400

​

Tiernan Brooks

​

L D L D D W L L L L

 

St. Ives Town (A) 26.11.22

Another depressing evening for the Pitmen sees them crash to a fourth defeat in a row at Stourbridge, leaving them staring down the barrel of relegation as they sit ten points from safety

​

Saturday had seen the Pitmen timidly drop out of the F.A. Trophy at the hands of Coalville Town, with manager Steve Burr struggling to get a tune out of his misfiring squad as they desperately looked to get themselves back on track this season. Despite Saturday's defeat, Burr chose to stick with the same XI that had started the game for tonight's return to league action

​

Mid-table Stourbridge - beaten by Hednesford in last month's F.A. Trophy first-round tie - had been in league duty at the weekend, beating the Pitmen's nearest rivals in the table AFC Rushden & Diamonds 3-1 at Hayden Road. Management team Leon Broadhurst and Stuart Pierpoint made two changes to their side for tonight's Midlands derby as Joel Kettle returned to the side in central defence ahead of Chris Knight and ex-Hednesford man Reece Styche replaced Greg Mills to take his place up front alongside Jason Cowley

​

It was a cold and dreary evening at the Amblecote, with the pitch slick and heavy after the incessant rain that had fallen in the area over the past few days. Tiernan Brooks had to be alert to a direct punt forwards from opposite number Charlie Price in the opening sixty seconds, racing out of his goal to claim a bouncing ball ahead of the scampering Styche

​

The Pitmen settled into their stride well and stole into an early lead as they grabbed the evening's opening goal in the third minute. Lewis Ison won the ball from opposition skipper King and played Todd Parker into space, who in turn played Anaebonam away on goal down the left. The Norwegian - scorer of a fantastic brace against the Glassboys in the F.A. Trophy tie last month - steadied himself before slotting the ball past Price and into the right-hand corner of the net. A great start for the visitors

​

Two minutes later, Jack Wilson made a move into Hednesford territory and played the ball into the path of the dangerous Cowley, who saw former Stourbridge youngster Harvey Portman block the shot on the edge of the penalty area

​

Anaebonam was handed another great chance to double the Pitmen's lead sixty seconds later as he broke once more down the left. After stepping inside, the winger thought about shooting but elected to square the ball to Leroy Lita, only for the ball to be cleared by the covering Kettle

​

Styche's first sight at goal came in the ninth minute of the shot as he drove into the penalty area but saw his shot blocked by a superb covering tackle from Lowe. The ball was recycled by the Glassboys and eventually worked into the feet of Cowley, whose follow-up shot was saved by Brooks

​

Brooks was again called upon in the twelfth minute to sweep up as Lyttle's long, raking ball forwards looked for the run of Cowley, only for the forward to be denied by the on-loan goalkeeper's presence as he raced out of goal to clear

​

The Pitmen were unlucky not to double their advantage three minutes later as Ison rattled the post with a snap-shot from fifteen yards out after Parker's corner kick was cleared by the Stourbridge defence but only as far as the defender

​

Cowley levelled matters on seventeen minutes as the dawdling Portman was caught out on the right-hand side by Darryl Knights, who won the ball well down the flank and crossed well to Cowley, who had the simple task of heading past Brooks at the far post from close-range to equalise against the run of play

​

Knights went close to taking the lead for the first time in the evening on twenty minutes as the former Tamworth man picked the ball up from long range before drilling in a shot that was deflected just wide of Brooks's left-hand post for a Stourbridge corner

​

The Glassboys were handed a chance to take the lead in the twenty-fourth minute as they were awarded a penalty kick; Andoh fouled Cowley as the pair clashed on the left-hand corner of the penalty area, with the referee immediately pointing to the spot. Yet another individual error from a Hednesford defender, something that will most likely define the club's season come May time if the club fails to maintain their step three status. Cowley took the resultant penalty but was to be denied by a fantastic save from Brooks, who dived full length to his right-hand side to turn Cowley's effort away from goal

​

Brooks made yet another superb save two minutes later, making a fine stop to deny Knights as the forward struck another fierce effort at goal from twenty yards out. Having started the game so well, the visitors were simply holding on at this point and could count themselves lucky not to be behind at this juncture

​

Good play from the Pitmen on twenty-eight minutes saw a diagonal ball from Rowe find Obinna Anaebonam in space down the left, only for a tight and late offside call against the winger to deny him the chance to score. He did fire into the crowd behind Price's goal in frustration and was ticked off by the referee for kicking the ball away

​

More dreadful defending from the hapless Andoh on thirty-two minutes saw him concede possession cheaply to Cowley, who took the ball to the left-hand byeline before pulling the ball across to strike partner Styche, who missed an absolute sitter at the far post as he turned the ball the wrong side of the upright

​

A quick free-kick from Brooks two minutes later saw the goalkeeper play Anaebonam through on goal down the centre of the pitch. Despite being one-on-one with Price, the winger was denied by the stopper's presence and saw his effort pushed away by price for a Hednesford corner kick

​

Cowley was denied by Brooks a minute later as the King's threaded pass played the striker in on goal, only for Brooks to make a timely stop to deny the striker a second goal of the evening before Lowe completed the clearance

​

A free-kick in a dangerous position to the right-hand side of the Stourbridge penalty area was taken Livingstone on thirty-eight minutes; the Scotsman lifted his free-kick to the far post, where Ison met the ball with his head but headed tamely into the arms of Price

​

Anaebonam managed to win a free-kick for the Pitmen on the right flank with five minutes of the half remaining after being fouled by ex-Hednesford man Tyler Lyttle. Parker whipped in the free-kick at the far post, where Lowe's downward header at the far post was hacked away by the Glassboys

​

The Pitmen had given as good as they had got in the first half despite the home side looking the more likely to score, battling well in a fairly low-quality first forty-five minutes. Brooks had once again excelled in between the sticks for the Pitmen, keeping his side in contention with a series of wonderful stops and that all-important penalty save - his second spot-kick save in four days

​

The Pitmen started the second half with intent, winning three successive throw-ins adjacent to the Stourbridge penalty area. Rowe looked to play Anaebonam in on goal with another direct through ball on forty-eight minutes, but the ball bounced away from the winger and out of play

​

At the other end, a swift break from the hosts saw King play the ball into the path of Styche, whose powerful shot was inches wide of the near post. The striker injured himself in the build-up and required treatment from the Stourbridge physio before returning to the field of play

​

Anaebonam was caught narrowly offside once more on fifty-one minutes as Ison's angled ball into the winger caught Stourbridge's defenders square once more, as it had done numerous times in the first period

​

Styche was proving a tricky customer for the Pitmen at the start of the second period, twisting and turning in the penalty area on fifty-four minutes before shooting at goal and seeing his effort deflected behind for a corner kick to the hosts

​

Lita got goal side of Kettle momentarily to get on the end of a cross from Andoh two minutes later, lurching in front of the centre-back to get to the ball but heading high over the crossbar from eight yards out

​

Styche finally grabbed the goal that he was looking for against his former side on fifty-nine minutes as a cross from Lyttle out on the right dropped to the Gibraltar international, whose looping first-time shot from the edge of the Hednesford area had enough to beat the outstretched arms of Brooks

​

Stourbridge made the game's first substitution of the evening before play could restart as the experienced Greg Mills came on to play on the wing in place of Knights

​

Redfern had to be alert to clear the danger for the Pitmen on sixty-two minutes to hack the ball off the line to deny Mills after the ball had bounced around inside the Hednesford six-yard box

​

In much the same way as many games this season when they have fallen behind, the Pitmen started to struggle with any real inspiration and quality in the final third as heads started to go down and ideas started to run out across the pitch

​

A rare attack from the Pitmen on sixty-eight minutes saw Ison pick the ball up twenty-five yards out and fire in a struck well-struck effort that flashed wide of Price's left-hand post

​

Luke Prosser was the first player to be handed a yellow card in the game on seventy minutes as the former Stevenage man was penalised  for a shirt pull on Ansebonam to deny the winger a run down the right flank

​

The Pitmen made a double attacking change with fifteen minutes remaining as Joe Cuff replaced the awful Andoh and McQuilkin came on in midfield in place of the anonymous Rowe

​

A quick counter-attack from Stourbdige sixty seconds later saw Cowley break quickly onto Lyttle's pass, but was jockeyed away from goal by Lowe and out of play for a throw-in

​

However, Lowe was to turn the villain of the piece with eleven minutes remaining as a cross from Walters on the right was turned into his own net by Lowe as he looked to hack the ball clear at the near post but saw the ball skew horribly off his shin and past Brooks from close range

​

That pretty much killed off the Pitmen for the remainder of the game as they once again went into their shell and offered the square route of nothing as an attacking threat in the final seven or eight minutes. King tried his luck with a long-range effort on eighty-five minutes as he was afforded too much time and space to shoot from twenty-five yards out but lifted his shot high and wide of goal

​

McQuilkin was wasteful with his decision-making as he fired over the bar sixty seconds later when a pass into the feet of Obinna Anaebonam would have been a better option with the benefit of hindsight

​

Former Rushall man Alex Moore joined Prosser in the referee's notebook on eighty-six minutes as he brought ex-Glassboy McQuilkin down in a dangerous position. Cuff took the resultant free-kick and curled it around the wall but straight into the arms of Price, who was ideally placed

​

Cuff summed up the Pitmen's depressing evening as he was shown his second straight red card of the season on eighty-nine minutes for steaming into King with a late and high challenge that pole-axed the former Hednesford man. After a bout of pushing and shoving between both sets of players, Cuff was sent off for the challenge and could have no arguments about that. It may be the last time we see Cuff in a white shirt as he has failed to impress in his spell at the RACE Stadium

​

Stourbridge made their final change of the game in the first minute of added time as Cowley was afforded warm applause from the home crowd with Kam Smith replacing him for the final seconds of the game 

​

Another depressing defeat for Burr's team - their ninth defeat in fifteen games under the manager's stewardship - sees them marooned at the foot of the table and looking increasingly likely to be facing the certainty of step four football next season. For all of the positivity that Burr and Neil Tooth have brought to the club, you can't help but feel that the management team may be considering their futures as they have failed to arrest the slide in form and confidence and don't look like they have the answers; the team simply doesn't have enough quality and character to be able to drag itself away from the foot of the table and if things stay as they are with stupid individual errors peppering performances, the gap will most likely increase further as we head into the winter schedule. It's yet another away trip for the Pitmen to come on Saturday when they travel to mid-table dwelling St. Ives Town

​​

Stourbridge: Price, Lyttle, Wilson, Prosser ▆, Kettle, Hull, King ©, Moore ▆, Cowley (Smith 90), Styche (Walters 77), Knights (Mills 60)     Subs Unused: Gittings, Worley

​

Hednesford Town: Brooks, Andoh (Cuff 75 ▆ (89)), Portman, Ison ©, Lowe, Redfern, Obinna Anaebonam, Parker, Lita, Rowe (McQuilkin 75), Livingstone       Subs Unused: Bennett, Akinwe, Clayton 

​