Hednesford's excellent run of results was brought to a crashing halt this evening as Stourbridge produced a superb second-half performance to take all three points back to the West Midlands at a baltic Keys Park this evening

​

Manager Rob Smith made one change to the side that had beaten Cirencester Town on Saturday, with midfielder Jay Denny returning to the side at the expense of youngster Jamey Osborne

​

Stourbridge made the short journey up to Keys Park off the back of a narrow defeat at Bedford Town at the weekend, leaving the Glassboys in eighth place in the table, three places and four points behind the Pitmen. Manager Gary Hackett made three changes to his side for tonight's local derby as Jamie Oliver, ex-Pitman James Dyson and Aaron Drake all returned to the side at the expense of Daryl Jones, Drew Canavan and Sam Rock. Other notable players with links to Hednesford sides past included goalkeeper Lewis Solly and striker Linden Dovey, whilst young midfielder Josh Craddock was amongst the Stourbridge substitutes

​

It was the returning Denny who was to have the first sight of goal after just two minutes, gambling at the far post to get his head to Simon Brown's deep cross, but heading narrowly wide of goal

​

Stourbridge, chasing a play-off place just below the Pitmen in the table, responded with Dovey firing narrowly past Dan Crane's right-hand post after Ryan Rowe had headed the ball into his strike partner's path on eight minutes

​

Denny went close again for the Pitmen a minute later, hitting a long-range shot that deflected off Nathan Bennett for a corner kick. The visitors cleared their lines with ease, and from the breakaway opened the scoring. Solly quickly threw the ball out to Ben Billingham, who made a run of over fifty yards before playing a neat one-two with Leon Broadhurst and firing past an exposed Crane. A simple, but effective goal that left Smith visibly frustrated on the touchline at the ease in which the visitors had carved open the Pitmen's back line

​

However, the Pitmen were not put off by the early blow and struck back within two minutes courtesy of new strike hero Danny Quinn. The youngster picked up a loose ball before beating three half-hearted challenges and slotting the ball past Solly

​

Better was to come, as Quinn put the Pitmen into the lead on fourteen minutes; Darren Campion played a free-kick into the area from the left-hand side, taking a deflection off the wall and dropping to Quinn, who did the rest by burying the ball into the net with a low drive past Solly

​

Stourbridge were incensed at the award of the free-kick and Stour's assistant manager Jon Ford sent to the stands for protesting too much match official Mr Horton

​

The game was ebbing and flowing from end to end in the first period, with Rowe almost equalising mid-way through the half - the Pitmen's defence halted momentarily, allowing Rowe to get on the end of Billingham's ball and fire straight at Crane

​

The hosts felt they should have been awarded a penalty on the half-hour mark, when Bennett headed a ball back to Solly but left him with too much to do, allowing Quinn to nip in ahead of the keeper. Solly and Quinn clashed, but any protests were waved away by the referee

​

Stourbridge themselves had a penalty appeal turned down as the game headed towards half time, as new skipper Liam Francis and Rowe came together in the area, but Mr Horton was again unimpressed and played on

​

Quinn should have completed a superb first-half hat-trick right on half time, racing onto a Chris Clements ball before lobbing the ball over Solly... and the crossbar

​

Despite having the better of an entertaining first half, the Pitmen failed to build on their lead in a sluggish second-half display as they allowed Stourbridge back into the game. After pushing the home side back into their own half in the early stages, Stour took their chance on forty-nine minutes to level matters. An Aaron Drake corner caused confusion in the Hednesford ranks, allowing Jamie Oliver to head the ball into the path of Bennett, who scored from close range

​

Stourbridge continued to put pressure on the Pitmen, with Bennett narrowly heading wide just two minutes later after getting on the end of youngster Paul McCone's free-kick

​

The visitors continued to pile pressure on a hesitant Hednesford defence, with Billingham next to test Crane on the hour mark. Defenders backed off the Stourbridge man, allowing him to fire narrowly over the bar from fully twenty-five yards

​

The best the Pitmen could muster was a free-kick from Clements on sixty-eight minutes that Solly watched just inches over the crossbar as the Pitmen's creative influences failed to fire

​

Quinn's desperation in grabbing his, and Hednesford's, third goal saw him tumble comically in the area under a challenge from McCone, incurring a yellow card for diving from Mr Horton

​

That was pretty much it for Quinn, who made way on seventy-five minutes for Kyle Patterson as Rob Smith looked to inject fresh momentum to his flagging attack. Osborne was also introduced at the expense of Brown

​

However, it was Stourbridge who continued to look the more likely to score, and with eight minutes remaining, they grabbed the winner. Solly's searching ball into Pitmen territory was again not dealt with by a jumpy, nervous back line, allowing Rowe to outmuscle Cheyenne Dunkley and fire past Crane to grab the goal his efforts deserved

​

Clements went close to grabbing an equaliser for the Pitmen late on but was denied by a superb flying save from Solly as the midfielder hit a powerful long-range shot at goal

​

Victory for the Glassboys sees them move up to sixth place, just behind the Pitmen in an increasingly congested league table. Another play-off contender in the form of newly-promoted Chesham United is next up for Smith's men, as Hednesford make the trip down to Hertfordshire on Saturday looking for a swift response to tonight's reverse

​

Hednesford Town: Crane, Wooliscroft, Campion, Dunkley, Francis ©, Hurren, Brown (Osborne 81), Clements, Robinson, Quinn ▆ (Patterson 75), Denny      Subs Unused: Orbell, Bailey, Carter

​

Stourbridge: Solly, Dovey (Canavan 86), Oliver, McCone, Drake (Rock 68), Bennett, Dyson, Broadhurst, Rowe, Billingham, Mahon      Subs Unused: Craddock, Jones, Lloyd

​