The Pitmen remain in a precarious position towards the foot of the Northern Premier League West table this evening after another dreadful display and result, this time allowing Mossley to take all three points at Keys Park and help to allay their own fears of the drop

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It had been over two weeks between games for Harry Harris's side, who had been stung by criticism from some sections of the fanbase after a toothless display at Potters Park two Fridays previously. Harris had been busy wheeling and dealing in the market during the fifteen-day break from action, allowing Ryan Boothe, Ritchie Sutton, Demetri Brown and Kayden May to depart whilst bringing in five new faces; the most notable addition was that for former Aston Villa and England U21 striker Nathan Delfouneso, followed into the club by fellow forward Jake Jervis, returning goalkeeper Ryan Brown, former Bromsgrove Sporting player/manager Mike McGrath - also making a return to the club - and young right-back Blaine Rowe from Vanarama National League North side Darlington. Only Delfouneso and McGrath made it into today's starting XI, with Brown on the bench, with Jervis and Rowe both ruled out due to other circumstances. Delfouneso replaced the departed Boothe up front, whilst McGrath slotted into the midfield role as he came in for Rackeem Reid. The final of three changes was at the back as Callam Mendez-Jones was passed fit once more to come in for Josh Endall at centre-back

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Mossley had slipped down the table from their relatively safe mid-table position in early January to fifteenth place in the current table ahead of today's game. A 2-1 win against Chasetown in midweek had arrested a slide in form that had seen Dave Fish's side fail to win any of their last six games. Fish made only one change to his Lilywhites side for their trip down to South Staffordshire as young FC Halifax loanee Justin Iwobi came in ahead of Jamal Crawford to make his Mossley debut

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On a mild mid-February afternoon, both sides were slow to get into the game as the ball was bogged down in the midfield areas early on. Jai Verma - looking to get into the game after a string of quiet performances - picked up a pass from Ahmed Ali in the third minute and teased his way past Jack Grundy down the left but saw his low cross diverted behind for an early corner kick to the hosts

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Mossley responded with the game's first half-chance in the sixth minute for Alfie Belcher as Luke Barlow broke into the Hednesford half from deep before spraying the ball out to the unmarked Belcher on the right flank. The former Trafford midfielder looked to send over what was presumed to be a cross that ended up sailing high and wide of Kieran Boucher's left-hand post as the stopper came across to cover

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Belcher was involved for the away side once more in the ninth minute after Hednesford skipper Ali had hauled down Ben Darby thirty yards from goal. Belcher elected to take the resultant free-kick and curled a right-footed effort over the wall but a couple of yards wide of Boucher's right-hand post

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Ali's early aggression in midfield was to earn the Somalia International a booking in the eleventh minute as he was cautioned for a trip on Belcher by referee Mr Dingle. Belcher's ball into the box - from virtually the same position as the one two minutes earlier - had a little too much on it and was claimed by Boucher at his far post ahead of the giant Iwobi

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The visitors were very much having the better of the opening exchanges, although they were struggling to find their shooting boots in the final third of the pitch. On thirteen minutes, Iwobi did well to spin past Mendez-Jones and lay the ball off to Tyler Berry, whose wild first-time effort sailed high over the crossbar and into the small band of Mossley fans gathered in the Heath Hayes terrace

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The Pitmen had to wait until the fifteenth minute of the game to register anything even remotely approaching a shot in anger as Delfouneso and Tom Thorley linked up to lay the ball off to veteran utility man McGrath, who was allowed time and space to take the ball forwards before dragging his effort from twenty-five yards out well wide of Fin Madigan's left-hand post

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Three minutes later, Jack Kelly came across to take a free-kick thirty yards from goal and lifted the ball into the box, where Mendez-Jones flicked the ball harmlessly wide under pressure from a group of claret and blue shirts

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On twenty-one minutes, Berry ended up in a heap on the floor after coming off worst in a clash with Mendez-Jones ten yards inside the Hednesford half. After a lengthy spell of treatment, the striker was forced off and replaced by Crawford

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Verma looked to get his misfiring side going with some wing wizardry out on the left on twenty-seven minutes, turning past Grundy twice as he tricked his way to the byeline before seeing his intended cross towards Delfoueneso turned behind for a corner by Barlow. Thorley played a short corner to the unmarked Verma on the corner of the penalty area, only for his cross to be deflected away from goal by the visitors

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Three minutes later, patient build-up play from Hednesford saw Verma, Delfouneso and Kelly all involved in teeing up Thorley on the edge of the box, only for the veteran midfielder to shoot well, well wide of goal as he was put under pressure by the experienced Mark Lees

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Mossley goalkeeper Madigan was called upon for the first time in the afternoon on thirty-three minutes as Hednesford were awarded a free-kick forty yards from goal after Dan Gyasi had drawn a foul out of Darren Holden. Jack Kelly's deep ball into the box was met by the head of Sam Griffiths, who saw Madigan tip his effort onto the crossbar before Mossley scrambled the ball clear of danger

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A quick break from the Pitmen down the left on thirty-six minutes saw Verma scamper away as he got on the end of Kelly's pass before trying to play Delfouneso in on goal with an angled pass. However, the former Blackpool striker had moved a little too early and was flagged for offside by the assistant on the Wimblebury side of the ground

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The Pitmen went close to breaking the deadlock once more on forty-two minutes as Kelly's inswinging corner from the right was met by Ali, whose glancing header beat Madigan but came back off the crossbar before the goalkeeper punched Verma's return cross away from goal before Ali could get to the rebound

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Kelly followed Ali into Mr Dingle's notebook a minute before half-time as he brought down the lively Belcher on the Mossley right, handing the visitors a free-kick high up the pitch and some respite from the late pressure on their goal from the hosts

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It had been a low-quality first period from two sides that looked to be struggling to turn chances into goals as both midfields had been on top throughout. 38-year-old McGrath was proving to be an inspired acquisition for the hosts, breaking up play well and moving the ball forwards quickly when he had the chance to

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Having conceded early second-half goals in both of the last two league games, the Pitmen avoided making it a hat-trick as they remained stoic at the back for the first ten minutes of the second half. However, they remained too pedestrian and lacking in inspiration in the final third, with Kelly's cross into the danger zone on fifty minutes easily headed away at the far post by Holden as Gyasi failed to track the ball into the box

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Mossley created a half chance for themselves just five minutes into the second half as Kelly's clearance dropped for Crawford, who knocked the ball down into the path of Belcher. The talented playmaker looked to lift his shot from the edge of the area over the head of Boucher but only clipped his effort high over the crossbar

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On fifty-three minutes, Verma found his feet once more with another one of his darting runs in from the left, skipping past two tackles before striking a scuffed effort with his right foot from the edge of the penalty area that was easily fielded by Madigan

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Two minutes later, Belcher's inswinging corner kick from the right somehow missed everybody in the six-yard box and drifted out of play beyond Boucher's right-hand post as everybody was caught ball-watching

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Neat play from Verma once more on fifty-seven minutes saw the winger come inside from the left once more, getting himself to the byeline and turning the ball into the path of Delfouneso, whose clever flick into the far post was perhaps a little too clever for his new team-mates who weren't yet on his wavelength which allowed Mossley to hack the ball clear from danger

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The Pitmen made a double change to their personnel a minute later, although many inside Keys Park couldn't quite work out Harris's game plan as the more defensively-minded duo of James McQuilkin and Endall came on in place of Ali and Max Martin

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Mossley countered this with a change of their own on sixty-three minutes as former Rochdale youngster Keaton Mulvey came on in place of Darby on the left flank

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Midway through the second half, the Pitmen rolled the dice one final time as the out-of-form Thorley was taken off and replaced by Reid, prompting some ironic cheers from the Heath Hayes terrace who felt that the change should have happened a little sooner. This saw the Pitmen move to a more attacking 4-2-4 formation with Reid joining Delfouneso up front, supported by Gyasi and Verma on either side with McGrath and McQuilkin in midfield

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The athletic Mendez-Jones made a superb block tackle to keep the Pitmen in contention on sixty-eight minutes as Belcher broke clear of a static Hednesford defence down the left but was denied a shot at goal as he dithered momentarily, allowing the former West Brom defender to make a last-ditch sliding tackle and take the ball away

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A minute later, Mulvey picked up Mossley's first caution of the afternoon as he crudely brought Gyasi down inside the Hednesford half to stop the winger from breaking into space. It was a caution that was to prove costly for the young substitute later on in the game

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More set-piece wastefulness from the Pitmen on seventy-three minutes saw Gyasi win a free-kick to the right-hand side of the Mossley penalty area, which Kelly got far too much on and tamely chipped it into the hands of Madigan, much to the ire of the home fans as targets like Delfouneso, Endall and Reid were all lined up to attack the ball at the far post

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Mossley grabbed the all-important opening goal of the afternoon with thirteen minutes remaining as a quick throw on the right saw Belcher quickly switch play with a ball out to the unmarked Mulvey on the left. The winger tricked his way past Griffiths before firing an angled shot beyond the reach of Boucher and into the far corner of the net

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With something to cling onto in the latter exchanges, the Lilywhites made their final change of the afternoon on seventy-nine minutes as the lanky Iwobi came off and was replaced by the more defensive-minded Sam Adetiloye

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Mulvey's memorable cameo for Mossley continued on eighty minutes as the Pitmen were awarded a free-kick inside their own half after a push on Gyasi from Holden. Mulvey elected to petulantly kick the ball away in full view of Mr Dingle, who showed the substitute a second yellow card for dissent. Seventeen minutes of action, one goal and two yellow cards for the player. Impressive stuff

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Despite their numerical advantage, the Pitmen continued to struggle to make any inroads in the Mossley defence as the visitors simply put two banks of four in front of their opponents in the final ten minutes of play. On eighty-three minutes, Verma did well to work the ball onto his right foot just outside the penalty area with some tricky footwork but saw his well-struck effort blocked by Barlow

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Three minutes later, a short corner kick from McQuilkin on the left found Kelly, whose deep cross was headed up in the air by Endall at the far post but eventually cleared by the away side

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The Pitmen were camped inside the Mossley third of the pitch for much of the five minutes of added time, with Delfouneso handed the home side's best chance to equalise in the second of those five minutes; Verma's slide-rule pass found the overlapping Kelly down the left, whose stood up a fine cross that Delfouneso headed towards goal, only to be denied by a fingertip save from Madigan as he pushed the ball over the crossbar for a corner kick

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Kelly's quickly-taken corner kick was worked across the face of goal and into the path of Verma once more, whose powerfully struck effort from eighteen yards out skimmed the top of Madigan's crossbar

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The final whistle was greeted with a chorus of boos from around the ground from a disgruntled and frustrated home support, who had watched their team out-battled, out-fought and dominated in the physical battles by a limited, but spirited, Mossley side. The pressure will be on Harris to produce a swift response from his struggling side when they visit play-off chasing Runcorn Linnets on Saturday. With only ten games remaining this season, his side desperately needs another run of positive form akin to the one they went on in early January, otherwise the threat of step five football now looms large over this once-great club

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Hednesford Town: Boucher, Griffiths, Kelly ▆, Thorley (Reid 66), Mendez-Jones, McGrath, Verma, Ali © ▆ (Endall 58), Delfouneso, Gyasi, Martin (McQuilkin 58)   Subs Unused: Thompson, Brown

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Mossley: Madigan, Grundy, Holden, Shepherd, Lees, Barlow, Hickman, Darby (Mulvey 63 ▆▆ (80)), Iwobi (Adetiloye 79), Belcher, Berry (Crawford 24)      Subs Unused: Dickin, Sherratt

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