The Pitmen have to be content with just a point this afternoon as they are held to a draw by a plucky Stocksbridge side at Bracken Moor, leaving Kelvin Davis’s side down in third place in the Northern Premier League table as they were punished for a drab first-half display

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Having moved joint top of the table last week with a confident win over Guiseley, Davis was forced into two change to his previously unchanged XI as Elliott Johnson and Max Sheaf were ruled out with injuries; in came new signing George Williams for his first team debut in place of Johnson, whilst Joe Doyle-Charles was restored to the side as he came in for Sheaf in midfield, also taking the captain’s armband from Tony Breeden

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In stark comparison, Stocksbridge had dropped to the foot of the league table last weekend after suffering a 2-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Workington; manager Jordan Lemon made just the one change to his Steels side with Jack Tinker replacing Tomas Poole on the left

 

Spring was very much in bloom in South Yorkshire, with the bumpy and uneven Bracken Moor pitch bathed in sunshine ahead of kick-off. An early free-kick into the Hednesford penalty area from Alex O'Connor was met by the right boot of Luke Hogg, whose side-footed effort from sixteen yards out was easily claimed by Tony Breeden

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The Pitmen were looking to play on the counter attack early on, with Montel Gibson doing most of the forward running for the men in white. He made a marauding run into the Stockbridge box in the sixth minute, taking down a bobbling ball and controlling it well but scuffing his shot straight into the legs of Kaspar Williams

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Ahkeem Rose - keen to add to his goal tally, having chalked up goals in the past two games - made a powerful run down the right for the visitors on eleven minutes, holding off the attentions of Tinker before firing in a low cross that was turned away by Paul Iggulden before Gibson could react

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Two minutes later, another direct ball forward from the visitors saw Sterling-James feed Gibson on the right, with the striker taking a couple of touches before setting it back to Joel Taylor, whose deep cross to the far post was hacked clear by Tinker ahead of Rose

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On thirteen minutes, Tommy Marshall was afforded time and space by the retreating Hednesford defence, striking a rising shot from just outside the penalty area but lifting his effort just over Breeden’s crossbar

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The Pitmen seemed keen to continue their long-ball strategy, although the Stockbridge defence seemed fairly content for their big-spending visitors to continue to do as such, with Williams and Iggulden rarely troubled by the long, and often aimless, punts unfield by the likes of Chris Hussey and Ollie Harrison

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On sixteen minutes, referee Ms Kings infuriated the travelling support by pulling play back on halfway for a foul on Doyle-Charles by Hogg, despite Jamie Morgan running into acres of space down the right and expecting an advantage call from the official that was not forthcoming

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Stocksbridge looked to take advantage of some poor defending from both Hussey and Taylor on nineteen minutes as the pair failed to clear their lines effectively, with Marshall digging a cross out of the turf and sending over a ball that was glanced away by Harrison, just in front of the incoming Luke Rawson

 

Just before the midway point in the first half, Breeden was called upon to make a fairly comfortable save down to his right after a free-kick from O'Connor on the right flank was cleared as far as Kaspar Williams, whose well-struck volley from just outside the box was at a nice height for the veteran to hold

 

The hosts took full advantage of the Pitmen’s lax approach to play as they stole into a shock lead on twenty-seven minutes; a looping cross from the right from Etherington was met by the head of Luke Rawson, who nipped in ahead of the dawdling George Williams to head into the ground, bouncing up and into the net off the crossbar from close range

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A succession of long throws from Taylor had been met with stubborn resistance so far by the Steels' defence, with the left-back picking up a partially cleared ball on thirty-one minutes and sending over a cross that drifted wide of the far post, despite plenty of white shirts clamouring for space inside the six-yard box

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Indeed, it looked as if Stockbridge were the more likely side to strike again as Rawson knocked down a long ball forward on thirty-six minutes to Marshall, whose effort cleared the crossbar from twenty yards out and ended up on the grassy bank behind Breeden's goal

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The Pitmen had offered little to nothing as an attacking force so far but ended the half strongly – on forty minutes, Taylor's long throw was headed back to him once more, with Taylor's recyled cross nodded down to Sterling-James on the edge of the penalty area by Harrison; the forward cut across the ball with a well-struck half-volley that was tipped over the crossbar by Townsend for a Hednesford corner kick

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Two minutes later, Gibson finally got goal side of the Stocksbridge defence as Breeden's long punt upfield was headed on by George Williams to the striker, who was stretching to reach the ball and could only nod it over the crossbar as he beat Kaspar Williams to it

 

In the first minute of added time, Connor Smythe let fly with an ambitious volleyed effort from twenty-five yards out that sailed high over Breeden’s crossbar and into one of the gardens backing onto Breeden’s goal

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It had been a pretty dire first forty-five minutes from Davis’s side, who had been guilty of leaning far too heavily on long, aimless balls forward for the likes of Gibson and Rose to chase onto against a tall, powerful Steels back line that had dealt with the threat with relative ease, whilst also taking the one clear chance of the game with aplomb through Rawson. The constant stop-start nature of the game that had been created by a hesitant, fussy referee - who had not let the game flow - had most certainly suited Stocksbridge, who had suffocated the Pitmen and given them no opportunity to get up a head of steam

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Steels went close to adding to their lead three minutes after the restart as Smythe let fly once more with a long-range effort that skipped wide of Breeden’s left-hand post, with the Hednesford defence once again standing off the men in yellow on the edge of their own penalty area

 

The Pitmen regrouped well, however, and reacted well with several phases of possession in and around the Stocksbridge penalty area. Taylor and Hussey patiently recycled the ball on the left flank on fifty minutes, with Hussey's first-time cross to the far post met by Rose, only for Tinker to turn the ball behind for a corner kick as he glanced the bouncing ball behind

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The pressure exerted on the Stocksbridge defence finally told on fifty-five minutes as the Pitmen pulled themselves level with their first piece of quality football in the game; Taylor's long throw from the left was laid back off to him by Hussey, with Taylor sending over a delightful cross into the path of Gibson at the far post, with the striker lashing a first-time effort back across goal and past Townsend, finding the far corner of the net with a powerfully-struck shot from six yards out

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This saw the momentum shift strongly in the Pitmen's favour in the next fifteen minutes, as the away side pressed hard for a second goal. Some neat one-touch play on the left-hand side of the box on fifty-eight minutes saw Taylor and Hussey involved once more as they slipped it through to Gibson, who tried to force the ball back across the face of goal to Rose only to be denied by some desperate defending from Etherington

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The away side were handed a glorious chance to turn the game on it’s head on sixty-two minutes as they were handed a penalty kick. Some more excellent one-touch play down the left opened up the Steels defence once more as Doyle-Charles and Rose linked up to set up Taylor, who crossed low into the six-yard box and into the path of Gibson, who was brought down by Tinker as the striker looked to sidefoot the ball home from six yards out. Tinker received a yellow card for the challenge from Ms Kings whilst Rose spotted the ball down for the resultant penalty. However, the usually reliable Rose saw his well-struck kick saved by Townsend, who guessed correctly and flung himself to his right, turning Rose’s penalty area from danger for a corner kick

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The Pitmen made a double attacking change a minute later as Jake Jervis came on in place of Sterling-James – who had been impressively man-marked out of the game – and Jermaine Hylton came on down the left in place of the tiring George Williams, prompting a tactical shift for the visitors which saw them revert to a 4-2-4 formation

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A minute later, Steels themsleves made their first change of the afternoon as forward Romario Dunne made his debut after his midweek move from Brighouse Town, replacing Smythe

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On sixty-nine minutes, Hussey's deep corner kick from the right was unconvincingly palmed away by Townsend and straight onto the head of Harrison, whose flick header was cleared off the line by the alert Rawson

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It seemed that the Pitmen were content to create most of their good play down the left, with Taylor and Hussey once again linking up on seventy-three minutes to cross low into the box, where Townsend managed to smuggle the ball away from the incoming Rose on his six-yard line

 

With sixteen minutes of play remaining, Steels made a second change of the game as Lemon brought Etherington off at right-back and was replaced by Poole

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Marshall had his name taken by Ms Kings a minute later, with the former Chesterfield youngster shown a yellow card by the referee for a foul on Doyle-Charles in the centre circle that handed the Pitmen a free-kick

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The pace and intensity of the game had started to slow on both sides, with Steels starting to visibly tire as they struggled to clear their lines effectively. Hussey picked up a loose ball out on the left on seventy-nine minutes, driving towards the penalty area before crossing for Rose, who couldn't effectively control the bouncing ball and had his pocket picked by Tinker, who cleared the danger before the Pitmen's top scorer could get a shot away

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With nine minutes of play remaining, Stocksbridge's side was pepped up with a third substitution of the game as Deshaun Musgrave-Dore replaced the recently-booked Marshall

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A break down the middle on eighty-five minutes for the Pitmen saw Gibson turn and lay the ball off to Hylton on the left, with the substitute turning inside of Tinker before drilling in an angled shot that was blocked at the near post by Kaspar Williams. The away side kept the move alive well, with Liam Kinsella playing the ball to Gibson once more, who wildly lashed his shot from long range high over the crossbar

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Despite having all of the late play, you felt that there wasn't a huge amount of belief in the Hednesford ranks, as some of the passing in and around the Stocksbridge penalty area seemed a little half-hearted and lacked any real intensity or quality. This was summed up on eighty-seven minutes as the visitors worked the ball neatly around the Stockbridge defenders through Hussey, Hylton and Taylor, only for Taylor to inexplicably allow the ball to run over the touchline with no-one near him

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With three of eight added minutes already passed, Stocksbridge looked to run the clock down some more as they made their final change of the afternoon with Sam Kay coming on for Alex O’Connor

 

Rawson took ‘one for the team’ two minutes later as he received a late yellow card from Ms Kings for a foul on Hylton and stopped the Pitmen from putting together a late break

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Deep, deep into added time, Hednesford made their final change of the game as Niall Watson was given the briefest of cameos as he replaced Rose on the right flank for a matter of seconds

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A disappointing result for the Pitmen that sees FC United leapfrog both themselves as Hebburn Town to top spot in the table, meaning that the Easter Monday’s clash at Broadhurst Park takes on a whole different meaning for the men in white, who will most likely need to win there to stay in the hunt for the title with two games remaining after the fixture. Today’s performance and result act as a timely warning for next week’s game as the Pitmen make the long trip to second-bottom Workington next Saturday with the harsh reminder today that there are no easy games against any sides scrapping at the foot of the table

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Stocksbridge Park Steels: Townsend ©, Etherington (Poole 74), Tinker ▆, Hogg, K. Williams, Iggulden, Marshall ▆ (Musgrave-Dore 81), O'Connor (Kay 90+3), Rawson ▆, Morris, Smythe (Dunne 66)     Subs unused: Cancello

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Hussey, G. Williams (Hylton 63), Harrison, Doyle-Charles © ▆, Rose (Watson 90+7), Kinsella, Gibson, Sterling-James (Jervis 63), Taylor      Subs unused: Walker, Maye

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