​The Pitmen have to be content with a point in this afternoon’s Bank Holiday Monday derby clash, having led for most of the game through Ahkeem Rose’s early goal before being pegged back late on by local rivals Rushall Olympic
 
Two defeats on the road in the past week had left manager Gavin Hurren with something of a headache going into today’s game, with Elliott Johnson, Joe Doyle-Charles and Nathan Blissett all still unavailable for selection. Dom McHale was passed fit enough to make the substitute’s bench as Hurren made three changes to his side from the one that had started Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Morpeth Town – Joss Labadie, Jake Jervis and Dan Trickett-Smith all came into the side in place of Ollie Harrison, Simeon Maye and Jonny Edwards
 
Rushall started proceedings top of the Northern Premier League table, courtesy of a 2-2 draw against the highly-fancied Stockton Town on Saturday. Pics manager Ian Long made two changes of his own as ex-Pitman Callum King-Harmes replaced Brad Burton at right-back, Rod McGlinchey was preferred to Aaron Bishop up front, joined by another ex-Hednesford man in the form of Anthony Dwyer, who came back into contention as he replaced Ben Jarvis
 
On a beautiful late summer afternoon, a huge crowd gathered for today’s game as over 3,100 people came through the turnstiles for this local derby. The larger-than-normal crowd caused congestion at the new QR code turnstiles, delaying kick-off by fifteen minutes to allow fans to get into the ground. The small Rushall contingent housed in the Wimblebury terrace were almost greeted with an early Pics goal as the influential Alex Moore took the ball into space in the second minute, but scuffed his effort at goal and allowed Tony Breeden to make a simple save inside his six-yard box
 
Ahkeem Rose was gifted an absolute peach of a chance sixty seconds later as an untimely slip from West Brom’s loanee goalkeeper Ben Cisse saw him lose possession inside his own penalty area to the striker, who had put him under pressure and forced the error from the young stopper. However, after taking the ball around Cisse, Rose inexplicably fired inches wide of the stopper’s left-hand post with a low angled shot back across goal
 
The Pitmen were starting to find their touch, playing some neat and attractive football across the new Keys Park turf. Jervis tested Cisse from range in the sixth minute, picking up Jamie Morgan’s pass before turning past Sam Whittall and shooting from the edge of the penalty area, forcing Cisse into a stop
 
Jervis was involved once more in the eighth minute as his superb run and cross form the veteran striker created the game’s opening goal of the afternoon; making his way down the left flank, Jervis showed King-Harmes a clean pair of heels with a powerful run to the byeline, sliding the ball into the six-yard box where Rose was on hand to turn the ball home from four yards out and spark rapturous celebrations amongst the heaving Heath Hayes terrace

Two minutes later, Kieron Freeman looked to pick out Ryan Wynter at the far post with an inswinging corner kick from the right, but a bout of shirt-pulling from both sets of players saw referee Mr Davis pull the game up and award Rushall a free-kick 
 
Another one of the ex-Hednesford brigade at Dales Lane – Carter Lycett – registered Rushall’s first meaningful effort at goal in the thirteenth minute; Dwyer had won a free-kick to the right of the Hednesford penalty area after being brought down by Joel Taylor, with Lycett and Moore standing over the resultant kick; Lycett’s effort, however, was high, wide and not too handsome and he got his laces underneath the shot and lifted it well over Breeden’s crossbar 
 
Veteran Pics centre-back Jordaan Brown – who had rejoined the Pics in the summer from Stourbridge – picked up the game’s first yellow card in the eighteenth minute as he was shown a yellow card for a crunching tackle on skipper Labadie inside the Rushall half
 
More good play from the Pitmen on twenty minutes saw Morgan and Rose combine down the right, with Rose driving into the box and pulling the ball back from the byeline to Labadie, whose first-time effort from sixteen yards out flew inches over Cisse’s crossbar
 
The hosts were very much in control of proceedings as they stroked the ball around inside their own half and looked for the pace of Turner, Jervis and Rose in the attacking positions. One rare break into the Hednesford half from Rushall on twenty-three minutes saw ex-Hednesford loanee Fenton Heard break into space down the left, skipping past Morgan before an excellent sliding challenge from Wynter stopped the youngster from getting his shot away
 
More good play from Taylor down the left on twenty-five minutes saw the defender take the ball past King-Harmes from Turner’s flick, forcing the former Bromsgrove Sporting man into a late block to turn it behind for a corner kick. Freeman’s ball in was cleared by Brown as far as Rose, whose low shot from twelve yards out was blocked by the forest of Rushall legs in front of him
 
Rose continued to give Rushall headaches inside their penalty area, getting on the end of a Chris Hussey corner from the left two minutes later and headed downwards towards goal but seeing his effort hacked clear
 
The away side made an early change on twenty-eight minutes as Sam Unitt picked up a knock in a coming-together with Labadie and was forced off the field, replaced by the vastly experienced Liam McAlinden
 
Trickett-Smith followed Brown into Mr Davis’s notebook shortly after the half-hour mark, after the playmaker had been a little too keen to try and take the ball from Moore as the Rushall man drove forwards
 
Another good delivery from Hussey three minutes later saw the veteran defender swing in a corner kick from the left that was met by a downward head of Wynter at the far post but eventually cleared by the Pics defence as they pushed out
 
At the other end, McAlinden had a muted shot for a penalty on thirty-eight minutes as his long-range effort was diverted wide of goal by Hussey, who jumped and turned his back on the ball as it appeared to strike the upper part of his arm. Mr Davis ignored McAlinden’s protests and awarded the Pics a corner kick, which was completely wasted as McAlinden’s ball in drifted out for a throw-in on the far side of the pitch
 
Lycett lined up another free-kick in a dangerous position on forty-two minutes after Taylor had dragged Heard to the floor on the right-hand byeline. However, the left-back’s ball in was headed away by Jervis inside his own six-yard box before Whittall could attack the cross
 
A clever piece of play from Turner on forty-four minutes saw him go agonisingly close to his first goal of the season; making a mazy run in from the left flank, Turner looked to catch Cisse out with a clever lofted ball in that curled over the head of the stopper and looked to be heading for the net until a timely header off the line by the backtracking Brown denied the striker a certain goal
 
Long had been remonstrating with the assistant on the main stand side since the non-award of the penalty kick a few minutes earlier and was finally booked for taking his protests a little too far right on the stroke of half-time, much to the delight of the home crowd
 
It had been a controlled, disciplined display from the hosts so far, limiting Rushall to only a couple of half-chances and Rose taking his chance early on with his first goal of the season to put the Pitmen in front. With the experience in their ranks, you felt that they had the know-how to continue to control the game in the second period
 
As expected, Rushall looked to get themselves on the front foot at the start of the second half with a strong opening salvo. Successive corner kicks from the right from Whittall tested the Hednesford defence, with Wynter and Hussey both doing well to head away from danger
 
Freeman was the latest player in white to pick up a yellow card from Mr Davis on fifty-three minutes, bringing down Moore in midfield with a mis-timed challenge on the midfielder
 
Within sixty seconds, a yellow card was brandished in the direction of Breeden by Mr Davis as the veteran stopper was deemed to have taken far too much time in taking a goal kick by the referee
 
Hussey delivered another dangerous-looking ball into the box from a corner on the right-hand side on fifty-six minutes, swinging in a ball that dipped narrowly over Cisse’s crossbar and onto the roof of the net
 
A minute later, the in-form Morgan made a move down the right as he took Labadie’s pass on and sent over a dangerous cross to the near post, where Cisse did well to hold the ball ahead of the incoming Rose 
 
Long was forced into another injury-related substitution on the hour mark as Pics skipper Whittall – visibly limping through the game – was taken off and replaced by former Darlaston Town striker Bishop
 
Cisse was involved once more for the visitors on sixty-three minutes, doing well to palm Jervis’s shot away from goal down to his left after the former Blues man had drifted in from the right flank. The ball ran to Trickett-Smith on the edge of the box, whose rebound was well blocked by Brown and eventually cleared by the men in grey
 
Midway through the second half, Hurren turned to McHale to add a spot of inspiration to his flagging and uninspiring attack, with the Magic Man coming on in place of Turner. This saw Jervis switch flanks to the left to accommodate McHale’s introduction on the right flank
 
Another dangerous Freeman corner kick almost caught Rushall out at their near post on sixty-six minutes as the Welsh international’s cross dipped towards goal and was hacked away from goal for another corner by King-Harmes before it dropped into the net
 
Rushall – struggling to make any real inroads into a well-organised Hednesford defence in the second half - elected to make a double attacking substitution on seventy minutes as Burton came on in place of King-Harmes at right-back and ex-Alvechurch man Mitch Botfield replaced McGlinchey, who had found it tough up against Hussey and Taylor all afternoon
 
McAlinden had been in the process of lining up a free kick whilst the substitutions had been taking place, striking a firm effort at goal from twenty-five yards out that flew wide of Breeden’s right-hand post
 
Three minutes later, the home side looked to add even more steel to their defensive ranks as former Rushall man Maye came on in place of the tiring Jervis to play just in front of the centre-backs for the final twenty minutes of play
 
Maye went close to making an immediate impact against his former club just sixty seconds after coming on, glancing Hussey’s pinpoint corner kick from the right goalwards but seeing his effort deflected away from goal by the bodies in front of him
 
With twelve minutes remaining, the Pitmen made their third change of the afternoon as the imposing figure of Edwards came on up front in place of goalscorer Rose, who had been a constant threat all afternoon long with his hustling, harrying and pace
 
The game took an unexpected swing on eighty-two minutes as Rushall were reduced to ten men by Mr Davis; a clash between Botfield and Labadie just inside the Hednesford half saw the pair come to blows, leading to a ruck between both sets of players in front of the Hednesford bench. After the commotion had calmed down, Mr Davis showed the Rushall substitute a straight red card for his involvement in the piece, booking Labadie for his
 
Rushall appeared to use this as ammunition to launch a late assault on the Hednesford rearguard an incredibly snatched an equaliser with five minutes remaining; Lycett took the ball down the left flank for the visitors, stealing a vital yard of space on the byeline ahead of Morgan to send over a fine cross that Bishop, who did brilliantly to rise above Wynter and glance the ball past Breeden from close-range
 
As tempting as it may have been for Long to go for the jugular at this point with the momentum behind them, the visitors seemed content to settle for a hard-earned point as they brought on Jarvis in place of Dwyer on eighty-seven minutes
 
There was a real sese on urgency and, dare you say, desperation to the Pitmen’s play as the game moved into eight added minutes; Morgan went close to winning it for the hosts in the first added minute as some neat build-up play down the right saw McHale cleverly play Morgan through on goal with a flicked pass, only for Morgan to hammer the base of the post with his low shot at goal. An earlier offside flag against the right-back in the build-up would have ruled the goal out even if he had found the net, nevertheless
 
Cisse kept the Pitmen at bay once more a minute later as he held McHale’s left-footed effort from just inside the penalty area, landing on the ball down to his left after the substitute had drifted in from the right and beaten two Rushall players on the edge of the penalty area

Taylor picked up a late yellow card from the referee deep into added time as he was penalised for a foul on Jarvis to stop the forward from breaking down the flank
 
The Hednesford left-back was involved at the opposite end of the pitch with the final action of the game as he found space just inside the Rushall box and tried to force through a low shot at goal that bobbled through to the grateful hands of Cisse
 
From a Hednesford perspective, it certainly felt like two points dropped in retrospect, having completely controlled the state of play for much of the game before allowing Bishop to head home late on. The terrace rumblings at full time were highly critical of Hurren’s ultra-defensive, conservative approach to the game and the over-reliance on defending a single goal lead that has, on this occasion, backfired on him. A lack of a settled side in attacking positions is causing issues for the Pitmen, with bodies constantly being chopped and changed as well as personnel being asked to play in several different positions during the game which appears to be limiting players’ effectiveness. Saturday sees Hednesford at home again as they entertain step four side Basford United as they look to go on another memorable F.A. Cup run to match last season’s first round appearance

Hednesford Town: Breeden ▆, Morgan, Taylor ▆, Freeman ▆, Wynter, Hussey ©, Turner (McHale 65), Labadie ▆, Rose (Edwards 78), Trickett-Smith ▆, Jervis (Maye 74)    Subs unused: Harrison, Brown

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Rushall Olympic: Cisse, King-Harmes (Burton 72), Lycett, Teixeira, Brown, Whittall © (Bishop 60), Unitt (McAlinden 28), Moore, Dwyer (Jarvis 86), McGlinchey (Botfield 72 ▆ (83)), Heard     Subs unused: none

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