The Pitmen are brought back down to earth with a bump this evening as they are handed a well-deserved first defeat of the season by hosts Prescot Cables this evening

 

Having moved to the top of the Northern Premier League at the weekend courtesy of a 2-0 win over Workington, manager Gavin Hurren was forced into two changes to his side for their trip up to Merseyside; Chris Hussey was unavailable and replaced by Dan Trickett-Smith, whilst Niall Watson was preferred to Akheem Rose up front

 

Cables remained goalless in their first three league games, having drawn 0-0 against both Stockton Town and Ashton United before losing 2-0 at Ilkeston Town at the weekend. Manager Steven Daley made four changes to his goal-shy side as Finlay Cross-Adair, James Devine, James Foley and Ben Elliott all came in for Peter Clarke, Tom Scully, John Murphy and Tony Donaldson

 

In front of a healthy late August crowd, boosted by another excellent away following, the men in mint green went close to opening the scoring inside the first three minutes; good approach play down the right saw Jamie Morgan and Trickett-Smith combine to set up Dom McHale, whose left-footed effort skimmed the base of goalkeeper Calvin Hare’s right-hand post

 

With their first foray into the Hednesford half, Prescot stole into the lead two minutes later as they finally broke their goalscoring duck for the season. A long ball over the top of the Hednesford defence was played out to Cross-Adair, who seemed to have all the time in the world to pick out striker Elliott in the box, pulling the ball back across goal for the former West Didsbury & Chorlton man to fire home past Tony Breeden with a first-time effort from close range

 

Morgan - looking to make progress down the right on a terribly brown, dry and bobbly Hope Street pitch - took McHale’s back heel down the flank in the eighth minute and sent over a delightful cross to the far post that was just too much for Jonny Edwards to be able to attack inside the six-yard box

 

Hare had to be alert to the danger posed by the visitors in the tenth minutes, racing off his line to deny Trickett-Smith a clear shot at goal after a loose back pass to him from Liam Hollett

 

The hosts were left wondering how they hadn’t doubled their advantage on sixteen minutes as they struck the woodwork; a free kick to the right-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area was taken by Jack Goodwin, whose curling effort looked to be heading for the top corner of the net until a combination of a touch from Breeden and the inside of the far post denied the midfielder a second for Prescot, with the Pitmen eventually scrambling the loose ball clear

 

Breeden was called into action once more three minutes later, making another save from a free-kick to push Franny Smith’s effort from twenty yards out away from goal to his right

 

However, the veteran stopper could do nothing to stop the home side from doubling their lead midway through the first period as the Pitmen’s disjointed defence was unpicked by Elliott once more. Hare’s quick distribution out of defence was key as he launched the ball into the Hednesford half, forcing Ryan Wynter into a miscued header that fell straight into the path of Elliott, who took a touch before guiding the ball past the exposed Breeden and into the far corner of the net

 

The Pitmen had been pedestrian, lazy and second to the ball throughout the first quarter of the game, with Trickett-Smith’s free-kick out on the left easily headed away by the Cables defence with no one in green even looking to compete for the ball. All too poor so far

 

McHale’s frustrations got the better of him on twenty-five minutes as he was rightly booked by referee Mr Langdon for a crude and late tackle on Matty Devine to stop the defender from breaking into the Hednesford half. The home fans and bench felt that McHale deserved further punishment for the challenge and made it known to the match official of their feelings

 

Shortly after the half-hour mark, good play from McHale on the right saw him trick his way past three challenges before being brought down by the excellent Foley. Trickett-Smith swung in the resultant free-kick to the far post, where Wynter looked to atone for his earlier error by heading goalwards but glanced his effort wide from eight yards out

 

Four minutes later, Trickett-Smith took a free-kick on the opposite side of the pitch after Watson had been fouled by Alex McNally. However, the playmaker’s ball in drifted over the heads of all of the big men arriving at the far post and dropped out of play for a Cables goal kick. Poor.

 

Foley and Elliott had been everywhere for the hosts, with Foley making a superb run down the right once more on thirty-six minutes and standing up a cross to the far post that Elliott looked to get on the end of, only to be denied by some alert defending from Morgan as Ollie Harrison struggled to clear his lines

 

Sixty seconds later, Watson did brilliantly to escape the attentions of McNally with a driving run down the left, chipping in another fine cross that was begging to be attacked by one of the front men. However, yet again, no one in mint green was able to take advantage of another excellent delivery from Watson and the ball was cleared by Hollett under no pressure whatsoever

 

The Pitmen looked to grab themselves a late goal at the end of a terrible first half display, with Labadie earning the visitors a free-kick twenty yards from goal on forty-three minutes after being bundled over by Foley. Trickett-Smith was wasteful again with his set-piece, however, as his clipped effort was easily headed clear by the Cables defence as he looked to pick out Edwards inside the six-yard box

 

McHale went incredibly close to reducing the deficit with the final action of the first half, drilling in a rising shot from just outside the penalty area that arrowed inches over the crossbar after Trickett-Smith’s free-kick from the right was headed into his path by Hollett’s partial clearance

 

It had been by far and away the Pitmen’s worst forty-five minutes of football so far this term, having struggled with a bright, vibrant Cables attack that had forced the visitors into rare individual errors at the back and completely blunted their hugely disappointing attackers in the process. Despite the obvious temptation to make changes at half-time, Hurren elected to stick with the same XI at the start of the second half and see if they could conjure up a response

 

Edwards looked to make a strong start to the second half, picking up a bouncing ball on the edge of the Prescot penalty area and barging his way past two challenges before seeing his effort blocked by the covering Matty Devine

 

Another good run from Watson down the left on fifty-two minutes saw the former Southport forward take a tumble just inside the penalty area under pressure from McNally; despite muted and not-very-convincing protests from the home players for a penalty kick, Mr Langdon gestured to Watson to get back on his feet and the game continued with the home side clearing their lines

 

A minute later, Trickett-Smith made a darting run into the box as he got on the end of a flowing Hednesford move from right to left, striking an angled shot at goal that looked to be goalbound until a vital last-ditch touch from Matty Devine turned the ball over the crossbar. Amazingly, neither referee nor assistant on the far side saw the touch from the Cables defender and awarded the hosts a goal kick, much to the disbelief of the away team and the supporters gathered behind Hare’s goal. An indication, perhaps, that it wasn’t going to be the Pitmen’s night

 

The Pitmen made the evening’s first substitution on fifty-seven minutes, with Watson sacrificed by Hurren as he elected to bring on the physical presence of Rose instead 

 

This was swiftly followed by the home side making their first change of the game on the hour mark as Cross-Adair was replaced by former Ramsbottom United midfielder Donaldson

 

The raft of substitutions kept coming, with the Pitmen making two further attacking changes of personnel on sixty-three minutes; Dan Turner came on to play as the left inside forward, surprisingly replacing Morgan in a move that saw Trickett-Smith drop into an unfamiliar right-back role, whilst big man Nathan Blissett came on to partner Edwards up front as he replaced the disappointing McHale

 

Elliott was still in the mood to complete his hat-trick, making another run in behind a static Hednesford defence on sixty-five minutes down the left but being denied by some excellent defending from Elliott Johnson, who came across from left-back to make a timely block and clearance

 

The Pitmen took the ball straight down the other end, with Trickett-Smith playing Edwards in on goal with a neat pass inside; Edwards’ powerful effort across goal forced Hare into an excellent save, diving full length to his right to palm the ball away from goal before McNally completed the clearance

 

The recent FA clampdown on time-wasting was to penalise Hare on sixty-seven minutes as the experienced former Marine stopper was booked by Mr Langdon for persistent time-wasting as he took far too long to take a goal kick

 

Substitutes Blissett and Rose combined to create a golden opportunity for the visitors on sixty-nine minutes as a towering header from Blissett dropped into the path of Rose, whose powerful snapshot across goal from twelve yards out beat the dive of Hare but flew inches wide of the goalkeeper’s right-hand upright. Close

 

The Pitmen’s inability to take any of their second half chances was to cost them dearly on seventy-one minutes as the excellent Elliott wrapped up his hat-trick with a killer third goal for the hosts; once again, it proved to be a rare defensive horror show for the Pitmen as a hopeful punt forward from Foley looked to be an easy claim for Harrison, who inexplicably allowed it to drift over his head and into the path of Elliott, who made a run in behind the defence before firing confidently past a horribly exposed Breeden

 

Before the Pitmen could restart the game, skipper Labadie - who had unusually been off the pace all evening long – was hauled off by the visitors and replaced by Maye in defensive midfield

 

Hare looked to preserve his clean sheet with a smart save to deny Turner on seventy-four minutes, turning the striker’s shot away at his near post for a corner kick after the substitute had worked the ball onto his right foot just inside the Cables' penalty area

 

Cable went close to making it 4-0 on eighty minutes as a quickly-taken corner kick from Donaldson caught the Pitmen napping, with the ball rolled into the feet of the unmarked Goodwin; his first-time effort from the edge of the penalty area was brilliantly parried by Breeden but only into the path of Elliott, who had only a fraction of a second to respond lifted his rebound over the crossbar from close-range

 

Two minutes later, another flowing move down the Prescot left saw Elliott exploit the space in behind Trickett-Smith to play in James Steele, with the former Widnes striker drilling in a low shot across goal that beat Breeden but skipped just wide of the stopper’s left-hand post

 

With five minutes remaining, the hosts made another personnel change as former Leek Town midfield man Scully came on in place of the hardworking Goodwin

 

A minute later, Wynter forced Hare into a fingertip save to turn the defender’s rising shot from the edge of the box over the crossbar for a corner kick to the Pitmen. Trickett-Smith’s floated corner kick from the right was cleared as far as Edwards, who shanked his first-time effort high over Hare’s crossbar, much to the frustration of the striker

 

Elliott was afforded a standing ovation from the home crowd on eighty-eight minutes as the Cables hat-trick hero was replaced for the remaining moments by Charley Doyle

 

This was followed just moments later with a fifth and final change for the home side as Steele was brought off and replaced by young defender Isaac Burgess, on a three-month loan to the club from Chester

 

All in all, a very bad day at the office for the Pitmen, whose experienced performers had failed to compete for most of the ninety minutes against a home side that had set up well and executed their plan well. The unrelenting pace of the Northern Premier League season just doesn’t let up, as the club now faces its longest away day of the whole season on Saturday as they make the long journey up to Northumberland to face pointless Morpeth Town in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two sides, before Bank Holiday Monday sees local rivals - and new table toppers - Rushall Olympic visit Keys Park

 

Prescot Cables: Hare ▆, McNally, M. Devine, J. Devine, Hollett, Smith, Cross-Adair (Donaldson 60), Foley ©, Elliott (Doyle 88), Goodwin (Scully 85), Steele (Burgess 90)     Subs unused: none

 

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan (Turner 63), Johnson, Wynter, Harrison, Labadie © (Maye 72), Trickett-Smith, Doyle-Charles, Edwards, McHale ▆ (Blissett 63), Watson (Rose 58)     Sub unused: Brown
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