The Ptmen remain in touch with FC United of Manchester and Hebburn Town at the top of the Northern Premier League as they comfortably disposed of struggling Precot Cables this Good Friday afternoon

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Having seen their title hopes take a huge hit after last week's defeat at Workington, manager Kelvin Davis made two changes to his side for their return home as skipper Joss Labadie came in ahead of the injured Joel Taylor and Omari Sterling-James replaced Dan Trickett-Smith after returning from International duty with St. Kitts & Nevis. With Taylor joining Elliott Johnson, Ryan Wynter and George Williams on the injured list this week, Davis was forced into playing midfielder Labadie as an auxiliary centre-back on the right side of the Hednesford defence for today's game

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Cables' season of struggle had seen the Pesky Bulls drop into the bottom three last weekend after a 2-1 defeat at home to Ilkeston Town, extending their winless league run to ten games in the process. Manager Ste Daley made two changes of his own for their trip down the M6 as 44-year-old defender Peter Clarke came in for Alex McNally and skipper James Foley came in for Francis Smith up front

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The cloudy, grey morning had made way for a beautifully bright and sunny afternoon in South Staffordshire, with a crowd just shy of 1,900 turning out to bask in the early spring sunshine. The visitors looked to make the early running with a direct approach to the game, winning an early corner kick in the second minute that was delivered by Foley towards Clarke, only for Ollie Harrison to clear his lines

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The game's first real opening fell to top scorer Ahkeem Rose in the fourth minute as the striker got goal side of Matty Waters to meet a good cross from Jermaine Hylton on the left, but glanced his effort from eight yards out wide of the far post

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Good interplay from the Pitmen on seven minutes saw Chris Hussey bring the ball forward and exchange passes with Hylton before sending over a cross to the far post, which had a little too much on it and drifted over the head of Rose and out of play

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Montel Gibson had also started brightly, giving Clarke issues with his pace and movement. The striker was pulled up for a marginal offside call against him in the tenth minute as he raced onto a Jamie Morgan pass, but was flagged offside by the assistant on the main stand side as he moved too quickly in behind Clarke

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Labadie was on the spot to clear the danger from another Foley corner kick a minute later, hacking the ball away from danger after an inswinging ball dropped inside the Hednesford six-yard box

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Hylton was proving a tricky customer for Josh Seary to deal with early on, making a slalom-like run down the left on fourteen minutes that left the full-back in his wake before he cut inside from the left-hand byeline and crossed low into the box, with Charley Doyle getting a toe on the ball before Gibson and clearing the ball away

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Another clever ball over the top from Morgan on seventeen minutes picked out the run of Gibson once more, with the striker taking the ball into the box and shaping to shoot before being dispossessed by Doyle at the crucial moment

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Two minutes later, Harrison was again in dominant form at the far post as he beat Clarke and Sharif Deans to the ball and headed confidently away from danger after another fine corner kick delivery from Foley on the right

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There was a half-hearted penalty shout from the Prescot players on twenty-one minutes as Deans looked to clip a cross into the box from the left, with the ball appearing to glance off the left arm of Labadie before being cleared. Referee Mr Hall took a look at the incident but immediately waved away any protests from the men in sky blue

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The Pitmen finally made the crucial breakthrough on twenty-four minutes as Hylton and Gibson linked up well to break the deadlock; it was more superb wing play from Hylton that opened up the Prescot defence after he took a Hussey pass forward and got to the byeline, pulling the ball back into the path of Gibson to apply the finish with a sidefooted effort from six yards out to beat goalkeeper James Pradic with ease

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The home side were handed a glorious chance to double their lead in quick succession as they were awarded a penalty kick on twenty-seven minutes; Liam Kinsella's floated free-kick into the box was seized upon by Gibson, who looked to turn the ball home from an angle to the right of the six-yard box but was instead brought down by the despairing dive of Pradic to his left. Mr Hall had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, with Gibson dusting himself down and taking charge of the penalty after Rose had missed his last penalty at Stocksbridge two weeks previously. However, lightning was to strike twice for the hosts as Pradic guessed correctly, diving full-length to his right to palm Gibson's low strike away with his right hand for a corner kick to the Pitmen

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Hussey's resultant outswinging corner from the left was floated to the far post and met by the head of Rose, who got underneath the ball and could only glance his effort over the crossbar from close range

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More good wing play from Hylton on thirty-four minutes saw the ex-Solihull Moors man make another dazzling run inside from the left, beating Seary and Jack Goodwin before looking to pick out Gibson once more with a cross, only for Pradic to field the ball at his near post ahead of the Hednesford goalscorer

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Three minutes later, Morgan and Joe Doyle-Charles combined down the right to send Rose away into space down the flank, with the striker bustling his way into the box before seeing his cross-cum-shot blocked by Doyle after he had held off the attentions of Waters

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Another tight offside call left Gibson frustrated on forty-one minutes as his darting angled run into the box was adjudged to have been made a little too early by the assistant referee after Kinsella had won the ball in midfield and sent Gibson on his way with a lofted pass forward

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With a minute of the half remaining, Rose came out of a challenge on him from Waters worse off and required a bout of treatment just inside the Prescot half. After gingerly getting back to his feet, the Pitmen's top scorer was replaced by Jake Jervis

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It had been a typically controlled, disciplined home display from the Pitmen, who, despite playing with a patched-up defence, had looked solid and organised against a very shot-shy Prescot attack that had been reliant on corner kicks to create anything of note

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Attacking the Hednesford end in the second half, the Pitmen made a strong start as they looked to kill the game off with a second goal; Hussey made one of his trademark marauding runs from deep on fifty minutes, surging into the box and sending over a low cross that was just too far in front of either Gibson or Rose as it skpped across the face of Pradic's goal

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On fifty-three minutes, Prescot struggled to clear their lines from an initial cross from Jervis on the right, with the ball eventually running into the path of Sterling-James, whose first-time effort from the edge of the box was wild and sailed high over the crossbar

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This proved to be a sighter for Sterling-James, however, as he got his range absolutely spot-on two minutes later with a wonderful strike to make it 2-0; after playing a corner kick short to Hussey and taking it back off him, Sterling-James drifted across the face of the Cables penalty area and past McNally before producing a wonderful dipping, curling effort that beat Pradic and nestled into the top corer of the net. A fine goal and one of the contenders for goal of the season, no doubt

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The Pitmen's second goal had completely deflated the Prescot resistance, with Foley wasting a good chance from a free-kick on fifty-eight minutes with a wayward effort from twenty yards out on the right that drifted well wide of Tony Breeden's right-hand post

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Doyle picked up the game's first yellow card for Cables on sixty-three minutes as he bundled over Doyle-Charles just inside the Prescot half. Hussey's deep free-kick was aimed at Harrison, whose header back across goal was cleared by the visitors for a throw-in

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Daley made a double attacking change to his flagging side on sixty-six minutes, bringing on midfielder Remi Efunnuga for defender Doyle and Smith for Donaldson up front

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However, within three minutes of Efunnuga coming on, the substitute was heading back down the tunnel as he was rightly sent off by Mr Hall for a studs-up challenge on Kinsella after the substitute had miscontrolled a Breeden ball and allowed the former Walsall man to pick his pocket in midfield

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Efunnuga's red card left Cables with an absolute mountain to climb, with the Pitmen content to stroke the ball around at the back and make the Keys Park pitch as big as possible for the ten men to cover. Labadie - who had done well to reach seventy minutes having not played for several weeks - went down and required treatment before soldiering on for a few moments. Eventually, he had to relent as he was part of a double change for the Pitmen on seventy-two minutes as Simeon Maye came on in his place and Dom McHale replaced Sterling-James, who had only returned from Indonesia in midweek after two International games out there

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Gibson's nuisance value saw him earn the Pitmen a free-kick right on the edge of the Cables penalty area on seventy-five minutes after being pulled down by former Everton man Clarke. Hussey took the kick and looked to curl his left-footed effort over the wall and into the net, but lifted his effort narrowly over the crossbar

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Before play could restart, Cables made a change in attack as former Manchester City youngster Charlie Glennon came on in place of John Murphy, who had got very little change out of Harrison all afternoon

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A further double change from the hosts on eighty-two minutes saw Trickett-Smith come on in place of the combative Kinsella in midfield and Niall Watson replace Gibson up front

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The Pitmen put a gloss finish on the scoreline with a third goal of the afternoon with seven minutes remaining as Jervis grabbed his first goal at Keys Park since last season's play-off final. Gibson won a free-kick to the left of the Prescot penalty area, with Hussey floating a fine ball into the box that was met by the head of Jervis - his initial effort forced a wonderful save out of Pradic, whose parry out to Harrison saw the defender hit the post with his follow-up. The ball fell kindly for Jervis once more, with the veteran striker managing to turn the ball home from close range and into the roof of the net, despite Pradic's best attempts to keep the ball out. Whilst the home side celebrated, Clarke took great exception with the assistant for what he believed to be a foul on him in the build-up, only to be shrugged off by the match officials

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A thoroughly entertaining afternoon for the majority of the crowd, with the Pitmen never seemingly in any real danger of relinquishing the three points once Gibson had grabbed the first goal. They remain third in the standings, with FC United winning 3-1 at Whitby Town later on in the afternoon to maintain top spot going into the final four games of the season. This sets up Easter Monday's mammoth clash at Broadhurst Park perfectly, with Davis's side knowing that anything less than a win over their rivals will essentially extinguish their title hopes once and for all and leave them scrapping for a play-off place for the second season in a row

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Hussey, Kinsella (Trickett-Smith 82), Harrison, Labadie © (Maye 72), Rose (Jervis 45), Doyle-Charles, Gibson (Watson 82), Sterling-James (McHale 68), Hylton     Subs unused: none

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Prescot Cables: Pradic, Seary (Scully 45), Waters, Clarke, McNally, Doyle ▆ (Efunnuga 66 ▆ (69)), Goodwin, Foley ©, Murphy (Glennon 76), Donaldson (Smith 66), Deans      Subs unused: Devine 

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