Neil Pointon's honeymoon period as Hednesford manager ends after one game as his side are ruthlessly hammered by high-flying Rushden & Diamonds at a chilly Nene Park this afternoon

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Having taken the managerial reigns from John Baldwin twelve days ago, Pointon got his tenure off to a battling start courtesy of a 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers Woking last weekend. The former Manchester City man elected to stick with the same XI that had started last Saturday's draw for this afternoon's pre-Christmas clash as he looked for some consistency from his side

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Second-placed Diamonds moved within five points of runaway league leaders Yeovil Town last weekend after winning 3-0 at sixteenth-placed Hayes, turning round a recent barren run of results that had seen Brian Talbot's side lose their previous five games in all competitions. Tabot made three changes to his side for their return to Nene Park this afternoon as Billy Turley was replaced by on-loan goalkeeper Kristian Rogers, Mark Peters came in for the experienced Ray Warburton and Jean-Michel Sigere replaced the suspended Justin Jackson up front. Former Hednesford man Jimmy Rodwell - who had a brief spell with the Pitmen back in the 1993-1994 season - started the game in the centre of the Diamonds' defence

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On a chilly pre-Christmas afternoon in Northamptonshire, the Pitmen's players took to the field with a new look for this afternoon's game as both their home and away kits clashed with the Diamonds' home kit, forcing them into organising a plain red shirt for today's game to avoid a clash with the hosts

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The men in red made a strong start to proceedings, forcing two successive corner kicks in the opening three minutes as Micky Norbury's cross from the left was headed behind by Rodwell to deny Neil Davis a certain goal at the far post

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Defensive indecision from the Pitmen almost gifted Sigere an early chance for Diamonds as Mark Haran and Stuart Ford left a bouncing ball to each other inside the Hednesford penalty area, allowing Sigere to nip in momentarily until Haran recovered sufficiently to clear the danger for a Rushden corner kick

 

In the sixth minute, good play from striker Duane Darby saw the former Hull City man control the ball well, shielding it from Haran before playing it off to Jon Brady down the right. The Australian took the ball to the byeline, taking on player/manager Neil Pointon before crossing for Sigere, who beat Russell Bradley to the header but glanced his effort over the crossbar from six yards out

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Referee Mr Chittenden was called upon to make his first intervention of the afternoon in the eleventh minute to talk with Norbury after the combative striker had been involved in a tangle with Shaun Carey

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Rushden took the lead in the sixteenth minute of the game as Brady grabbed his sixth goal of the season with a superb free-kick; Bradley brought Darby down just outside the Hednesford penalty area, allowing Brady to curl the resultant shot beyond the wall and into the top left-hand corner of the net, giving Ford no chance

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The lively Sigere almost doubled Rushden's advantage a minute later as he broke clear of the flagging Hednesford defence and attempted a lob over the head of Ford from the edge of the penalty area that dropped wide of the woodwork

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Carey was played into acres of room by Andy Burgess in the nineteenth minute as the Pitmen gave him time and space to steady himself and shoot from twenty-five yards out, seeing his low-driven effort deflected away for a corner kick by Bradley. Brady's resultant corner kick was played low to the edge of the penalty area to Gary Mills, whose shot went high over the crossbar

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Bradley's indifferent afternoon continued midway through the first half as the veteran centre-back was the first player to be shown a yellow card by Mr Chittenden as he pushed Darby over in full view of the match official and was booked for the incident

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The resultant free-kick - in almost an identical position to the one taken by Brady minutes earlier - was taken again by the midfielder, who this time sent over a dipping shot that narrowly cleared Ford's crossbar

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Good play from Diamonds on twenty-five minutes saw them work the ball from left to right and into the path of full-back Tarkan Mustafa, whose goalbound shot was blocked by a late intervention from ex-Diamonds midfielder Mark Cooper

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Young goalkeeper Rogers made his first save of note on twenty-seven minutes to deny Davis as Norbury's fine slide-rule pass found Davis in behind the Rushden defence, only for the Wrexham loanee to make a fine save to turn the striker's shot past the post for a corner kick

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Just after the hour mark, Mustafa was shown a yellow card by Mr Chittenden after he had clattered Colkin down the Hednesford left flank. Despite making the challenge, Mustafa came off worst in the coming-together and required a lengthy spell of treatment before continuing

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Davis probably should have levelled matters for the Pitmen on thirty-two minutes as Cooper's deep corner to the far post was met by the Pitmen's top scorer, who was totally unmarked but somehow headed over the crossbar

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Norbury was also off-target from a corner kick two minutes later as Colkin's kick from the left-hand side was met at the near post by the aggressive striker, nodding the ball just wide of goal as he beat Mills to the ball

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Nine minutes before half-time, Norbury's over-aggression towards the Rushden defence finally saw him booked by the referee as he was shown a yellow card for his part in a bruising aerial challenge on Peters. Weirdly, Mr Chittenden was talked into handing Norbury a yellow card after a conversation with the chief steward, who had been standing on the sidelines and not by one of his assistants

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Four minutes later, Pointon linked up well with Colkin down the left which saw the new Hednedford skipper cross to the near post, where Rogers managed to claim the ball at the second attempt to deny Davis a simple tap-in at the near post

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The tackles were flying in on both sides and Mr Chittenden handed out a final warning to Bradley on forty-two minutes after he had brought Sigere down in full flight. This was followed two minutes later by a dressing-down for both Norbury and Mills after the pair had tangled just outside the Rushden penalty area

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Right on the stroke of half-time, a great run from Sigere saw him dribble past Cooper and into the penalty area but could only drive a tame shot straight into the arms of Ford

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Rushden had been a constant threat on the break throughout the half, probing and testing a hesitant Hednesford defence that had been hanging on at times during the first period. The Pitmen had, however, remained only a goal adrift and would still have been confident of getting themselves back into the game in the second half

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This confidence was rocked right at the start of the second half, however, as Rushden extended their lead just three minutes after the restart; Carey's forward pass found Sigere in behind the Hednesford defence, although the Frenchman looked suspiciously offside when he received the ball. With the Pitmen still appealing in vain for offside, Sigere had time to control the ball with his chest before firing past Ford from ten yards out

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The Pitmen were very much on the back foot and struggled to cope with a confident Diamonds side looking for more goals to kill the game off. On fifty-one minutes, a header from Rodwell from Brady's outswing corner was tipped over the crossbar by Ford as the centre-back's glancing header threatened to dip underneath the woodwork

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Four minutes later, Bradley did well to deny Rodwell once more as another pinpoint delivery from Brady at a corner kick saw Rodwell dive in at the far post and direct the ball towards goal, only to be denied by the leg of the veteran centre-back, who was standing on the post

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It came as little surprise, then, when the hosts put the game beyond Hednesford on fifty-eight minutes as they made it 3-0 through Sigere. Brady stood up a cross from the right that Ford struggled to clear as he was put under pressure by the striker, only managing to punch the ball straight into the path of Burgess on the opposite side of the penalty area; his return ball to Sigere picked out the unmarked Frenchman, who headed over the head of the retreating Haran and into the roof of the net from six yards out

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With the game getting away from them quickly, the visitors conjured up an almost immediate response on sixty-one minutes as Cooper's left-wing corner kick was met by a firm header from Norbury, who powerfully headed past Rogers from close range to reduce the deficit

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Before play could restart, the visitors made a double attacking change to their ranks as they looked to strike again through Keith Russell and Scott Bonsall, who replaced Norbury and Davis respectively

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However, Rushden still looked more of a threat going forwards as a neat price of play from Mustafa saw him shimmy his way past Colkin and into the penalty area on sixty-three minutes, driving a shot across the face of Ford's goal but narrowly wide of the far post

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Sigere's pace continued to give the men in red nightmares as the striker went close to a quickfire hat-trick midway through the second half, making a superb angled run across the back of the Hednesford defence to avoid an offside flag as he got on the end of a pass from Peters. With only Ford to beat, Sigere elected for power over placement and fired over the crossbar, rather than sidefooting the ball past the advancing stopper

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The striker was to be involved in Rushden's fourth goal on sixty-nine minutes, however, as his attempted through ball to Darby just inside the Hednesford half was horribly sliced into the path of the burly striker by Bradley's attempted interception, allowing the ball to bounce nicely for Darby to set him up for a calm lob over the head of Ford from twenty-five yards out that dropped into the empty net. The sort of goal you score when you are on form and the sort of goal you concede when you're not

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Good play from Carey on seventy-three minutes saw the former Norwich City youngster win the ball from the hapless Scott Goodwin in midfield and spray the ball out to the Burgess on the left. His trickery saw him steal half a yard on Stuart Evans and cross for Darby once more, only for the striker to get his head underneath the ball and diverting his effort over the bar from eight yards out

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More obscene luck was to follow for the home side with fifteen minutes remaining as they grabbed a fifth goal in hugely fortuitous circumstances; Brady's long searching ball from the right sent Sigere away into acres of space behind the static Hednesford defence. With a hat-trick on the cards and one-on-one with Ford, Sigere sliced his attempted shot at goal as the ball bobbled in front of him; despite this, the ball spun kindly into the path of the incoming Darby, who accepted the unexpected gift as he tapped the loose ball into the empty net from close-range

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The manner of the last two goals had floored the away side, who struggled to keep their composure against a Diamonds side that was sniffing more goals. Assistant manager Colin Lambert elected to make a tactical tweak to the side for the remaining minutes as he looked to stem the flow of Rushden attacks, dropping Ian Robinson back into defensive midfield to stop the hosts from breaking from deep through Peters and Carey

 

On eighty-two minutes, Mustafa's deep cross was headed back across goal by Burgess towards Sigere, who was denied his hat-trick once more by a timely block from Colkin's late interception 

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Three minutes later, Brady's short corner to Paul Underwood was whipped into the six-yard box, where Ford did well to punch the ball over the crossbar to deny substitute Gary Setchell what would have been a simple header at the far post

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With three minutes remaining, Mills exchanged passes with Carey and sent Sigere clear once more, only for a late offside flag against the striker to deny him a clear run at goal

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Bonsall had barely had a kick against the experienced Diamonds defence since coming on, but had the game's last chance in the first of three minutes of added time; Russell was played clear of the Rushden defence by Colkin's fine threaded pass, with the former Blackpool man playing Bonsall in on goal. However, the youngster got his angles all wrong and completely scuffed his effort wide when he only had Rogers to best twelve yards from goal

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It had been a sobering afternoon for the visitors, who had been ruthlessly punished time and again by the hosts for several moments ranging from defensive indecision to sheer blind luck which further highlighted the yawning chasm between the top sides in the Nationwide Conference and the teams towards the foot of the table. We move to Boxing Day for the next league clash when local rivals Telford United make the short journey across the A5, looking to improve on their own mid-table position and earn local bragging rights in the process over the twenty-first placed Pitmen

 

Rushden & Diamonds: Rogers, Mustafa ▆, Underwood, Mills, Rodwell (Bradshaw 81), Peters, Carey, Brady, Sigere (Butterworth 86), Darby (Setchell 81), Burgess      Subs Unused: Town, Iga

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Hednesford Town: Ford, Evans, Pointon, Goodwin, Bradley ▆, Colkin ©, Robinson, Cooper, Haran, Norbury ▆ (Russell 61), Davis (Bonsall 61)        Subs Unused: Lake, Sedgemore, Jenkins

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