The Pitmen maintain their three-point advantage at the top of the Northern Premier League as they ease past a dreadfully disappointing Ilkeston side at the New Manor Ground

With injuries and suspensions hitting his side, Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren had been forced into recalling striker Niall Watson from his long-term loan spell at Warrington Town, with Watson one of two changes to the side that had started last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Warrington Rylands as he replaced the suspended Dom McHale and Max Sheaf coming in ahead of Simeon Maye

Ilson were in the midst of a poor run of form, losing five successive games that had led them to drop into mid-table after a bright start to the season. Manager Ian Deakin made wholesale changes to his misfiring side from the one that started their 2-1 defeat to FC United of Manchester last weekend as debutant Sam Bird, Colin Daniel, Sam Parker, Seth Okyere and Jamie Walker all came in, replacing Jordan Stevens, Tyler Whyle, Alex Marshall, Callum Minkley and Jackson Blaize

 

On the 4G turf at the New Manor Ground, the Pitmen were quickly into their stride through the returning Watson, who immediately got in behind full-back Bird in the very first minute with a surging run at goal, only to be denied on the edge of the box as the recovering defender blocked his effort

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Within seconds, Watson was handed another glorious chance to open the scoring as Chris Hussey's long ball forward found Ahkeem Rose on the right, with the Pitmen's top scorer making a surging run into the box before cutting it back to Watson on the penalty spot, whose first-time effort was blocked by the leg of defender Sam Parker. The ball ran to former Ilkeston man Montel Gibson, whose shot was also blocked before Watson lifted his rebound high over the crossbar

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More forceful play from the Pitmen in the sixth minute saw Watson involved once more as he picked up Sheaf's pass and crossed towards Gibson, whose effort was once again blocked by Parker after the striker had taken a touch before shooting straight into the legs of the defender

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Ilkeston's first real foray into the Hednesford half on eleven minutes saw Bird break down the right with a charging run beyond Joel Taylor, sending over a low cross into the box that was turned behind by Hussey for a corner kick to the hosts

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In the sixteenth minute, Gibson did well to carve out a chance for himself as he made a run down the right, cutting inside on the edge of the box and looked to curl an effort at goal that was blocked by Parker. The ball ran to the impressive Sheaf, who in turn laid it off to Watson, whose effort was deflected behind for a corner kick

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Hussey's resultant corner kick was floated to the far post, initially looking for Harrison but drifting into the path of Gibson, whose glancing header skipped just wide of the post from six yards out

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Ilkeston looked to break on the counter once more through skipper Matt Thornhill three minutes later as the midfielder played a neat through ball into the path of Dylan Youmbi, whose run and cross was turned behind by Harrison for a corner kick at the near post

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Dixon was perhaps a little lucky not to pick up a yellow card from Mr Keria on twenty minutes for a blatant shirt pull on Watson should probably have resulted in a booking for the player, who escaped with only a talking-to from the referee

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Midway through the first half, the impressively hard-working Watson did well once more down the left, making another forceful run past Bird and getting into space behind the full-back, crossing towards Gibson but a little too close to Ilson goalkeeper Alfie Roberts, who made the claim low down at his near post

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A minute later, good play from the tricky and pacy Youmbi saw him advance into space to the right of the Hednesford penalty area and beat Taylor with some neat footwork, shooting low at goal and seeing his effort diverted behind by Hussey for a corner kick

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Watson’s reintegration into the side was complete on twenty-four minutes as he brilliantly put the visitors into the lead with an instinctive finish; chasing down a long ball forward from Doyle-Charles, Watson took advantage of some defensive dithering from Okyere to outmuscle the defender and calmly lob the ball over the head of the advancing Roberts and into the unguarded net from twenty-five yards out

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The hosts were left frustrated by the assistant's flag on twenty-seven minutes as top scorer Harvey Kirby-Moore was played through on goal by a long punt forward from Thornhill, only for a late flag to be raised against the striker after he had run clear of the Hednesford defence and took the ball around the dive of Breeden

 

Sheaf doubled Hednesford’s advantage just sixty seconds later as he grabbed his first goal for the club. Breeden played a free-kick from the halfway line into the box was not dealt with by the Ilkeston defence which allowed Trickett-Smith and Gibson to work the ball into the feet of Sheaf, who lashed the ball beyond Roberts and into the net with a well-struck low drive from twelve yards out

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The Pitmen created a great chance for Rose on the half-hour mark as Watson picked up a Doyle-Charles pass and played a wonderful ball through to Sheaf on the edge of the penalty area with the outside of his boot - his reverse ball played Rose in on goal, with the striker firing narrowly over the crossbar from sixteen yards out

 

More positive play down the right from Ilkeston on thirty-six minutes saw Bird - a loan signing from Enterprise National League North side Chorley in the week - made another run down the flank and pull a low shot back across the face of Tony Breeden's goal, with no-one in a red and white shirt having the movement or instinct to follow the ball in and turn it home

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A quick break from the Pitmen three minutes later saw them counter down the right through Rose, who sent Watson on his way in front of him with a probing pass into space. He took a couple of touches before looking to pick Gibson out in the six-yard box with a pull-back that was just too far in front of the striker to make a connection, forcing Roberts into action as he turned the bouncing ball away for a corner kick

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Bird picked up the game's first yellow card of the afternoon on forty-one minutes as he was rightly booked by Mr Keria for an awful late challenge on Hussey down the Hednesford left after the veteran defender had shown great feet to take the ball away from the full-back

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Rose tried the acrobatic route to goal as he looked to add to his season's tally from the resultant Hussey free-kick, producing an overhead kick from eight yards out to turn the defender's outswinging ball in narrowly over Roberts' crossbar

It had been a dominant and authoritative first forty-five minutes from the men in mint green, totally dominating possession and had been good value for their two-goal lead at the break. Ilkeston had looked a shadow of the well-organised and strong outfit that had come close to taking the points at Keys Park back in September, further underlining their current poor form and lack of confidence in the Robins' ranks

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Ilkeston looked to make a quick start to the second half through Youmbi, who made another one of his runs from deep on forty-seven minutes before shooting wide of Breeden's right-hand post from twenty yards out

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Parker followed Bird into Mr Keria's notebook two minutes later with what was to prove to be a costly booking as the defender was yellow-carded for pulling Gibson back, illegally stopping the striker from getting himself goal side of the Ilson man down the right flank

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Hussey tested the reflexes of Roberts from the free-kick as he cleverly tricked all of the outfield players in the box by striking a low curling shot at goal, forcing Roberts into a save down to his left to push the ball away from goal

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On fifty-three minutes, Gibson was pulled up for a questionable and very tight offside call as another quick counter from Jamie Morgan and Rose down the right had sent Gibson away on goal behind Parker

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Hussey continued to be a solid, reliable influence on the side, brilliantly playing himself out of trouble on fifty-six minutes with some neat footwork inside his own penalty area to escape the attentions of both Kirby-Moore and Bird as Ilkeston looked to press down the right

Looking for a way back into the game, Ilkeston made a double change shortly before the hour mark as Stevens replaced Thornhill and Robbie Fox came on for Kirby-Moore

 

There was an almost immediate impact from Fox with his first touch, as the striker took Okeye's pass down the left and stole a yard on Morgan before sending over a dangerous low cross into the box, that, yet again, had no-one in a red and white shirt on the end of it as it drifted away on the far side of the pitch

 

Rose was handed a chance to add to the Pitmen’s tally on sixty-three minutes as Mr Keria awarded the visitors a penalty kick. A quick break through the centre from Rose saw him play the ball out to Watson on the left, with the forward playing it onto Gibson as he spotted the striker through on goal. After taking a touch to steady himself, Gibson was sent sprawling by a clumsy challenge from Parker, bringing the Pitmen's number nine down and leaving Mr Karia with no option but to award the Pitmen a penalty kick. Having already been booked, Parker was also shown a second yellow card and was sent off to give the home side in even more disarray. Rose took the resultant kick and fired high into the net to register his thirteenth goal of the season with a confident strike that sent Roberts the wrong way

The Pitmen could afford to make changes to their personnel, with Ryan Wynter making his long-awaited return to action on sixty-five minutes as he replaced Taylor. This saw a re-jig in defence with Hussey moving to left-back to allow for Wynter’s introduction. Jonny Edwards was also brought on as he replaced Gibson

 

Wth both the numerical and goal advantage on their side, the Pitmen were now content to simply play on the counter-attack, utilising Rose and Watson to good effect. Doyle-Charles played another fine ball out of defence on sixty-eight minutes to find Taylor on the left, who in turn sent Watson away down the left flank; his deep cross had a little too much on it, evading the head of Edwards and the boot of Rose as it sailed out of play on the far side of the pitch for a throw-in

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A corner kick from Walker sixty seconds later caused momentary issues in the Hednesford defence as the Pitmen struggled to clear their lines, with the ball eventually taking a nick off the leg of Stevens and going wide of Breeden's far post

 

With twenty minutes remaining, Deakin rolled the dice once more as he elected to bring on Blaize up front, taking off the hard-working but completely nullified Walker

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On seventy-three minutes, Rose was given a rapturous reception by the large away following after yet another superb goalscoring display as he was replaced by Dan Turner

 

Stevens created a half chance for himself on seventy-four minutes as the ex-Leeds United midfielder drifted inside of Morgan down the left, making room for himself just outside the box and striking a shot that failed to test Breeden as t flew high and wide of goal

The hosts made another double change two minutes later as former Derby County defender Minkley replaced Dixon and youngster Whyle came on for Essien

 

Youmbi followed his team-mates into Mr Keria's notebook on seventy-seven minutes as he was booked for another needlessly overly-aggressive challenge on Doyle-Charles in the centre circle. With three red cards in their last four games, it does feel that ill-discipline has become one of the club's more recent problems

With nine minutes remaining and the game now essentially reduced to the pace of a training game, the away side made a fourth change of the afternoon as skipper Doyle-Charles made way for Maye in midfield, with the captaincy moving to Hussey for the remainder of the game

 

Watson was handed a glorious chance to put the cherry on top of the cake for the visitors on eighty-five minutes as the Pitmen broke quickly from an Ilkeston corner down the left through Trickett-Smith, whose threaded ball into the feet of Watson saw the goalscorer shoot first time from the edge of the box but horribly shank his effort high over the crossbar, much to the amusement of the travelling supporters behind Roberts' goal

A comprehensive win for the Pitmen, one that maintains their gap to Hebburn Town at the top of the table and extends their unbeaten run to eight games in the process. It’s another away game for Hurren’s side next weekend as they travel to Warrington Town, a side improving after a poor start to the season and holders of one of the best home records in the league

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Ilkeston Town: Roberts, Bird ▆, Daniel, Thornhill © (Stevens 58), Okyere, Parker ▆▆ (62), Dixon (Minkley 76), Essien (Whyle 76), Youmbi ▆, Kirby-Moore (Fox 58 ▆), Walker (Blaize 70)     Subs unused: none

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Taylor (Wynter 65), Trickett-Smith, Hussey, Watson, Doyle-Charles © (Maye 81), Gibson (Edwards 65), Sheaf, Rose (Turner 73)     Sub unused: Parke

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