​The Pitmen’s poor week of results continues this afternoon as they crash to a second away defeat in five days upon their first ever visit to Northumberland to face Morpeth Town

 

Gavin Hurren’s side were still licking their wounds from Tuesday night’s humbling at Prescot Cables, ending their 100% start to the season in the process. Hurren was shorn of four key names ahead of their trip up to the North East as Dom McHale, Elliott Johnson, Nathan Blissett and Joe Doyle-Charles all missing out due knocks picked up in Tuesday’s defeat. With this in mind, there were six changes to today’s starting XI as Joel Taylor, Chris Hussey, Simeon Maye, Kieron Freeman, Ahkeem Rose and Dan Turner all came into the side in place of Johnson, Joss Labadie, Dan Trickett-Smith, Joe Doyle-Charles, McHale and Niall Watson. Jake Jervis - not involved in any of the previous four matchday squads so far this term - was included as one of the substitutes

 

Morpeth had found the going tough in the first few games of the season, remaining pointless going into today’s game after a 1-0 defeat at home to Lancaster City in midweek. Manager Craig Lynch made just the one change to his starting XI as Jeff Henderson replaced Josh Robson in defence, also taking the captain’s armband from the former Blyth Spartans man at the same time

 

Despite this being the Pitmen’s longest trip for the season, the away supporters turned out in their numbers once more to get behind their side. They were very nearly greeted with an early goal to celebrate as Freeman’s first-minute corner kick on the right was played right onto the head of Ryan Wynter, whose header cleared he crossbar by a matter of inches

 

Two minutes later, Taylor made a marauding run down the left flank, taking Hussey’s ball forward and drifting past Rhys Evans, crossing well towards Jonny Edwards but seeing his ball in collected by giant Morpeth stopper Dan Langley at his near post

 

The men in mint green continued to make all of the early pressing, with Turner doing brilliantly to pick the pocket of Joel Holvey in the sixth minute and twist and turn just inside the penalty area, pulling the ball back into the path of Jamie Morgan, who saw his angled effort blocked

 

Langley had to be alert once more in the ninth minute, making a timely interception just in front of the incoming Edwards as Turner once again showed great skill and desire to get past Holvey down the left and cross into the box

 

Hussey’s return to the side saw him assume responsibility for the team’s set-pieces, with the veteran sending over a searching corner kick in the eleventh minute that was flicked on by Wynter and fell at the feet of Maye, whose first-time effort from the edge of the penalty area sailed over the crossbar

 

Two minutes later, Rose got a run on Henderson and beat the defender to Hussey’s deep cross from the left, heading up and over the crossbar from ten yards out

 

Edwards did well to hold off the attentions of Josh King in the sixteenth minute, getting in front of the defender as he latched onto Freeman’s pass but saw his attempted shot blocked on the edge of the Morpeth penalty area. The hosts broke quickly on the counter, with French winger Cyril Giraud getting the better of Wynter down the left and crossed for Sam Hodgson, whose angled drive across goal drifted just wide of Tony Breeden’s right-hand post

 

Freeman was left to rue a momentary lapse of judgement in the nineteenth minute as some neat interplay in and around the Morpeth box saw the Welsh international create some space for himself; however, he delayed his effort and allowed King to make a timely block tackle on the midfielder

 

Midway through the first half, Morgan was brought down by Holvey to the right of the Morpeth penalty area; Hussey’s delivery into the box was once again aimed at Edwards, but the all in in was far too close to the 6ft 8” presence of Langley, who made the claim under very little pressure for the away side. Disappointing

 

The hosts had very much been second best up to this point, but had the best chance of the first period so far on twenty-five minutes as Holvey made his way forward or left-back to send over a pin-point delivery for the former South Shields striker to attack, heading powerfully towards goal and forcing Breeden into a flying save to his right to turn the ball over for a corner kick

 

Henderson picked up the game’s first booking from referee Mr Dutton on the half hour mark after having manhandled Morgan to the floor down the Hednesford right

 

Turner showed more neat footwork just inside the Morpeth penalty area on thirty-three minutes, turning back and forth as he looked to shake off the attentions of Holvey before setting the ball back into the path for Rose, who delayed his initial shot and was to be denied by another timely block from Dan Myers twenty yards from goal

 

Three minutes later, Rose finally found his range from eighteen yards out with a bobbling effort all along the ground that was easily fielded by Langley after good approach play from Hussey and Taylor down the left

 

A rare foray into Hednesford territory on forty minutes saw Will Dowling earn his side a free-kick thirty yards from goal; a deep cross from the right by the same player looked to pick out Hodgson at the far post, only for Wynter to make a timely header clearance inside his own six-yard box

 

The Pitmen continued to be wasteful with their set-pieces, as Hussey’s free-kick a minute later dropped straight into the gloves of Langley once more, again under no pressure whatsoever for any opposing player inside his six-yard box

 

The away side finished the half strongly as they looked to force home an opener, with several phases of the same move on forty-four minutes eventually saw Freeman play Edwards in on goal, who was subsequently penalised for a foul on King before he could get a shot away

 

It had been a dominant first-half display from the Pitmen in terms of possession and territory, but they had failed to conjure up much in the way of clear-cut chances and could have actually have been behind had Breeden not made his timely stop to deny Hodgson

 

Many of the away fans will have expected the Pitmen to pick up their game at the start of the second half - much in the same way as they had done in their first three league games - but were left dismayed at what was to prove to be another pedestrian forty-five minutes of football that was to cost them dearly. Hurren gave his side only six minutes of largely stop-start football at the start of the second period before making his first change of the afternoon on fifty-one minutes, surprisingly hooking the hard-working Turner and bringing on Trickett-Smith

 

Good interplay involving Morgan and Trickett-Smith two minutes later saw the right-back get himself to the bye line and pull the ball back into the danger zone; King did well to beat Edwards to the ball and did just enough to divert the cross away from the striker and into the arms of Langley

 

On fifty-five minutes, the Pitmen looked to employ a new tactic in their search of a goal as Wynter unleashed along throw from out on the right, finding the head of defensive partner Ollie Harrison at the near post - his flick-on was looped up by Rose, whose effort dipped narrowly over the crossbar and onto the roof of the net

 

Morpeth responded with a free-kick from Holvey on fifty-seven minutes that was partially cleared by the Pitmen back to Giraud on the left; his recycled cross picked out King at the far post, whose header back across goal was glanced just wide by Henderson from close-range

 

Harrison went close for the Pitmen just before the hour mark, getting his head to Hussey’s deep free-kick from the left but glancing his effort just wide of Langley’s left-hand post

 

The game’s key moment came on sixty-three minutes as the hosts took the lead against the run of play; Taylor allowed King to drift in behind him down the right, with his low cross finding Myers on the edge of the box - his intitial shot was blocked before the midfielder got his shot off at the second attempt, forcing Breeden into a good parry down to his right. The ball ran kindly to Will Dowling, whose shot back across goal from a tight angle found the net at the far post as he suffocated his effort beyond the reach of the veteran stopper

 

Hurren had already been prepping Jervis to come on, even before the Morpeth goal, sending the veteran striker on before play could restart as he replaced Edwards as the target man. Another wholly unconvincing and disappointing afternoon from the summer signing up front

 

Looking for an immediate response, Morgan went close to an instant leveller for the visitors a minute after the restart after Rose had done well down the left, bustling his way past Evans and crossing to the far post, where Morgan arrived late to head just wide of Langley’s left-hand post

 

There was a fairly optimistic shout for a penalty kick from the Pitmen on sixty-seven minutes as man of the match Morgan made his way into the penalty area before taking a tumble under Henderson’s challenge. The decision from Mr Dutton was to award the Pitmen a corner kick instead, with Trickett-Smith’s inswinging delivery headed inches wide of the far post by Taylor, who was stretching to reach the ball 

 

The Pitmen certainly had the bit between their teeth at this juncture, with Jervis forcing Langley into a save on his line two minutes later, heading Harrison’s flick-on straight at the stopper from eight yards out after another Wynter long throw from the right had found the head of the former Leek Town centre-back

 

Langley denied Maye a minute later, making a less intensive save to deny the midfielder after a cross from Hussey on the left was met by the head of Maye from twelve yards out

 

In a bid to inject some pace and urgency to his shot-shy attack, Hurren elected to bring on Watson on seventy-two minutes as the forward replaced Taylor in a straight swap down the left flank

 

With fifteen minutes remaining, a quick counter-attack from Morpeth down the centre of the pitch saw King feed Giraud, who in turn played Hodgson into space in behind Harrison. However, his subsequent effort lacked power and was easily fielded by Breeden

 

Morpeth made their first change of the afternoon on seventy-eight minutes as Robson made a quick return to the field of play as he replaced right-back Evans for the final minutes

 

Robson was involved straightaway for the Highwaymen on eighty-one minutes as neat interplay between him and Billy Gordon saw them supply a pass into the feet of the hard-running Hodgson, who beat Hussey to the ball but dragged his shot wide of the base of Breeden’s right-hand post

 

Harrison joined Henderson in Mr Dutton’s book with five minutes of the game remaining as he was penalised for a foul on Giraud twenty-five yards from the Hednesford goal

 

With time swiftly running out for the Pitmen, the away side looked to turn the screw in the final minutes with several good pieces of yield-up play in and around the Morpeth penalty area. On eighty-seven minutes, Trickett-Smith whipped in a free-kick from the left that was nervously punched away by Langley inside his six-yard box as Jervis looked to attack the ball in the air. The ball dropped kindly for Rose on the edge of the box, but yet more infuriating dithering from the striker saw him elect to take an extra touch rather than strike the ball, allowing Morpeth to regroup and clear their lines

 

In the final minute of normal time, Langley punched a Trickett-Smith corner up in the air and was reliant on some stoic defending from the Morpeth back line to block follow-up efforts from both Morgan and Rose to finally clear the danger

 

In a bid to run the clock down in the six minutes added by Mr Dutton, the hosts made a double change as Matty Griggs came on for Hodgson and Ryan Chater replaced Giraud

 

Although it had been a vastly improved display from Tuesday’s horror show at Prescot, the Pitmen’s inability to take their chances had cost them more valuable points against what had even a spirited but limited Morpeth side, picking up their first points of the season against a one-paced Hednesford side. Attention now turns to Bank Holiday Monday and a big early season clash with local rivals Rushall Olympic at Keys Park; there will have to be a significant improvement in the final third of the pitch if they are to get themselves back to winning ways

 

Morpeth Town: Langley, Evans (Robson 78), Holvey, Henderson © ▆, King, Myers, Gordon, Dowling, Hodgson (Griggs 90), James, Giraud (Chater 90)     Subs unused: M. Brown, Chungh 

 

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Taylor (Watson 72), Wynter, Harrison ▆, Hussey ©, Maye, Freeman, Edwards (Jervis 65), Rose, Turner (Trickett-Smith 51)     Subs unused: Labadie, R. Brown

​