The Pitmen crash to their first defeat in eleven games today as an awful second half display in the wind and rain sees local rivals Rushall take all three points courtesy of a late, late winner

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Going into the New Year two points clear at the top of the Northern Premier League table, manager Gavin Hurren had already further strengthened his squad earlier in the day with the notable signing of Hereford winger Omari Sterling-James, with the St. Kitts & Nevis International coming straight into the squad as a substitute. The starting XI saw two changes from the one that had drawn against FC United of Manchester at the weekend as Ryan Wynter came in for Joel Taylor and Ahkeem Rose started ahead of Joss Labadie

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Rushall's erratic recent form had seen the Pics drop into the lower reaches of the Northern Premier League table in December, culminating in a 5-1 hammering at Ilkeston Town on Boxing Day to leave Ian Long's troops occupying nineteenth place in the table ahead of play. Long also made two changes to his side from the one that had started at the New Manor Ground as on-loan Harborough Town stopper Jake Laban came in for his Pics debut ahead of Jake Davies-Manton, with the experienced Liam McAlinden coming back in on the right ahead of Kian Ryley. Ex-Hednesford trainee Carter Lycett started for the Pics at right-back, unusually the only man in the Rushall squad with connections to the Pitmen

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The build-up to this local derby had seen both sides sell hundreds of tickets, with Dales Lane heaving at a near capacity of 1,864 spectators for today's 2026 curtain-raiser. The weather also decided to make an impact on the game, with regular heavy downpours during the afternoon and a dumping of sleet towards the end of the ninety minutes

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It proved to be a cagey, low-quality opening to proceedings as both sides seemed content to keep the ball but created very little of note in the opening exchanges. Jamie Morgan entered referee Mr Hales' notepad with the very first action of the game as the right-back was booked immediately for a foul on Aurio Teixeira down the Rushall left flank, handing the Pics an early free-kick just outside the Hednesford penalty area. Lycett's ball into the box was met by the head of Jordaan Brown but the centre-back headed well wide from eight yards out

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The build-up was measured by both sides, but slow to gain any momentum in the first ten minutes; the Pitmen's first half chance at goal came in the seventh minute as some neat play down the right from Morgan and Dom McHale saw Rose play the ball across to Max Sheaf, who fired wide of Laban's left-hand post from a very tight angle

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Three minutes later, Rose took full advantage of some dawdling at the back by Roddy McGlinchey down the left flank, making a run into space down the flank before firing in a low cross to the far post, where skipper McHale was a matter of inches away from turning the ball into the empty net as he stretched to meet the ball, just missing it as it skipped across the face of goal and away from danger

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Ollie Harrison - being spoken in certain circles as the standout centre-back in the Northern Premier League so far this season - ​made a typically commanding header to deny Nick Clayton-Phillips a chance from close-range on thirteen minutes, heading Lycett's outswinging corner from the left away from goal at his near post to deny the former Solihull Moors striker a sniff

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Gibson had been lively so far for the away side, making a good run across the front of the penalty area a minute later and chesting down a Chris Hussey pass before being brought down by Brown twenty yards from goal, just to the right of the 'D'. Hussey and Dan Trickett-Smith stood over the ball, with Hussey looking to strike a low shot at goal that took a nick off the Rushall wall and was saved by Laban down to his left with relative ease

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Morgan found himself two on one down his side of the pitch on eighteen minutes as the excellent Tiexeira and Lycett combined for the left-back to send over a left-wing cross that was turned behind by Wynter for a Rushall corner kick. Lycett's ball into the far post caused the ball to bobble around in the six-yard box before a foul on Hussey by Brown was called by Mr Hales

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Midway through the first half, Hussey spotted down a free-kick thirty yards from goal, to the left of the Rushall penalty area; his deep ball into the box was flicked on by Wynter towards Harrison, but an intervention from Jamie Willets saw Rushall clear their lines

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There was a muted call for a Rushall penalty kick a minute later as McKeal Adullah entered the penalty area to the left of the box before going down under a challenge from Harrison, but Mr Hales felt that the striker had gone to ground a little too easily and waved play on

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Niall Watson had been full of running so far for the Pitmen, doing well to get past McGlinchey on twenty-six minutes as look to send over a low cross for Gibson, only for Willets to put the dangerous cross behind for a corner kick to the away side. Hussey's deep ball in found it all the way through to Wynter at the far post, whose half-volley was blocked and cleared by the Pics

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The stormy weather gave the drenched spectators some brief respite as the incessant cold rain finally stopped for a short spell, with the clouds breaking and a magenta pink sunset setting over Dales Lane. Hussey delivered another fine corner kick into the box on the half-hour mark that was cleared as far as Trickett-Smith, who elected to take a touch rather than shoot instinctively, losing the ball cheaply when the shot was very much on for the playmaker

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It appeared that the Pitmen's best hope of a goal may come from the boot of Hussey, with the veteran defender again expertly delivering a corner, this time from the right, on thirty-five minutes that was aimed at the lanky figure of Sheaf at the far post before being hacked clear by the home defence

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Abdullah was again pleading with Mr Hales for a spot kick on thirty-seven minutes as he went to ground under a strong and forceful Hussey challenge, but again was waved away by the match official as the defender came away with the ball and cleared his lines

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Watson was to have the game's best chance so far on forty-one minutes, making a late run into the box as Gibson did well down the right, beating Teixiera and sending over a fine floated cross for the head of the former Southport man, whose looping effort from six yards out came back off the top of Laban's crossbar

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Laban denied Watson again two minutes later, pushing the striker's angled shot away at his near post after excellent approach play from McHale and Rose had played Watson in behind McGlinchey. Hussey was on the money with his corner kick once more as he found the head of Wynter at the far post, although the centre-back could only divert his header straight into the arms of Laban

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It certainly hadn't been one for the end-of-season showreel so far, with both sides struggling to create any real clear-cut chances in a very tame showing so far. Watson's two chances towards the end of the half were probably as close as either side had come to scoring, with Rushall failing to test ex-Pic Tony Breeden at all with a shot on target in the opening half of play

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​Rushall started the second half the brighter of the two sides, playing with a little more purpose on the counter attack. Sam Unitt made a driving run into the penalty area down the right on forty-seven minutes, firing in an angled shot that Breeden watched just over his crossbar

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Four minutes later, Clayton-Phillips worked the ball onto his right foot just outside the box after Unitt had dispossessed Sheaf in a dangerous area and played the striker into space. However, the Rushall number nine curled his effort just over Breeden's crossbar from twenty yards out as he was closed down by Harrison

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McHale picked up the Pitmen's second booking of the afternoon on fifty-four minutes for a wild and frustrated kick out at Teixiera on the Rushall left to stop him from breaking into space, rightly picking up a yellow card from Mr Hales for the incident

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Rose was struggling to get himself into the game for the visitors, barely having a kick in the first period and wasting a great chance to open the scoring for the Pitmen on fifty-seven minutes; played clean through on goal down the right by Trciekkt-Smith, Rose took a touch wide of goal before lashing his unconvincing effort high over the crossbar from sixteen yards out as Laban came out to challenge him

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Just before the hour mark, the Pitmen made their first change of the afternoon as Sterling-James made his debut for the visitors, coming on in place of Watson, who had again worked hard for the cause with nothing to show for it

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Just two minutes later, Rushall made their first change of the afternoon with an attacking substitution - Polish forward Jakub Kruszynski came on up front in place of Clayton-Phillips, who had been well shackled by Harrison and Wynter

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Midway through the second half and with the heavens opening once more, the Pics made their second change of the game as the experienced Willets - making his 600th career appearance today - was replaced by Sam Whittall​ after picking up a knock

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Rose's topsy-turvy afternoon continued a minute later as the Pitmen hit the woodwork for the second time in the game; Hussey was involved once more as he delivered a free-kick into the penalty area from the right that Harrison flicked into the path of the Pitmen's top scorer, whose instinctive effort from eight yards out came back off the crossbar

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Long's third change of the afternoon came with seventeen minutes remaining as young Solihull Moors loanee Ryley returned to the pitch as he replaced  Abdullah

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Unitt picked up Rushall's only booking of the afternoon, much to the ironic cheers of the 900-plus-strong Hednesford crowd, as he was booked by Mr Hales for a clumsy trip on Moragn down the Pitmen's right. Hussey's ball in was too close to Laban on this occasion, however, with the stopper picking the ball out of the rainy night sky ahead of Harrison

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The Pitmen looked to add more strength to their flagging and, put frankly, disappointing, forward line on seventy-seven minutes as Jonny Edwards came on to play the number nine role in place of Gibson, who had got no change out of Brown or Willets all afternoon long

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Sensing that Hurren and his side had essentially settled for the point, having created next to nothing so far this half, the hosts looked to launch a late onslaught on the Pitmen's defence and turn the screw with a host of set-pieces, mainly taken by Lycett on the left. On eighty-one minutes, Teixiera won the Pics to the left-hand corner of the Hednesford penalty area after being brought down by Morgan. Lycett's ball into the box somehow managed to evade everyone arriving in the Hednesford six-yard box and dribbled out of play on the far side of the pitch

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Two minutes later, another good ball in from Lycett from a corner was met by Kruszynski, who saw his effort blocked and cleared by that man Harrison once more

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Rushall looked to take advantage of some sloppy play from the Pitmen in midfield on eighty-six minutes as the away side struggled to clear their lines effectively, with Whittall picking the pocket of Sheaf and playing Ryley through on goal, only for a tight and late offside flag to deny the youngster a shooting oppotunity

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Rushall's late flurry of set-pieces finally paid off handsomely with the game moving to eighty-nine minutes as an outswinging corner from the left from Lycett was met at the near post by the head of Kruszynski, who beat Mchale to the ball and glanced his effort past Breeden at his near post and found the back of the net

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Despite this setback, the Pitmen, bafflingly, offered little to no reaction to going behind, allowing Rushall to keep possession in the corners for spells of the five added minutes as they struggled to get out of their own third of the pitch and create any late chances for themselves. Rushall ran the clock down further late into added time as McAlinden was replaced by Luke Enright

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A second-half display to forget for the men in mint green then, as a lax, characterless second forty-five minutes saw them tamely allow their unbeaten record to go against a Rushall side that had looked the more likely to nick it at the end and had taken full advantage of a rare defensive switch-off from the league leaders at the corner. With nine days between games now, Hurren will have to rally the troops ahead of a huge first versus second game next Saturday when Hebburn Town make the long journey down from the North East to Keys Park

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Rushall Olympic: Laban, McGlinchey, Lycett, Teixeira, Brown, Willets (Whittall 65), Unitt ▆, Moore ©, Abdullah (Ryley 73), Clayton-Phillips (Kruszynski 61), McAlinden (Enright 90+4)      Sub unused: Wakefield

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan ▆, Hussey, Trickett-Smith, Harrison, Wynter, Watson (Sterling-James 59), Sheaf, Gibson (Edwards 77), McHale © ▆, Rose    Subs unused: Maye, Taylor, Parke

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