Hednesford made it back-to-back wins in the Northern Premier League for the first time since September with victory over managerless Stocksbridge Park Steels this afternoon

Having returned to winning ways at Gusieley last weekend, Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren was able to welcome back the influential Chris Hussey to his team after the defender had recovered from illness. Hussey was the only change to the starting XI from the one that had started at Nethermoor, with Joel Taylor dropping to the bench to allow for Hussey’s return

Stocksbridge - also promoted to step three last season via the play-offs - had struggled with consistent form this season so far, sitting in seventeenth position ahead of today’s round of games. Defender Jordan Lemon had been put in interim charge since Ian Richards had left to join Guiseley ten days ago, choosing to stick with the same side from the one that had been narrowly beaten by Rushall Olympic in midweek, although he named Hull City’s Zac Jagielka amongst his substitutes after the teenager’s midweek loan move to the club

It was to be another huge Keys Park crowd in attendance, with over 1,800 once again backing the home side in large numbers. They were treated to a largely uninspired and, frankly, drab, first forty-five minutes as the visitors came with a game plan and frustrated the Pitmen for long periods of the first half

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Dom McHale - looking to pick up where he had left off with a fine display at Guiseley - had the game's first real opening in the sixth minute; Montel Gibson did well to chase down a long pass from Ryan Wynter, holding the ball up well just inside the Stocksbridge penalty area before laying it off to Jamie Morgan. Hs cross was cleared as far as McHale, who fired in a shot from eighteen yards out that sailed over goalkeeper Ben Townsend's crossbar

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Good play from McHale once more three minutes later saw him drift inside from the right, taking the ball past the challenge of Jack Tinker before firing straight into the legs of Steels skipper Kurtis Turner

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Stocksbridge midfielder Alex O'Connor was to pick up the game's only booking on twelve minutes as he was shown a yellow card by referee Mr Constable for a clumsy challenge on Morgan down the Hednesford right flank

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A minute later, patient build-up play from the visitors saw them bring the ball in from the right-hand side as James Morris laid the ball off to Turner, who tried his luck from fully twenty-five yards out with a low driven effort that skipped past Tony Breeden's left-hand post

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It was proving something of a damp squib at both ends of the pitch, with both defences on top against attacks with little penetration or creativity in the opening quarter of the game. Hussey mate, a positive move forward down the left for the hosts on sixteen minutes, taking on a reverse pass from Dan Trickett-Smith and standing up a deep cross to the far post that was narrowly over the head of the incoming Gibson and eventually cleared

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Joe Doyle-Charles was having a topsy-turvy afternoon of it so far, making some excellent runs into space but also playing a handful of sloppy passes straight to the opposition. He came off worst in a challenge on him from Turner on nineteen minutes, which saw the combative midfielder receive a lengthy bout of treatment

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Midway through the first half, Hussey again made a move down the left and whipped in a low cross to the near post that was turned behind by Connor Smythe for a Hednesford corner as he denied the incoming Gibon a chance to turn the ball home

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The Pitmen were handed a free kick in a dangerous position just to the right of the Stocksbridge penalty area on twenty-six minutes after McHale had been brought down by Tinker twenty-five yards from goal. Hussey and Trickett-Smith both stood over the ball, with Hussey swinging in a left-footed shot that failed to trouble Townsend at his near post

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Breeden was called upon to make a claim for the first time in the afternoon just before the half-hour mark, coming out of his goal to pluck Danny Deakin's deep free-kick out of the air ahead of youngster Tommy Marshall as Steels looked to pack the Hednesford penalty area

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A minute later, the marauding Gibson made another powerful run in behind the Stocksbridge defenders, outmuscling Elliott Owen just outside the penalty area but saw his subsequent right-footed effort blocked by the centre-back

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Deakin looked to play another good ball into the Hednesford box on thirty-four minutes as another one of the experienced former Sheffield United midfielder's balls into the box from the right flank was headed behind by Ollie Harrison at the far post for a Stocksbridge corner kick

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Three minutes later, Gibson did well to control a long ball forward from Hussey, using his body well to fend off Turner's attention before laying it off to Hussey on the left - his deep cross to Morgan was played back across the box to the veteran defender, whose follow-up cross was headed clear by Owen

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With four minutes of the first half remaining, Hussey came across to deliver a left-footed corner kick from the right, swinging in a ball to the far post that was slightly too high for Harrison to divert goalwards which allowed Stocksbridge to clear their lines

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On forty-four minutes, Gibson and McHale linked up down the right to play the ball back to Doyle-Charles, whose cross was glanced goalwards by Jermane Hylton at the far post, beating Turner to the ball in the air but not getting enough on it which allowed Townsend to make a comfortable save

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It had been a dull and low-quality first half from both sides, with the Pitmen lacking any real cutting edge against a Stocksbridge side you felt had very much come for the point and had not exactly shown much adventure in the final third themselves

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McHale was immediately in the wars for the Pitmen at the start of the second half, picking up a knock that required treatment ninety seconds after the restart as he collided with Tinker just inside the Stocksbridge half

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Good wing play from the quiet Hylton on fifty-two minutes saw the experienced number eleven give two defenders the slip with a run into the box and pulling the ball back to McHale, who sliced his first-time shot well wide of goal 

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Three minutes later, Hylton had a sight of goal for himself with yet another good run across the face of the Stocksbridge penalty area, lining up a right-footed effort that was blocked by Turner

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On fifty-seven minutes, Gibson was denied a chance to shoot from fifteen yards out as Trickett-Smith's free-kick into the box was knocked down by Ryan Wynter to the striker, who was deemed offside by the assistant on the main stand side as he raised his flag

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With it still not clicking for the Pitmen in the final third of the pitch, Hurren made an attacking change before play could restart as Ahkeem Rose was sent on to play up front alongside Gibson, replacing Doyle-Charles

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Stocksbridge made their first change of the afternoon shortly before the hour mark as former Chesterfield trainee Marshall was taken off and replaced by the defensively-minded Sam Kay

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With his first sight at goal, Rose got his angles all wrong as he picked up McHale's pull-back on the edge of the penalty area on fifty-nine minutes but shanked his effort well, well wide of goal with a wild effort

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Thankfully for the Pitmen's top scorer, he got his aim just right with his next effort on target as he put the hosts into the lead on sixty-three minutes; Hussey took Gibson's pass into acres of space down the left, picking out the run of the striker with a fine low ball into the near post that was expertly volleyed home by the substitute, powerfully firing past Townsend from eight yards out to make it ten goals for the season for the striker

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Before play could restart, the Pitmen elected to make a more defensive substitution with the cushion of the lead now in their pocket, as the fit-again Simeon Maye came on in place of skipper Joss Labadie

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Back came the visitors, with Deakin's deep free-kick into the box from the right on sixty-seven minutes claimed by Breeden at his near post before Morris could get goal side of Wynter

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A minute later, the Pitmen made their second change of the afternoon as the hard-running but out-of-luck Hylton was taken off and replaced by the industrious and clever Dan Turner on the left

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Youngster Jagelka - the son of former Everton & England defender Phil and nephew of the late former Hednesford midfielder Steve - came on to make his Steels debut on sixty-nine minutes as he replaced Smythe

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Trickett-Smith - looking to get back on the scoresheet after a lean time in front of goal for the playmaker - tested the reflexes of Townsend on seventy-two minutes after McHale's run and shot was deflected into the path of Dan Turner, who laid the ball back to Trickett-Smith just outside the box - his rising effort was acrobactically tipped over the bar by the former Matlock Town man for a corner kick

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With fifteen minutes remaining, the Pitmen broke quickly out of defence on the counter as Gibson held the ball up well and sent it out to Dan Turner, whose run and shot from the edge of the box saw him clatter the base of Townsend's right-hand post with a well-struck low shot. The hosts did well to keep the move alive through Turner and McHale, with the superb McHale floating a cross into the path of Gibson at the far post that the striker turned past Townsend from an angle with a looping header past the stopper and into the far corner of the net

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That was to be Gibson's final involvement as he was taken off to rapturous applause from the home fans before Stocksbridge could restart the game, with Taylor coming on in his place

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There were muted calls for a Hednesford penalty on seventy-seven minutes as Rose felt that he had been clipped by Owen inside the Stocksbridge box as the pair challenged for a low Hussey cross; Mr Constable took a look at the incident but waved away the protests from the home side and play continued

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There was another, perhaps realistic, call for a spot-kick on eighty minutes as McHale's attempted cross from the right-hand side of the penalty area appeared to strike the hand of Kurtis Turner on the way into the box; once again, the referee took a long, hard look at the action but again gestured that there would be no penalty kick for the Pitmen

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Jagielka made a fine run into the Hednesford penalty area on eighty-four minutes with a mazy run in from the left before setting up fellow substitute Kay, whose deflected shot drifted wide of goal. Jagielka was furious with Mr Constable, however, as he felt that he had been tripped by Morgan after entering the penalty area before looking to lay the ball off

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A minute later, Hussey delivered another fine free-kick into the penalty area from the left that dropped at the feet of the unmarked Harrison via a flick from Tinker, with his first-time volley at goal was pushed behind by Townsend down low to his left

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There was still time for another strong penalty shout from the Pitmen on eighty-seven minutes as Maye ran onto a pass from Turner, striking a first-time shot at goal that appeared to come off the arm of Tom Charlesworth. Despite strong pleas from the men in white, Mr Constable only awarded then a corner kick

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It had been a thoroughly professional second-half performance from the Pitmen, much improved on a turgid first period and one that was deserving of all three points against a spirited, but limited, Stocksbridge side. The second of four successive home games comes around quickly, with the visit of mid-table dwelling Hyde United coming up on Tuesday night as Hurren's side look to pick up the pace in the early race for the Northern Premier League lead

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Hussey, Labadie © (Maye 64), Harrison, Wynter, Trickett-Smith, Doyle-Charles (Rose 58), Gibson (Taylor 75), McHale, Hylton  (D. Turner 69)     Sub unused: Parke

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Stocksbridge Park Steels: Townsend, Charlesworth, Tinker, K. Turner ©, Owen, Iggulden, Deakin, O'Connor ▆ (Wilkinson 59), Morris, Marshall (Kay 59), Smythe (Jagielka 69)     Subs unused: Roxburgh, Degruchy