An extraordinary afternoon at Keys Park sees the in-form Pitmen put Morecambe to the sword with a free-scoring display to lift them into the top five of the National League North table

 

Still on a high from last weekend's excellent win at Chester, Kelvin Davis's side returned to Keys Park for a home double-header boosted by the return of defender Niall Maher from a long-term injury, with the former Eastleigh defender added to the substitutes' bench for today's game. On the pitch, there was one change to the side that started at the Deva Stadium as Dylan Mottley-Henry replaced the suspended Omari Sterling-James on the right flank

 

Morecambe were also in a fine run of form, with Adam Lakeland's side making their first trip to Keys Park in over twenty-six years off the back of three successive league wins. Lakeland made two changes to his side from the one that had started last Saturday's 2-0 win over Scarborough Athletic as Isaac Buckley-Ricketts came in for Ben Williams and Taelor O'Kane replaced Marcus Neill

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With both sides well backed by their supporters, it was the visitors who made the stronger start to proceedings with the first chance of the game falling to Jake Cain in the second minute;  a strong run down the left flank from Buckley-Ricketts saw him send in a cross that was cleared by George Ward as far as Cain, whose rushed effort from the edge of the penalty area sailed over Will Murdock's crossbar

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Two minutes later, another strong run down the left, this time from on-loan Stoke City full-back Ruben Curley, saw him get the better of Jamie Morgan and drive a low cross into the six-yard box, where Paul Lewis was within a whisker of getting a touch and turning the ball home as he made a late run at the far post

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The Pitmen looked to use Mottley-Henry's direct running to good effect down the right, with the former Chester man making a driving run past Curley in the seventh minute and standing up a cross for Aaron Jarvis that was claimed by Morecambe stopper Myles Boney

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Mottley-Henry's strong start to the game bore fruit for the hosts in the thirteenth minute as he opened the scoring; George ward's forward header found Cooke, whose run towards the box was ended by a tackle from Paul Lewis. The ball ran kindly for Mottley-Henry, who got goal side of Curley and thumped a low shot beyond the reach of Boney and found the far corner of the net from eighteen yards out

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Things got even better for Mottley-Henry and the hosts just two minutes later as the winger doubled the Pitmen's lead with another forceful run down the right. Taking the ball forward on the halfway line, Mottley-Henry powered past Curley and into acres of space, sizing up the oncoming Boney before once again placing a shot beyond the stopper's reach and into the far corner of the net from sixteen yards out

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Mottley-Henry was running riot on the right flank, drawing a foul out of the hapless Curley on eighteen minutes after another driving run past the left-back. Cooke's ball in was aimed at the head of Jarvis, whose effort was deflected behind for a corner kick 

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Murdock was called upon to make another one of his wonderful instinctive saves midway through the first half, making a brilliant save low down to his right-hand side to turn a Buckley-Ricketts header away from goal, preventing the forward from scoring a certain goal after a good cross from Elliott Newby on the right flank

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More pressure from the Pitmen down the right saw them earn back-to-back corners on twenty-eight minutes, with the second Cooke corner cleared as far as Lenni Cirino, who made a driving run back into the box and sent over a delicious low cross that skipped right across the face of the Morecambe goal and away from danger

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Cooke created a similar chance for the home side five minutes later, making a darting run down the left and drilling a fine ball back across the face of goal, where Jarvis was caught on his heels and just couldn't quite make contact from close-range

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Two minutes later, Cirino - having time and space to run into down the left on several occasions in the half - made yet another powerful drive into the box and stood up a cross to the far post, where Mottley-Henry looked to head the ball home from a tight angle but was denied by a desperate clearance off the goal line by Hogan

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The ever-willing Cooke took full advantage of some defensive dithering from Morecambe to put the home side in dreamland on thirty-seven minutes as the striker raced onto a lofted pass from Jai Curran-Nicholls, turning past half-hearted challenges from Hogan and Coxe before firing past Boney from eighteen yards out to make it 3-0

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Morecambe struck straight back, however, and reduced the deficit back to two goals on forty-one minutes as a flowing move involving O'Kane and Daly worked the ball across the pitch to the incoming Curley, who fired past Murdock from ten yards out despite the stopper's best efforts to keep the ball out

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The Shrimpers finished the half strongly, wth a lofted corner kick from Newby in added time met by the head of Cain at the far post, only for the ex-Swindon Town midfielder's effort at goal to be smuggled away by the hosts 

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It had been a fine forty-five minutes of play from the hosts, who had shown a ruthless streak in front of goal through the excellent Mottley-Henry and Cooke, tormenting a nervy and error-strewn Morecambe defence with a highly impressive attacking display. The Shrimpers had struggled with the home side's aggressive, pacy approach to the game and were perhaps a little lucky to still be in touch at the break thanks to Curley's late goal

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As expected, Morecambe started the second half on the front foot as they looked to play themselves back into the game with an early goal; Newby's ball in from the right on forty-eight minutes was met by the head of the towering Hogan, but his effort was straight at Murdock and made for an easy stop for the Manchester United loanee

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There were muted calls from the Pitmen for a penalty kick two minutes later as Cooke dribbled his way into the penalty area before taking a tumble under a challenge from Coxe, only for referee Mr Baines to gesture to the forward to get back to his feet

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Cooke got back to his feet and made amends with his next touch as he extended the Pitmen's lead a minute later; Liam Knisella picked the pocket of Cain thirty yards from goal and played the ball through to Cooke, who curled a wonderful angled shot beyond the reach of Boney and into the far corner of the net from twenty yards out. Another superb goal from the forward to add to his season's tally

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Now chasing down a three-goal deficit once more, Morecambe made their first change of the afternoon on fifty-three minutes as Australian forward Neill returned to the side in place of the experienced midfielder Newby

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Morecambe gave themselves another glimmer of hope with a second goal of the afternoon on fifty-seven minutes​ as good play down the left flank saw Curley play Matty Daly into space - his pull-back from the left byeline found Lewis, whose low, first-time shot beat Murdock down to his right and found the bottom corner of the net from twelve yards out

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Before play could restart, the Pitmen made their first change of the game up front as Jarvis - who had played a lot of football throughout October - was given a well-earned rest as he was replaced by David Abimbola

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A strong spell of pressure from Morecambe saw them launch a series of attacks down the right, with Buckley-Ricketts causing Cirino several problems with his pace and direct running. A run and shot from the former Peterborough United man on the hour mark saw his angled drive deflected just wide of the post and into the side netting for a corner kick

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Two minutes later, and following back-to-back corner kicks, the ball fell at the feet of Lewis at the far post, whose strike at goal from a tight angle ended up in the side netting to Murdock's right

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With Morecambe continuing to knock on the door down their right flank and create openings, Davis made the sensible move to shore up his left side on sixty-three minutes by bringing the more defensively-minded Joel Taylor on in place of Will Merry

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On sixty-eight minutes, Cooke completed a memorable hat-trick to put any lingering doubts the home crowd may have had about the result, sweeping the ball past Boney at his near post with a fine first-time finish after meeting Cirino's low cross from the left flank and getting in ahead of Lewis Baines

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Abimbola thought that he got in on the goalscoring act two minutes later as he received a pass from Cooke, turning and firing past Boney from just inside the box, only to be pulled up for an earlier offside flag against him in the build-up

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With fifteen minutes remaining, Maher made his long-awaited return to action after nearly three months out injured, coming on to play at right-back in place of Mottley-Henry in a move that saw Morgan pushed further up the pitch to play as the right midfielder

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Two minutes later, the visitors made a double personnel change as on-loan Everton defender Davis came on in place of Coxe and young forward Ronnie Blois replaced goalscorer Lewis

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Morgan - who had played just shy of eighty games for the club without scoring - finally got the goal that his efforts deserved on seventy-nine minutes as Cooke turned provider, whipping in a corner kick from the left to the near post, where Morgan stole a march on the Morecambe defence to nod past Boney at his near post. The reaction of the Heath Hayes terrace said it all as the right-back celebrated in front of a delighted home crowd - a more popular goalscorer you won't see anywhere

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Morecambe went close to grabbing a third goal for themselves on eighty-three minutes as a deep corner from the left by Cain was headed goalward by Hogan, only for his looping effort to come back off the top of the crossbar

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With the game starting to peter out and Morecambe now seemingly resigned to a heavy defeat, the Pitmen brought on Sonny Sharples in the centre of midfield on eighty-five minutes as the excellent Curran-Nicholls was replaced

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Abimbola was wasteful with a good chance handed to him from a Cirino cross a minute later, tamely heading wide of goal from a good position after rising to meet the left-back's outswinging cross

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With a minute of normal time remaining, the Shrimpers made the final change of a miserable afternoon as youth team graduate Lennon Dobson came on in the centre of midfield for Cain

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Dobson was immediately involved as he made a run down the right and crossed for Daly, whose first-time shot was straight down the throat of the composed figure of Murdock

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Three minutes into added time, Murdock made another good save, narrowing the angle at his near post to push an angled shot from Teddy Collis away from goal after the striker had got goal side of Cirino in the box

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A hugely impressive and absolutely clinical display from the home side, who had been ruthless throughout the ninety minutes against a Morecambe side that struggled to handle the Pitmen's powerful running and aggressive pressing throughout. Seven wins from nine games move Davis's side up to the heady height of fifth place in the table, only two points behind second-placed Hereford and still only five points off table-topper South Shields. It's a well-earned break from the rigours of the National League North next weekend when the Pitmen play host to National League South side Hemel Hempstead Town in the second round of this season's F.A. Trophy

Hednesford Town: Murdock, Morgan, Williams ©, Cooke, Jarvis (Abimbola 56), Mottley-Henry (Maher 75), Kinsella, Cirino, Curran-Nicholls (Sharples 85), Ward, Merry (Taylor 63)      Subs unused: Hornby, Langston, Hayden

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Morecambe: Boney, Coxe (Davis 77), Hogan ©, Baines, Daly, Newby (Neill 53), Buckley-Ricketts (Collis 69), Lewis (Blois 77), O'Kane, Cain (Dobson 89), Curley      Subs unused: Tonge, Garner

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