The Pitmen prove that they have learnt nothing from Saturday’s capitulation as two more injury-time goals earn Southport an unlikely point at Keys Park this evening

 

Still smarting from their late, late defeat against Scarborough Athletic at the weekend, manager Kelvin Davis was forced into one change to his side due to Niall Maher picking up a knock, with Aaron Harper-Bailey coming into the side in his place on the left side of defence. There was good news on the injury front, with both Jamie Morgan and Ahkeem Rose passed fit for the first time this season to take their place amongst the substitutes

 

Southport picked up their first point of the new season at the weekend with a battling performance against Buxton, earning a 1-1 draw at Haig Avenue after being reduced to ten men midway through the second half with the dismissal of Danny Lloyd. Sandgrounders manager Neil Danns kept faith in his side for tonight’s trip south, naming an unchanged XI

 

With both sides still looking to register their first win of the season, the opening exchanges were predictably cagey with chances at a premium. The game’s first opening at either end came in the fourteenth minute as a Southport corner kick from the right was headed out by Aaron Hayden as far as Malaki McKenzie, who cut inside onto his left foot and fired in a low shot from the edge of the box that flew just wide of Sam Hornby’s right-hand post

 

Three minutes later, Dale Gorman floated a deep free-kick into the Southport penalty area from just inside the opposition half and onto the head of Aaron Jarvis, whose flick-on just evaded the incoming men in white at the far post as it drifted wide of goal

 

Omari Sterling-James looked to add to his showreel of spectacular strikes for the club on twenty minutes after a Gorman corner was cleared by Regan Griffiths to the playmaker on the edge of the penalty area – Sterling-James struck a firm rising shot at goal that just dipped over goalkeeper Solomon Honor’s crossbar

 

On-loan Manchester United stopper Honor showed confidence beyond his years on twenty-eight minutes, coming a long way out of his goal and right to the edge of his penalty area to claim Gorman’s inswinging free-kick from the right after Mottley-Henry had been fouled midway inside the Southport half

 

There were calls for a penalty kick from the home side on the half hour mark as Jamie Cooke’s pace saw him get goal side of a static Southport defence. Honor came out to challenge him, with Cooke taking a tumble in the penalty area as he looked to take the ball past the young stopper. However, referee Mr Vieira was unconvinced by the contact made between the two players and allowed the game to continue

 

It was Sterling-James that continued to look like the Pitmen’s best route to goal as he tested Honor once more on thirty-two minutes; Jarvis was hauled down five yards outside the Southport box and awarded a free-kick, which Sterling-James curled low past the wall and towards goal, prompting Honor to make a flying save low down to his left to turn the shot away

 

Gorman’s set-pieces had been a little wayward at times in the first half, with the Northern Irishman swinging in a wild corner kick on thirty-seven minutes that drifted high over the heads of everyone in the six-yard box and straight out of play on the far side of the pitch

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The Pitmen were rewarded for edging the first half action with the opening goal of the evening just before half-time; Cooke’s pace, quality and persistence was the key as the forward brilliantly took the ball into the box down the left before showing some wonderful footwork to bamboozle two Southport defenders, squaring the ball to the incoming Mottley-Henry who gleefully fire home from close-range to register his first goal for the club

 

Things almost got a whole lot better for the Pitmen in added time as they sprung a quick counter-attack down the centre of the park through Jarvis, who intelligently played Cooke into space down the left once more. The former FC Halifax Town man cut inside onto his right foot before curling a brilliant effort beyond the reach of Honor but saw his effort come back off the crossbar

 

After a slow start, the Pitmen had grown into the game and finished the half strongly with Mottley-Henry’s goal and Cooke’s late effort off the crossbar. Davis will have been pleased with his team’s solidity at the back so far, coming off two torrid games against quick and direct opponents who had opened his team up at regular intervals

 

The hosts looked to make another quick start to the second half as they had done at the weekend, with Jarvis going agonisingly close to doubling their lead within ninety seconds of the restart; racing onto a through ball from Gorman, Jarvis took the ball into the box and around the sprawling dive of Honor but took it a little too wide and turned his effort onto the base of the left-hand post with the angle narrowing

 

Cooke tested Honor’s reflexes once more two minutes later, striking a low shot at goal from fifteen yards out that was saved by the stopper after Langston’s long throw from the left was cleared as far as the forward

 

Honor’s busy evening continued on fifty-three minutes as he reacted quickest at his near post to claim a swirling cross from Sterling-James ahead of the incoming Jarvis after some superb footwork from the former Hereford man on the right flank

 

Another wasted opportunity from a Gorman set-piece saw the Hednesford skipper once again get a little too much on a free-kick out on the Hednesford left and allowed Honor to make a comfortable claim at his far post

 

At the opposite end, Sam Hornby had had very little to deal with so far in goal for the Pitmen, making a smart save down low at his near post to cut out a dangerous cross from Jordan Slew  on the hour mark to deny two incoming Southport players a chance of a tap-in

 

The game’s first change of the evening came midway through the second half as Jarvis was afforded warm applause by the Keys Park crowd for another tireless performance as he was replaced up front by Rose

 

Regan Griffiths picked up the game’s first yellow card of the evening on sixty-six minutes as Mr Vieira booked him for a bout of dissent against the match official

 

Two minutes later, the hosts appeared to have put the game beyond their visitors as Lenni Cirino joined Mottley-Henry in striking his first goal for the club this evening. Afforded acres of space down the left, Cirino took the ball forwards to the edge of the Southport penalty area before confidently firing a low left-footed shot beyond the reach of Honor. A lovely, well-struck effort from eighteen yards out

 

Looking for some inspiration in a bid to get themselves back into the game, Southport made a bold triple change with twenty minutes of the game remaining as Dan Pike came on for Sam Minihan, Luke Burgess replaced Slew up front and Daniel Ogwuru replaced McKenzie

 

Southport’s fourth change of the evening came on seventy-seven minutes as young winger Christy Edwards replaced skipper Lloyd, lining up on the right flank

 

A minute later, the Pitmen looked to run the clock down further as Morgan was given warm applause by the crowd, making his long-awaited return to action as he replaced goalscorer Cirino at left wing-back

 

Gorman joined Lloyd in Mr Vieira’s notebook with ten minutes of the game remaining as he picked up a yellow card for a foul on Ogwuru, although this will most likely have been for an accumulation of niggly challenges throughout the evening

 

The Pitmen’s final change of the game came with five minutes left as the burly figure of young striker David Abimbola came on up front in place of Sterling-James

 

Rose wasted a great chance to put the game to bed in the final minute of normal time as he bundled his way into the box but wildly slashed at his effort and completely shanked his right-footed effort wide of goal

 

With the game moving into added time, the Pitmen’s frail defensive confidence and lack of efficient game management failed them once again as, incredibly, they allowed the opposition back into the game with two injury-time goals. On ninety-two minutes, Burgess was allowed time and space to thread a ball through to the willing running of Ogwuru, who got goal side of Hayden before firing beyond the reach of Hornby with a low finish into the far corner of the net. Game on?

 

The Pitmen’s lack of awareness around them was perhaps best summed up in the fourth minute of added time as they cleared their lines and found Rose on the move down the left. Rather than perhaps do the smart thing of running the ball into the corner and killing time, the striker instead drove to the left byeline and looked to pick out Abimbola with a low cross that was cleared easily by Southport and put them back on the front foot

 

With the very last action of the game, lightning struck twice for the Pitmen as they yet again failed to deny the opposition a last-gasp goal as Solomon picked the ball up just inside the Hednesford penalty area and was somehow allowed to wriggle his way past heart-hearted challenges from Gorman, Kinsella and Hayden before curling a low effort beyond the reach of Hornby. Joy for the small band of travelling fans, a sense of déjà vu for the home ones

 

A bitter, bitter pill to swallow for the majority of the 2,300 crowd, most of whom had seen the same scenario play out just three days previously. A point snatched from the jaws of victory puts the focus squarely on Davis’s management skills and his ability to motivate, organise and adapt his side to the requirements of step two football. The games don’t get any easier for the under-pressure Hednesford gaffer, as his mis-firing side make the short trip across to AFC Telford United in what could be a truly attritional derby match on Saturday afternoon

 

Hednesford Town: Hornby, Langston, Hayden, Cooke, Gorman © ▆, Jarvis (Rose 66), Sterling-James (Abimbola 85), Mottley-Henry, Harper-Bailey, Kinsella, Cirino (Morgan 78)      Subs unused: Parke, Sharples, Curran-Nicholls, Merry

  

Southport: Honor, Minihan (Pike 70), Davies, Jameson, Dwyer, R. Griffiths ▆, L. Griffiths, Solomon, Slew (Burgess 70), McKenzie (Ogwuru 70), Lloyd © (Edwards 77)     Subs unused: McMillan, Lavelle, Perritt

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