Stratford Town

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Hednesford Town

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TBC

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Omari Sterling-James

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W D

 

Solihull Moors (H) 18.7.26

The Pitmen remain unbeaten in their pre-season programme, but lack the cutting edge shown in Saturday's win at Chasetown as they are held to an uninspiring goalless draw at Southern Premier League Central side Stratford Town this evening

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Manager Kelvin Davis elected to repeat Saturday's process of handing all of his fit and available squad minutes throughout the game, naming a first-half XI and a second-half XI for his squad. Youngster Josh Mabberly was handed another chance to impress alongside fellow youngsters Lennon Brown, Finn Teesdale and Dan Lomax, in amongst the experienced professional ranks

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Stratford - mid-table dwellers in last season's Southern Premier League Central campaign - were looking to the new season with renewed hope, as manager Paul Davis looked to build a side that could potentially push for a play-off place. In had come Dexter O'Toole, Cuba Mitchell, Harry Hawkins, Tali Jallow, Kevin Bastos, Charlie Farr, Kobe Hall, Rueben Wyatt, Aksum White and MaKauley Manning, adding to the Bards' experienced ranks that included former Hednesford trio Jake Weaver, Kory Roberts and Paul McCone

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It was another hot and stuffy evening in the middle of summer, with the pitch at the Arden Garages Stadium looking a little yellow ahead of kick-off. Dan Turner was first to show his pace and willingness to run at the Startford defence in the third minute, intercepting the ball and driving back into the Bards box before being dispossessed by Dan Vann before he could get a shot away

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Skipper Dale Gorman looked to get the men in white going in the eighth minute with a deep free-kick into the Stratford penalty area that was aimed at Niall Maher, only for the danger to be headed away at the far post

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Three minutes later, the lively Bastos was involved as he won the ball and set up Dan Lafferty, whose effort from range failed to test Xander Parke in the Hednesford goal as his effort skipped well wide of the target

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Bastos was next to register an attempt of any real note in the twentieth minute, stepping inside before striking a long-range effort that sailed high over Parke's crossbar

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Turner probably should have done better with a great chance on twenty-eight minutes as a ball over the top from Liam Kinsella played him through on goal, only for a fine challenge on him from Roberts denied him a clear shot at goal and pushed the striker wide before the danger could be cleared

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Ahkeem Rose felt that he had a shout for a penalty kick for the visitors two minutes later as he went down just inside the Stratford penalty area under a challenge from Fin Brennan, but the referee waved away the Pitmen's pleas and the game continued

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The pace of the game had started to slow after the mid-half hydration break, with the Pitmen looking very controlled at the back and playing some neat passing football without offering much in the way of an attacking threat

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A bout of handbags between both sets of players caused the referee to gain control of the game on forty minutes after a heavy challenge on the centre circle 

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It had been a largely forgettable first period from both sides, with chances at an absolute premium on a dry and bobbly pitch. Kelvin Davis made ten changes to his side at the break and started the second period with an almost entirely new side, with only Aaron Hayden remaining on the pitch from the first half team. Paul Davis also made changes to his Bards side, taking the opportunity to look at a couple of triallists in the second half

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With all of the changes on both sides, the second period was disjointed and similarly lacking in clear-cut chances at both ends of the pitch; Jamie Cooke's quality in attack stood out for the Pitmen, alongside the busy Omari Sterling-James, whose delivery from set-pieces tested the Bards defence in the air

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On sixty-four minutes, Brown was handed another chance to continue his development from the youth set-up as he came on in place of the hugely experienced Hayden

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Dylan Mottley-Henry - arriving at Keys Park off the back of a fine season at Chester - almost grabbed his first goal for the club on seventy-two minutes as a superb deep cross from Sterling-James on the left looked to pick out the late run of Mottley-Henry, whose header drifted just over Weaver's crossbar from close range

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Sterling-James tested Weaver with five minutes of the evening remaining, trying his luck with a free-kick from twenty-five yards that dipped over the Stratford wall but at a comfortable height for the former Blues stopper, who pushed the ball away from the target

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Another 90 minutes in the tank for the Hednesford players, and another game to build up understanding and relationships across the pitch. Davis will be pleased with his defence's solidity and dominance of the play, but a little disappointed with a lack of creativity in the final third throughout the evening. Attention turns to Keys Park on Saturday when the Pitmen face their first real test of the pre-season campaign as they face National League neighbours Solihull Moors

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Hednesford Town: Parke (Hornby 45), Morgan (Mottley-Henry 45), Hayden (Brown 64), Gorman © (Harper-Bailey 45), Rose (Sterling-James 45), Lomax (Cirino 45), Kinsella (Curran-Nicholls 45), Fitzmartin (Sharples 45), Mabbley (Teesdale 45), Turner (Cooke 45), Maher

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