The Pitmen end their rollercoaster 2024-2025 campaign with victory over Runcorn Linnets at Keys Park, finishing the season with a second-placed finish as Widnes clinch the league title with a win over Trafford

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Going into the final day requiring three points for themselves and a favour from mid-table Trafford at the DBCL Stadium, Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren brought two of his most potent attackers back into the breach for today's must-win game as Dan Trickett-Smith and Jack Bearne were both restored to the side ahead of Niall Watson and Nathan Blissett

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Runcorn - perennial play-off contenders for the last few years but off the pace this season down in ninth place - arrived at Keys Park with a Cheshire Senior Cup Final on the horizon against Stalybridge Celtic; manager Brad Cooke made two changes to his Linnets side from the one beaten 3-1 by Bootle on Bank Holiday Monday as Callum Grogan and Reece Daly came into the side ahead of Jay Lee and Harvey Washington

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Keys Park was again a sight to behold with just over 1,700 spectators - including a sizeable minority that had travelled down from Runcorn in fancy dress - packed into the ground, most of whom were hoping for some kind of last-day miracle that could swing the league title the Pitmen's way. Skipper Dom McHale looked to make a blistering start for the home side in the first minute of the game as he made one of his slippery runs infield from the right, taking on Naim Arsan before dragging his low shot wide of goalkeeper Bayleigh Passant's left-hand post

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Just a minute later, a mistake at the back from the Pitmen saw Simeon Maye's attempted clearance blocked by Luke Wall, who did enough to charge down the clearance before seizing on Ollie Harrison's weak back header, only to see his weakly struck left-footed effort save by Tony Breeden down to his right

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Linnets skipper Jacques Welsh was the first player of the afternoon to have his name taken by referee Mr Biggin in the third minute after the midfielder had been penalised for a foul on Joe Doyle-Charles, leading to a full-on coming-together between both sets of players just inside the Runcorn half and an eventual yellow card for Welsh once the furore had died down

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It had proven to be a chaotic start to proceedings, with Jake Jervis further adding ​to the drama with a terrible miss in the seventh minute; Passant made a real hash of a simple backpass on the edge of his own box, missing his kick completely and allowing Jervis to seize upon the loose ball, with the experienced striker firing agonsingly wide from an angle with the empty net in front of him. A dreadful miss from someone so experienced at all levels of the game

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Welsh was walking something of a tightrope with Mr Biggin during the opening exchanges, bringing down Trickett-Smith on eleven minutes to hand the hosts a free-kick to the right of the Linnets' penalty area. Chris Hussey and Trickett-Smith both took a look at the free-kick before the veteran defender stepped up, but curled his effort straight into the Runcorn wall and the visitors were able to clear their lines

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Bearne looked to use his pace to good effect down the left flank in the fourteenth minute, taking the ball past the experienced Peter Wylie and clipping the all into the box from the left-hand touch line, where Grogan was on hand to turn the ball behind for a corner kick. Hussey's deep, curling corner was aimed at the head of Harrison, but there was far too much on the ball in and it was to drop over the heads of everybody in the penalty area and away from danger

 

A minute later, Breeden's long punt downfield was flicked on by Trickett-Smith to Jervis, who in turn found Bearne racing in on goal in front of him. Despite pleas for a penalty against Wall for a foul on Jervis in the build-up, Mr Biggin played advantage and allowed Bearne to take the shot on, only to be denied by the legs of Passant from eight yards out

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McHale was bright, busy and always lookign to create something for the Pitmen in the opening quarter of the game and had a half-chance to grab his twentieth goal of the season two minutes later after Jamie Morgan had down well to win the ball on the right and drive a low cross into the box, where Trickett-Smith took a touch before playing McHale in one goal through the right channel. However, with the angle against him, McHale could only shoot straight into the legs of Passant at his near post

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The visitors started to show some of their form after a tough start to proceedings, with some neat build-up play down the right involving Joe Ferguson and Adam Moseley midway through the first half, creating room for the right-back to cross and forcing Harrison to head behind for a corner kick with Daly looking to take advantage

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This was followed by another corner kick on the opposite side of the pitch a minute later as the Pitmen struggled to clear their lines from Wall's ball in which looked to pick out Wylie at the far post, with Morgan having to turn the ball into the Hednesford end out of necessity

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Maye - one of the Pitmen's most important players and a key performer in the club's rise up the table in 2025 - left the home fans with concerns on their faces on twenty-six minutes as he hobbled off the pitch and was replaced by Ahkeem Rose. With the potential of two play-off games to come in the next week, this will have been a worrying development

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Grogan received a talking-to from Mr Biggin on the half hour mark after he had brought Jervis down in a promising position for the Pitmen on the right flank; Trickett-Smith rolled the ball into the path of McHale, who perhaps tried one trick too many as he attempted to step past three Runcorn players and ended up running the ball out of play for a goal kick, much to the frustration of the packed Heath Hayes terrace

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Rose looked to get his name back on the scoresheet after a lengthy spell without a goal on thirty-four minutes, chesting down a long ball forward from Hussey as he looked to get the better of the backtracking Ferguson, who got his angles all wrong with a wild and miscued effort from eighteen yards out that sailed high and wide of Passant's goal

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On thirty-nine minutes, a free-kick from Wall out on the right-hand touchline was played into the Hednesford penalty area at pace by the forward, forcing Breeden into a claim at his far post ahead of Ferguson and Grogan

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More magic from McHale's dancing feet four minutes later saw him exchange passes with Morgan on the corner of the Runcorn penalty area before driving in on goal, switching his feet constantly to bamboozle Arsan before striking a right-footed effort at goal that was headed away by Grogan for a late Hednesford corner kick

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With the first half heading into a sizeable amount of added time due to the various stoppages, Runcorn picked up a quickfire double booking as Arsan was booked for a bout of dissent, which was followed within sixty seconds for a yellow card for Lewis Doyle for a mistimed challenge on Trickett-Smith ten yards inside the Hednesford half

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It had been a largely tepid affair in the first forty-five minutes, with the likes of Jervis guilty of not taking one of the very few clear-cut chances presented to them to give the hosts the lead and potentially take the league title right to the wire. In the other games affecting the title race and the play-offs, Widnes remained goalless against Trafford, third-placed Congleton and fifth-placed Vauxhall Motors were also sat at 0-0 and fourth-placed Chasetown had come from behind to hold Avro to 1-1 at the break

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Looking to make a bright start to the half, the hosts came out of the blocks quickly and looked to take advantage with an early goal. An excellent run from Taylor just a minute into the restart saw him take on Bearne's backheel down the left and cross low into the path of Rose, who completely fluffed his first-time shot from twelve yards out as he blasted well wide with his left foot

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More long-ball shenanigans from the Pitmen on fifty-one minutes saw Breeden's long kick forward inexplicably flicked into the path of Rose by Welsh, with the former Hereford striker turning past Wylie on the edge of the box and firing wide of Passant's left-hand post

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Rose was certainly making his presence felt for the home side, getting on the end of another one of Hussey's deep, inswinging corner kicks on fifty-five minutes but failing to get enough purchase on his effort and only being able to head weakly into the arms of Passant from six yards out

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Ferguson was allowed far too much time and space to take the ball forward for Runcorn a minute later as the Pitmen stood off him momentarily, with the former Blackburn Rovers youngster getting it all wrong with a timid left-footed effort from twenty yards out that bobbled well wide of Breeden's left-hand post

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Wall followed his team-mates into Mr Biggin's notebook on the hour mark as the former Accrington Stanley forward was booked by the match official for a foul on Bearne

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News started to filter through of a goal for Widnes against Trafford at this juncture, which killed off any lingering hopes of a dramatic late surge from the Pitmen for the title. The news from Widnes seemed to affect the flow of the remainder of the game here, as the tempo dropped signicantly from both sides as their relative fates were now sealed Runcorn's first substitution of the afternoon came during a break in play around ths moment as former Liverpool youngster Karl Clair came on in midfield as he replaced Daly

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Back-to-back corners from the Ptmen on sixty-seven minutes cranked up the pressure on the Runcorn defence and had various parts of Keys Park crackling into life as they looked to stir their players for one last effort. Trickett-Smith's second ball into the box from the left was met by the looming presence of Harrison at the far post, with the big man's firm header plucked out of the air by a grateful Passant on his goal line

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Clair - who had only just returned from a long lay-off due to injury with this being his second game back - was dealt a cruel, cruel blow to his rehibilitation on seventy-two minutes as he was left in a heap out on the left flank after a coming-together with Doyle-Charles and was stretchered off after a lengthy bout of treatment and was replaced by Jorge Dwyer. It later turned out to be a recurrence of the same injury that had kept him out for the last two months

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Despite spending most of the past seventy-four minutes defending well from the Pitmen's aerial assault, Runcorn went agonisingly close to nicking a goal as Grogan did well to escape the attentions of Morgan down the left and pulled the ball back into the path of Brooke, whose lay-off to Dwyer saw Taylor called into action to make the block the substitute's low shot from eighteen yards out. The rebound ran to Doyle, who steered his first-time shot through a sea of legs but just wide of Breeden's right-hand post

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With thirteen minutes remaining, Hurren rolled the dice once more as he brought on club captain Elliott Johnson at left-back and handed Taylor some well-earned minutes' rest

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Breeden picked up the Pitmen's only booking of the game two minutes later as he blantantly kicked the dead ball at Brooke on a couple of occasions to get the Runcorn player to get back to his feet inside the Hednesford penalty area as the stopper felt that he was taking too long to do so and wasting time

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Both sides made another attacking change apiece within a few seconds of each other as young Linnets striker Lewis Crane came on in place of Moseley for the visitors and Blissett replaced Bearne for the Pitmen as they looked to load the box with another big, powerful option

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McHale - never the one to do things in a straightforward manner - very nearly had Keys Park on it's feet with what surely have been the goal of the season had it gone in on eighty-five minutes, picking up Blissett's chest-down thirty-five yards from goal before attempting an audacious left footed dipping shot from long-range that beat Passant all ends up but came back off the top of the crossbar

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Within sixty seconds, McHale left Keys Park frustrated once more as a quick counter from the hosts saw them break quickly in numbers though McHale, Jervis and Rose, only for the Magic Man to elect to take the ball on himself rather than play the simple pass into the feet of Rose, losing it to Ferguson before he could get a shot away

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With all of the other games coming to an end many minutes before this one due to all of the first half added time, the Pitmen's second-placed finish was now confirmed due to play-off rivals Congleton Town and Vauxhall Motors drawing 0-0 at the Cleric Stadium. However, there weas to be one last tallking point in the game as we moved into added time, as the hosts gave their supporters some late cheer with a winning goal; Trickett-Smith's corner kick from the right was only cleared as far as Hussey, who managed to keep the play alive by finding Johnson inside the box. The defender's lay-off back to Trickett-Smith allowed the playmaker to take a touch and send over another fine cross to the far post, where Blissett rose highest to nod the ball downwards and past Passant, doing just enough to force it over the line from close-range despite the stopper's best attempts to claw the ball away from goal

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There was still time for a late rally from the visitors, forcing a late brace of corner kicks on the right with Wall picking out Wylie with the second flag kick, whose effort from close-range forced Breeden into a smart stop to claim the ball inside his own six-yard box

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The quick turnaround of games in the play-offs means that Keys Park will once again be the stage on Tuesday night, when the second-placed Pitmen will play host to fifth-placed finishers Motors. There will be keen interest in the other game between Congleton and Chasetown, with the potential of a mammoth Bank Holiday weekend clash between the two South Staffordshire rivals next weekend in the final if they can navigate their way past their respective opponents in midweek

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Hednesford Town: Breeden ▆, Morgan, Taylor (Johnson 77), Maye (Rose 26), Harrison, Hussey, Trickett-Smith, Doyle-Charles, Jervis, McHale ©, Bearne (Blissett 81)    Subs Unused: Gwilt, Brown

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Runcorn Linnets: Passant, Wylie, Arsan ▆, Doyle ▆, Ferguson, Grogan, Wall ▆, Welsh © ▆, Brooke, Daly (Clair 65 (Dwyer 72)), Moseley (Crane 80)     Subs Unused: Elverstone, Ellams

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