross to the far post that Griffiths headed behind for a corner kick to Hanley ahead of Brown

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Back-to-back corners from Hanley on forty minutes exerted more pressure on the Hednersford defence, with Boucher having to come out and claim both corner kicks and dropping both initially before recovering well to clear his lines under pressure from Askey

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It had been a very evenly-matched game between two struggling sides so far at the break, with both defences on top against two attacks that had been a little shot-shy. The Pitmen had really struggled in the final third despite seeing plenty of the ball, with the dual-registered Reid working hard against Bostock and Askey in giving them no time to dwell on the ball throughout

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However, in an identical situation to the City of Liverpool game six days ago, the Pitmen fell behind just a couple of minutes into the second half with another avoidable goal; Hanley worked the ball out to Brown on the right-hand edge of the penalty area, who was once again given time and space by Kelly to drive a low angled shot beyond the reach of Boucher and find the far corner of the net from eighteen yards out

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Back came the Pitmen, with Kelly looking to atone for his slackness for the goal as he whipped in a free-kick from the left on fifty-one minutes that was met by Reid, who saw his header come back off the far post before Askey hurriedly cleared the loose ball ahead of Verma

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Boothe had struggled to make much of an impact up front of the Pitmen but was presented with a good chance to equalise on fifty-seven minutes as Verma was brought down by Bostock to win a free-kick level with the penalty area. Thorley took the resultant free-kick and picked out the big striker, whose header towards goal lacked power and was held by Whitehouse on his line

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The ever-willing Reid made another ling-busting run down the right on the hour mark, streaking past Green as he bore down on the penalty area before being brought down by the full-back, earning the highly experienced defender a yellow card for his troubles. Kelly came across to whip the free-kick in with his left foot but tamely guided the ball straight into the grateful arms of Whitehouse, who made an easy, unchallenged catch on the six-yard line. Poor from the Pitmen again

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With things not going as planned in the second half, Harris made a double change to his personnel on sixty-three minutes as Martin came off in favour of the vastly experienced McQuilkin and Dan Gyasi was brought on to add guile to the right in place of Boothe. As had been the case on Saturday, the changes saw the rangy Reid move into the middle to replace Boothe as the target man

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A minute later, Hanley made their first change of the evening as Jones made a return to the side as the former Stoke City youngster replaced the hard-running Mwasile on the right

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The Pitmen continued to crank up the pressure on the Hanley defence, looking to go direct at every opportunity. More corner kicks came and went midway through the half as Thorley and Kelly delivered dangerous-looking balls into the six-yard box, with Reid heading one wide and Endall headed high and wide with another

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On seventy-two minutes, the Pitmen made their final roll of the dice as Joe Thompson - who could probably count himself unlucky not to have started ahead of the poor Thorley - came on to play as an auxiliary target man alongside Reid as he replaced the defensively shaky Williams

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The Hednesford number twelve almost made an immediate impact just ninety seconds after coming on as he drove a shot narrowly over the crossbar after the away side had worked the ball well from left to right and into the feet of the substitute on the edge of the penalty area

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The lanky Endall went close to equalising for the Pitmen on seventy-six minutes as he rose highest to meet Kelly's ball in at the far post, rising above Askey but glancing his effort just over the crossbar from six yards out

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Another quickly-taken short corner from the Pitmen two minutes later saw Kelly play the ball to Verma on the edge of the penalty area, with the winger standing up a cross to the far post where Griffiths arrived late to head towards goal, only to be denied by a fine save from Whitehouse as he pushed the ball away down to his right

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From the resultant Kelly corner kick, Reid got involved again as he met the ball in with his head but saw his effort hacked off the line by the covering Bostock at the far post. It was beginning to feel like it was not going to be the Pitmen's night after all

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Endall was again involved from yet another in a seemingly endless stream of Hednesford corner kicks on eighty-two minutes, out-jumping Askley once more at the far post as he met Kelly's deep corner but saw his effort drop the wrong side of Whitehouse's left-hand post

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Hanley made another personnel change with seven minutes of the game remaining as the 38-year-old Dodds was warmly applauded off by both sets of fans as he was replaced by Saul Shotton

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In a bid to break the play up and stop the Pitmen from building up a head of steam, Hanley's players started to take regular trips to the ground with dubious-looking knocks. Askey incurred the wrath of the frustrated away supporters on eighty-seven minutes as he went down a little too easily on the edge of the penalty area under pressure from Reid and remained down to receive treatment

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In the final minute of the game, Hanley made their final change of the game as they ran valuable seconds down with on-loan Stoke City man Adam Watson coming on for his debut ahead of Walsh

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Hanley put the finishing touches on all three points in added time as the Pitmen committed too many men forwards in search of a leveller and left the back door open; a quick break found Brown in acres of space down the right, with the striker driving forwards unchallenged and firing a confident effort beyond the reach of Boucher from sixteen yards out to find the far corner of the net once more

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A depressing result for players and fans alike, which leaves the Pitmen with a huge amount of work to do if they are to remain at step four for next season. With only eleven games remaining, it's hard to see Harris's men staying up unless they win seven - possibly even eight - of their remaining games, getting them over the forty-point barrier and putting pressure on the likes of Trafford, Vauxhall Motors and the quickly-sinking Mossley in the final few games. There is another two-week break from league action for the Pitmen before they play host to Mossley in the middle of February, with Harris and Steve Hinks likely to be making more moves in the transfer market for the final push towards survival in that time

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Hanley Town: Whitehouse, Bostock, Green ▆, Stanton, Stair, Askey ▆, Walsh ▆ (Watson 90), Blake, Brown, Dodds (S. Shotton 83), Mwasile (Jones 64)      Subs Unused: Grimley, Sanders

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Hednesford Town: Boucher, Williams (Thompson 72), Kelly, Thorley, Griffiths, Endall, Verma, Ali ©▆, Boothe (Gyasi 63), Reid, Martin ▆ (McQuilkin 63)    Subs Unused: Mendez-Jones, Morley

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