The Pitmen remain hot on the heels of new league leaders Hebburn Town this afternoon as they edge their way past Staffordshire rivals Leek Town at Keys Park

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Having seen Hebburn move a point clear at the top of the table in midweek, the Pitmen had moved to significantly strengthen their squad ahead of today's game with the signing of the vastly experienced Liam Kinsella from Cheltenham Town in midweek. Kinsella was one of three changes to the side that had started the 2-1 win over Stockton Town last weekend as he replaced Simeon Maye in midfield, with Ahkeem Rose also coming back in ahead of ex-Leek man Dan Trickett-Smith and Joel Taylor returning ahead of Niall Watson

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Leek had been continuing to hover just above the relegation zone after a mixed set of results over the festive period, including a 2-2 draw against fellow strugglers Hyde United in midweek. Manager Josh Grehaut made four changes to his Blues side from the one that had started the Hyde game as Liam Edwards came in for Julius Ndene, Billy Reeves replaced Jack Stafford, Ollie Shenton returned ahead of Adam Porter and Conner Heath replaced the unavailable Louis Potts. Brehaut had brought in Port Vale youngster Eddie Lake in on a month's loan ahead of the game, with the forward taking his place amongst the substitutes

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The hosts looked to make a strong start to proceedings, with Montel Gibson striking a warning shot at Leek goalkeeper Dino Visser's goal in the second minute; Taylor's left-wing cross was headed out as far as the striker, who struck his rising volley high over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area

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A minute later, Gibson tried the spectacular from twelve yards out as Ryan Wynter's long throw from the right found its way all the way through to the striker, whose attempted overhead kick from ten yards out dropped just wide of Visser's right-hand post

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Leek were content to play the Pitmen on the counter-attack, looking to play up to the lanky Heath and the pacy Tunde Owolabi. In the sixth minute, Olowabi made a driving run down the left, taking on Jamie Morgan and getting goal side of the right-back before running the ball over the byeline before he could strike an angled shot at goal

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A quick break from the Pitmen through the centre of the park on nine minutes saw Liam Buckley come across and snuff out the play, but sold Visser a little short with his backpass and very nearly played Gibson in on goal, relying on the onrushing Visser to intercept before Gibson could get a toe to the ball and poke it into the net from fifteen yards out

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Ollie Harrison - up against his former club - made a superb block to deny Owolabi a chance on twelve minutes, sticking a boot out to block Alex Hurst's low cross after good approach play from Lucas Weir

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Wynter picked up the game's first booking of the afternoon from referee Mr Constable on fourteen minutes, despite seemingly making a clean tackle to take the ball away from Heath to the left of the Hednesford penalty area. Heath whipped the ball into the back post from the resultant free-kick, forcing Breeden into a one-handed save to push the ball over the crossbar to his left to hand Leek their first corner kick of the afternoon

 

Weir sent over the resultant corner from the Leek right, forcing Breeden to punch the ball away from the head of Heath at the far post before Wynter could finally clear his lines

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Taylor was having a fine game down the left so far for the hosts, making several excellent runs on the overlap beyond Omari Sterling-James and looking to pick out the likes of Rose and Gibson. One such run on sixteen minutes saw him show Liam Buckley a clean set of heels with some clever footwork, sending over a fine ball that was a few inches too high for either of the two strikers to get on the end of inside the six-yard box

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Leek broke quickly on the counter three minutes later, with Owolabi looking to play Alex Hurst through on goal with a fine slide-rule pass for the midfielder to latch onto. However, the assistant on the main stand side felt that he had made a move a little too early and flagged Hurst for offside before the Crewe youngster could fire past Breeden

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Midway through a first half lacking in any real chances so far, Sterling-James tested the reflexes of veteran stopper Visser as he picked up a pass from Sheaf twenty-five yards from goal and struck a powerful low shot at goal that the South African stopper stopped down to his right, doing well to hold onto the ball at the second attempt as Sheaf looked to turn any rebound home from close-range

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A minute later, Owolabi did well to get clear of Harrison as he raced onto a pass from Weir, getting past the defender and looked to fire past Breeden, only to scuff his effort well wide as he lost his footing at the crucial moment

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The Pitmen struck the game's only goal of the afternoon on twenty-six minutes, as a moment of quality from Hussey at a corner kick opened up the Leek defence; the veteran's superb outswinging corner kick from the left was played deep the far post, where former Leek favourite Harrison rose highest to glance his effort beyond the reach of Visser and into the far corner of the net. It was Harrison's third goal of the season and his second against his former club, having notched a fine goal in the reverse fixture back in September

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The hosts looked to strike a quickfire second on the counter-attack on the half-hour mark as Sterling-James tested the reflexes of Visser once more, pulling the ball back across goal from an acute angle on the left that the Port Vale stopper claimed ahead of the incoming Rose

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Back came the visitors, with Lucas Weir letting fly from range on thirty-three minutes with an effort that took a nick off Harrison and went wide for a corner kick to Leek. The resultant ball in from Weir was met by Edwards, whose looping header at the far post cleared Breeden's crossbar from six yards out

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More good play from Taylor on thirty-six minutes saw the former Stoke City man streak past Buckley once more as he was played in by Sterling-James, only for his early cross to have a little too much on it and clear all three men in white shirts in the penalty area, catching them all out

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Hussey looked to deliver another quality ball into the box on the left with five minutes of the first period remaining as he was handed a free-kick for a foul on him by Weir. The defender's ball in looked to pick Harrison out once more at the far post, but the men in yellow shirts smuggled the ball clear of danger inside their own six-yard box

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Owolabi - a prolific step three striker in previous spells at the level with the likes of FC United of Manchester and Warrington Rylands - looked to get a shot away from the edge of the Hednesford penalty area on forty-two minutes, skipping past Wynter and firing in a low shot that was deflected behind by Harrison for another Leek corner kick

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​It hadn't been one for the purists so far, but the Pitmen had certainly been the better of the two sides at the break, creating more of the clear-cut chances and grabbing the key goal through Harrison to hold a deserved lead at half-time. Leek had looked to exploit the pace of Owolabi and the height of Heath, but had found the Pitmen's three centre-backs in typically commanding form so far

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Leek started the second half on the front foot, winning a corner on fifty-one minutes; Weir's ball into the six-yard box was met by defender Cullen Meadowcroft, but his downward effort was straight at a relieved Breeden - either side of the stopper and it would most likely have been 1-1

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Two minutes later, Breeden's long, raking free-kick from inside the Hednesford half picked out the run of Sterling-James, who brilliantly controlled the veteran stopper's pass before striking a volley at goal from eight yards out, forcing Visser into a superb save down to his left to push the ball away and deny the forward a certain goal

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Leek were enjoying plenty of the ball in the Hednesford half of the pitch without really hurting the home side, much in the same way as the game at Harrison Park earlier in the season; Olowabi made another good run down the left for the Blues on fifty-six minutes, probing and looking to get past Harrison as he entered the penalty area before Jamie Morgan made a superb sliding challenge to take the ball away from the stiker before he could get a shot away

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On the hour mark, Sterling-James went across to take a corner on the right-hand side for the Pitmen, delivering a fine ball into the box that was flicked goalward by Harrison and deflected narrowly over the crossbar by Buckley on his own goal line

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Visser kept his side in contention again with another brilliant stop midway on sixty-four minutes to deny Taylor, somehow managing to tip the left-back's rising shot onto the crossbar after Rose had chipped a cross to the far post for the Hednesford number three to run onto, ten yards from goal

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After clearing Hussey's corner kick, Leek broke on the counter through Owolabi, whose ball forward sent Hurst away; however, some brilliant last-ditch defending by the ever-reliable Morgan saw him jockey Hurst away from his central position before making the block tackle and clearing the danger

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The Pitmen made their first substitution of the afternoon three minutes later as the out-of-luck Rose came off and was replaced by the willing running of Dan Turner

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Sterling-James was unlucky once more as he looked to follow up his maiden Hednesford goal last week with a killer second this afternoon on sixty-nine minutes, attempting a cheeky lob back over the head of Visser after the stopper's initial punch away had fallen to the forward twenty-five yards from goal. However, the St. Kitts & Nevis international didn't get enough purchase on the ball and sent it wide of goal as Visser frantically backtracked

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Owolabi continued to look to be Leek's most likely route to goal as he was sent clear by some good play from Reeves on seventy-two minutes, getting himself into a shooting position but lifting his effort high and wide of Breeden's goal as he struck a shot off-balance from eighteen yards out

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With fifteen minutes remaining, both sides made a substitution each as Trickett-Smith came on in place of the industrious Sheaf in the attacking midfield role, whilst Leek made their first change as Stafford came on for Buckley down the right

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Two minutes later, Brehaut made a quickfire second change of the afternoon as former Stoke City and Chorley forward Shenton was replaced by Porter up front

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Gibson - still looking for his first goal in six league games - almost produced a moment of magic on eighty-three minutes as Breeden's long punt forward caught the Leek defence ball-watching, allowing Gibson to nip in and control the bouncing ball behind Meadowcroft before attempting a lob over the head of the onrushing Visser, clearing the stopper but getting a little too much on it as the ball landed on top of the net

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Two minutes later, a cross from Tom Curl was headed back across goal by Heath to Owolabi, whose first-time volley from an angle flew high and wide of Breeden's right-hand post

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With time starting to run out for Leek to conjure up a late equaliser, the away side rolled the dice once more on eighty-seven minutes as Hayden Campbell replaced Hurst in midfield

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Olawabi's race was run as the game moved into six added minutes, with the hard-running forward making way for new boy Lake for the final moments of the game

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Turner looked to put the game to bed for the hosts in the first minute of added time as he got on the end of a Gibson cross from the right, but could only sidefoot the ball towards goal from six yards out and handed Visser an easy save down to his left

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The visitors felt that they had a very strong case for a very late penalty kick deep into added time as a long ball forward from Edwards was flicked on by Heath to find the run of Campbell, who went down under a challenge with Harrison as the pair entered the penalty area. Despite strong claims from the men in yellow that Campbell had had his shirt pulled by Harrison, Mr Constable waved away the protests and even booked Weir for taking his protests a little too far

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A satisfying three points for the Pitmen, who had once again controlled large parts of the game without really stamping their authority on it, yet again relying on one pivotal moment to swing the game in their favour rather than pressing to kill the game off in the second half. With both of the top two winning, a gap is starting to open up behind them due to FC United of Manchester's defeat at Morpeth Town, leaving them six points behind the Pitmen. Next week's crucial set of fixtures sees the Pitmen make the tough trip to play-off chasing Gainsborough Trinity, whilst Hebburn have a more straightforward game at home to Stocksbridge Park Steels

Hednesford Town: Breeden ©, Morgan, Taylor, Hussey, Harrison, Wynter ▆, Sheaf ▆ (Trickett-Smith 75), Kinsella, Gibson, Sterling-James, Rose (Turner 67)    Subs unused: Watson, Labadie, Parke

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Leek Town: Visser ©, Buckley (Stafford 75), Curl, Meadowcroft, Edwards, Reeves, Hurst (Campbell 87), Shenton (Porter 77), Heath, Owolabi (Lake 90), Weir ▆     Sub unused: Dickinson

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