The Pitmen's precarious position at the foot of the Northern Premier League West table remains this afternoon as an assertive second-half display from in-form Leek Town saw them ease past their visitors at a bitterly cold Harrison Park

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Last week's awful performance and result against Clitheroe was still fresh in the memory for the Pitmen's away following, who made the trip to the north of the county hoping for a response from Harry Harris's side after such a heavy defeat and woeful team display. Harris had returned to former club Walsall Wood the previous day to bring in the experienced and highly-regarded Kieran Boucher, ending the Pitmen's seasons-long search for a permanent goalkeeper after years of seemingly never-ending loan signings. The 24-year-old came straight into the side as one of two changes to the side that had started against Clitheroe as he replaced Ryan Brown, whilst Lucas Yeomans was passed fit to return to the side ahead of the injured Josh Endall

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Second-placed Leek were playing their second home game in succession, having beaten Witton Albion 4-1 at Harrison Park last weekend to move within two points of league leaders Prescot Cables and making it back-to-back wins in the process. Manager Josh Brehaut - appointed as the Blues manager in September after taking the reigns from the previous gaffer Peter Ward - elected to stick with the same XI that had beaten both Witton and Clitheroe in their past two games as he looked for another positive result from his in-form side

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It was a freezing cold afternoon in the Staffordshire Moorlands, with temperatures stuck at -2 degrees for much of the afternoon. With most of the games in the Northern Premier League West called off due to frozen pitches, the 4G artificial surface at Harrison Park once again paid for itself with a simple brushing of the pitch ahead of kick-off to remove any frost

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It was to prove to be an even opening quarter of the game with both defences on top as neither side had enough about them in the final third to give the opposition something to worry about. Boucher made his first save of the afternoon in the fourth minute to deny Rob Stevenson, confidently pushing the long-serving striker's effort at his near post after a neat passage of play involving Liam Buckley, Dan Trickett-Smith and Tom Reilly played the forward into the box, with Stevenson turning well and firing straight at the debutant stopper

 

Jai Verma was straight into the action for the Pitmen as he teased his way past Buckley in the fifth minute as he took Jack Kelly's pass down the line, pulling the ball back into the six-yard box where the giant Olly Harrison cleared ahead of Callum Niven

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Two minutes later, neat approach play from the hosts saw the talented Trickett-Smith exchange passes with Rob Stevenson to carve open a chance for Reilly down the right only for his cross to find the boot of Michael Williams, who cleared with a no-nonsense up and under

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At the other end, South African goalkeeper Dino Visser was forced into making a save a minute later as the dangerous Verma drifted inside from the left, leaving Buckley and Fenton Green in his wake before firing in a rising shot that was held by the experienced stopper at his near post

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More approach play from the Pitmen down the left on sixteen minutes saw Verma and Kelly work well together once more, with Verma playing the overlapping Kelly into space in front of him after dragging Buckley out of position. Kelly whipped in a low cross to the near post that Niven looked to get on the end of, only for Green to clear the ball before the former Burton Albion youngster could react quickly enough

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Leek were enjoying more of the possession but were finding the Pitmen a tougher nut to crack than perhaps they would have expected; Williams was having a fine half for the visitors, heading away a deep cross from Tom Carr on twenty minutes after he had been played into space behind Lucas Yeomans down the Leek left and crossed towards the incoming Trickett-Smith

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More trickery from Verma midway through the first half saw the slightly-built winger shimmy his way past Buckley once more and lay the ball off to Tom Thorley, who looked to pick out Joe Morley with a fine cross-field ball that was cleared by the covering Louis Keenan, a one-time Hednesford man back in 2010-2011

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Keenan got the better of the slight and noncombative Morley once more three minutes later as he out-muscled the winger down the left-hand touchline and sent Carr away into space. The ex-Stafford man looked to thread the ball through to Trickett-Smith, but again Williams was equal to the danger with another smothering challenge to play it back to Boucher

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Stevenson again found Boucher in the way of one of his efforts on twenty-nine minutes as the striker's snap-shot from the edge of the penalty area bounced straight through to the goalkeeper on his goal line

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Morley looked to open up some space for himself on thirty-two minutes as he drifted across the face of the Leek penalty area and played the ball onto James McQuilkin, who thought about his next move a little too long and was crowded out by the tall and physical Leek defenders

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Thorley wasted a good opening for the Pitmen nine minutes before the break as Verma brought the ball inside on his right foot and laid the ball off to the former Leek man, whose weak and miscued effort from twenty-five yards out sailed high and wide of Visser's goal

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Williams did brilliantly to deny Leek a certain goal on thirty-seven minutes, hacking the ball off the line after Keenan's inswinging corner from the right was headed goalwards by Harrison, beating the dive of Boucher but not the boot of the covering Williams

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Kelly and Verma looked to be the Pitmen's best hope of creating an opening down the left, linking up well on forty-one minutes but again having no one to aime at as Verma's low driven cross was cut out at the near post by Green

The Pitmen had given as good as they had got in a competitive and evenly-matched first period, showing a good tempo and competitiveness to their game without really looking like a threat in the final third. At the back, Boucher had brought an assured touch to the goalkeeping situation and had done well to organise a previously leaky and error-strewn back line against a lively Leek attack

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The hosts - no doubt having had a rollicking by Brehaut at the break after a less-than-impressive first-half display - emerged with far more purpose in the second period, just as the lightest flakes of snow started to fall on the Harrison Park surface. Skipper Marc Grocott went close to opening the scoring in the fiftieth minute as he picked the ball up twenty yards from goal and drove in a goalbound shot that was blocked well by Sutton

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The Pitmen went close to breaking the deadlock themselves a minute later as Thorley sent over a corner kick that was headed inches wide of the far post by Sutton, rising highest at the near post but glancing his effort across the face of goal and wide

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However, Leek managed to get their noses in front with their next attack as ace marksman Stevenson handed them the lead on fifty-four minutes; Watts played Stevenson into space with a through ball down the right-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area, with Williams appearing to have done a good job in shepherding him away from goal. However, some quick feet from Stevenson saw him turn past the veteran defender with a drop of the shoulder that caught him unaware, opening up the space in behind the Hednesford man for Stevenson to run into and fire past Boucher with an angled drive into the far corner of the net

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Leek made their first change of the afternoon following the game's opening goal, as former Stoke City and Rocester defender Julius Ndene came on in place of Patrick Watts

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The Pitmen were on the ropes, losing out on the fifty-fifty challenges that they had been winning in the first half as Leek exerted their authority in midfield and pressed the Hednesford defence. On fifty-seven minutes, Grocott won the ball from a dawdling Joe Thompson and played Trickett-Smith into space in front of him. The ex-Port Vale youngster let fly from fully thirty yards with a swerving, dipping shot that beat Boucher but came back off the crossbar

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The same player was involved again just a minute later as more frailties in the Hednesford ranks saw Yeomans lose the ball cheaply, this time allowing Trickett-Smith to take the ball off him and play it onto Carr, who was hauled down by the rattled Williams just outside the Hednesford penalty area. Trickett-Smith took the free-kick, which was central and only a couple of yards outside the box, but saw his effort clip the wall and end up in the hands of Boucher

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A rare foray into the opposition half from Hednesford saw Morley presented with a momentary chance on sixty-three minutes as he cut in from the right and worked a pocket of space for himself just inside the penalty area, only to weekly shoot straight at Visser when a shot either side of the stopper would have given him a lot more to think about

 

The Pitmen's first substitution of the afternoon came midway through the second half as utility man Jacob Gwilt made a rare appearance for the Pitmen as he came on in place of Morley, who had barely had a kick since the restart

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Stevenson was shown the game's first yellow card by referee Mr Lamb on sixty-five minutes as the striker was booked for leaving his mark on McQuilkinas the duo clashed just inside the Hednesford half

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Leek extended their lead on sixty-six minutes with another quick break and clinical finish, this time through Trickett-Smith. Carr was the architect as he took a pass from Buckley out of the night sky, doing brilliantly to turn past the hapless Williams before cutting the ball back to Trickett-Smith, who fired past Boucher with an unstoppable first-time shot from fifteen yards out

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It nearly got even worse for the Pitmen straight from the restart as they gave the ball away cheaply to Trickett-Smith, who drove past Kelly and Williams down the left and pulled the ball back to Carr, who skewed his first-time effort narrowly wide of the far post

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The away side were in damage limitation mode at this point, having seen the game taken away from them during the last fifteen minutes and having absolutely no answer to Leek's aggression and assertiveness in the final third. Niven picked up the Pitmen's any booking of the afternoon on seventy minutes for a frustrated foul on Green as the pair challenged for a bouncing ball

 

Verma continued to be their best source of inspiration, showing more trickery to glide past Buckley on seventy-two minutes and force a corner kick out of Harrison at his near post

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With fifteen minutes remaining, the authoritative Grocott drove forwards out of midfield, taking the ball into acres of space left by a lack of covering players in white before playing Stevenson into space down the left. He eased past Kelly and played a low cross into the six-yard box that was begging to be turned home by Carr until Boucher made a smart save to deny him the chance

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This was only to delay the inevitable Leek third goal, however, with Carr rewarded for a fine individual display with the afternoon's final goal on seventy-eight minutes. Green once again capitalised on the gaping holes in the Hednesford midfield as he ran thirty yards with the ball unchallenged before slipping it through to Carr, who was given a ridiculous amount of time and space to take a couple of touches, work the ball onto his left foot and turn the ball past the horribly exposed Boucvher from twelve yards out. Appalling all round from the Pitmen, far too easy for the hosts

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Before the game could restart and both sides now resigned to the result, Leek made their second substitution of the game as Leek goalscoring legend Tim Grice replaced goalscorer Carr, who was warmly applauded off by the home crowd

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On eighty-two minutes, Leek made their final change of the afternoon as Reilly was brought off by Brehaut after a fine display in midfield and was replaced by ex-Everton man Tom Scully

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The Pitmen made a late double change to their side as midfielder Kaden May replaced Williams on eighty-seven minutes and was followed onto the pitch by Jack Sang, who came on in place of McQuilkin for the final minutes

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Another depressing result for the rock-bottom Pitmen, who just weren't in the contest after the break as Leek stepped it up in the second half to easily claim the points with an assertive display that the away side failed to cope with effectively. 1874 Northwich and Trafford had both seen their games called off, meaning the Pitmen did not lose any ground on the sides above them in the table but have played an extra game more than their relegation rivals. With this run of tough games now over, Harris's side now face a succession of games against sides directly above them in the table, starting with a home double-header against both 1874 Northwich and Newcastle Town in the next fortnight. Wins against their rivals become an absolute must, thus breaking their duck at Keys Park at long last before travelling to Trafford just before Christmas in another crucial six-pointer

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Leek Town: Visser, Buckley, Keenan, Green, Harrison, Watts (Ndene 56), Grocott ©, Reilly (Scully 82), Carr (Grice 79), Trickett-Smith, Stevenson ▆      Subs Unused: Asplin-Rowley, Avery

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Hednesford Town: Boucher, Yeomans, Kelly, Thorley ©, Sutton, Williams (May 87), Verma, McQuilkin (Sang 87), Niven ▆, Thompson, Morley (Gwilt 64)     Subs Unused: Griffiths, R. Brown

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