The Pitmen sweep aside the challenge of Vauxhall Motors this evening at a packed and euphoric Keys Park, setting up a Northern Premier League West Play-Off Final tie against Congleton Town after a highly impressive team display

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A quick turnaround of games from Saturday saw Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren make changes to his XI from the one that had started the 1-0 win over Runcorn Linnets as Elliott Johnson and Ahkeem Rose were both passed fit to start tonight's game, with the pair replacing Simeon Maye and Jack Bearne respectively. Skipper Johnson dropped into Maye's defensive midfield role to deputise, whilst Rose played as the number nine up front in a move that saw Jake Jervis move out to the left flank

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Motors' form since clinching a play-off spot had been patchy, having not won in any of their last five league games going into tonight's semi-final clash. Manager Danny Holmes made four changes to his side from the one that had started Saturday's 0-0 draw at Congleton as Adam Rooney, Mitchell Duggan, ex-Hednesford loanee Nick Rushton and 46-year-old Kevin Ellison came in for Toby Jones, Will Dunne, Michael Burkey and Josh Quarless

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In front of another monstrous crowd for this level of 2,200, and on a gloriously sunny and warm spring evening, the Pitmen made a very strong start to the game as they looked to get on the front foot early on. Rose was quickly into the action, forcing Vauxhall Motors goalkeeper Alex Swindell into an early save as he raced onto Jamie Morgan's long ball forward and attempted a cheeky lob over the stopper from twelve yards out, only for Swindell to second-guess Rose's intentions and make the save

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Sixty seconds later, Rose was at it again as he took Jervis's flick-on into the Motors' half down the left, taking on Adam Rooney before striking a powerful early effort at goal from the edge of the penalty area that forced Swindell into another save low down inside his six-yard box

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Rose's bright start to proceedings was rewarded in the ninth minute as the burly striker showed his undoubted quality with the game's opening goal of the evening; taking full advantage of a slip from Rooney down the left, Rose seized upon Dan Trickett-Smith's superb through ball and showed great composure to sell Adam Hughes a dummy, bringing the ball onto his right foot before powerfully firing home from six yards out to give Swindell no chance

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The Pitmen's joy looked to have been cut short four minutes later as an apparent mix-up at the back looked to have gifted Motors an equaliser; Ellison's flick-on looked to pick out the run of Connor Rankin, only for Chris Hussey to come across and sweep up. However, Tony Breeden and Hussey suddenly ended up in a heap just inside the box after a coming-together between the veteran players, handing Rankin the simple task of tapping the ball into the empty net. Despite referee Mr Chell awarding the goal, the Pitmen vociferously protested as there had been a strong case for Rankin pushing Hussey into Breeden in the build-up. After a long, long conversation with the assistant on the Wimblebury side, Mr Chell finally disallowed the goal and handed the Pitmen a free-kick

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Motors continued to press for an equaliser, with Rankin stinging the palms of Breeden on eighteen minutes as his free-kick to the right of the Hednesford penalty area dipped into the hands of the stopper at his near post

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The hosts remained a threat on the counter, however, with Rose, Trickett-Smith and Dom McHale leading the visitors a merry dance with their attacking play. On twenty-one minutes, McHale's quick feet saw him switch play from right to left and into the feet of Trickett-Smith, who in turn fed Jervis into space on the flank. The big man cut inside and looked to pick Rose out once more, but his pass was cut out by Rooney inside the six-yard box and cleared

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A minute later, Jervis did well again down the left and earned the Pitmen a free-kick after being brought down by Josh Solomon-Davies. Hussey and Trickett-Smith stood over the free-kick, with Hussey delivering a fine ball into the box where Ollie Harrison looked to get on the end of it, but was pulled back for a marginal offside as the free-kick was played in

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Five minutes later, Rose also fell victim to an incredibly tight offside call from the assistant on the main stand side as he made what appeared to be a well-timed run onto Trickett-Smith's cute through ball but was also pulled back by the assistant, much to the ire of the home supporters

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The bumper crowd were being treated to some fine football from the Pitmen, who were on the front foot at every opportunity and looking to create chances through the outstanding Trickett-Smith and McHale. Good feet from McHale again on the half hour saw him drift inside from the right flank, using Morgan as a decoy to drag full-back Vita Mbolokele out of position before laying the ball off to Joe Doyle-Charles, who dithered somewhat with the goal in front of him and elected to take a touch, losing the momentum and allowing Vauxhall Motors to clear their lines

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Hussey's excellent delivery from corner kicks tested the Motors' defence once more on thirty-three minutes, with visiting skipper Ben Holmes having to desperately clear the danger in his own six-yard box after Harrison had headed Hussey's ball in back across goal and into the path of Rose

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Two minutes later, Trcikett-Smith's corner from the left-hand side was met by the full force of Harrison's head on the edge of the six-yard box, with the centre-back powerfully diverting the ball towards goal and forcing Swindell into a fine save to push it away

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The excellent McHale had most of Keys Park in raptures on thirty-seven minutes as he moved to the top of the club's goalscoring charts for the season with his twentieth goal of the season; a corner from Hussey on the right caused havoc in the Motors ranks, with Jervis flicking the ball on and into the path of McHale at the far post; the Magic Man nipped in ahead of Solomon-Davies to turn the ball home from close-range for the easiest goal he will score this season and sedn the Heath Hayes terrace delerious

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McHale weas very much in the mood to showcase all of his tricks and flicks, playing a delightful backheel past Solomon-Davies and into the path of Morgan on forty minutes, with the right-back's rebounded effort from an angle sailing high and wide of the far post after his initial effort had been played back to him by Hughes

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In the first of five added minutes at the end of the first half, Vauxhall Motors were forced into a substitution just before the break as Jake Kirby-Reed came on in place of the injured Duggan

 

Deep, deep into added time, Motors gave themselves a lifeline as the Pitmen crucially switched off at a free kick, awarded to Motors after a foul by Morgan on Ellison to the left of the Hednesford penalty area that earned the right back a yellow card in the process. Solomon-Davies played the resultant ball into the box, with Rankin rising highest to loop his header from ten yards out onto the crossbar. The ball dropped kindly to Rooney via a flick from Ellison, who eventually managed to turn the ball past Breeden from close range with a low shot

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That late Motors strike will have changed both managers' half-time team talks and will have given the visitors belief that they can get back into contention after being a solid second best in the first period. For the Pitmen, you still felt that they had plenty left in the tank if required, having dominated long periods of the first half and created a hosts of good chances

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Another fantastic run from Rose on forty-nine minutes saw the striker get into another great goalscoring position, racing onto Hussey's header down the left and nicking it past the onrushing Swindell, committing the stopper into making a rash challenge that wiped the Hednesford goalscorer out. The majority of Keys Park demanded a straight red card for the stopper for the challenge, but Mr Chell went with the letter of the law and booked Swindell for the tackle as Rose was running away from goal and had already run the ball away from danger

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Trickett-Smith's resultant free-kick hit the Motors' wall initially before dropping back at the feet of the playmaker, whose follow-up effort saw him attempt to lob Swindell in audacious circumstances, forcing the former Newtown man to push the ball over his crossbar for a corner kick

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Rose had soldiered on since the rough challenge on him from Swindell a few minutes earlier, but had to admit defeat on what appeared to be a shoulder problem on fifty-five minutes and was taken off in favour of Niall Watson. The substitute moved to the left flank, with Jervis returning to the centre-forward position to compensate

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Within just a few seconds of coming on, Watson was presented with a glorious chance to restore the Pitmen's two-goal lead as Trickett-Smith's pass into the feet of the forward saw him take advantage of some sloppy cover play from Solomon-Davies, picking the pocket of the defender before firing in a left-footed effort that Swindell deflected away from goal with his legs

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At the other end, Breeden was forced into his first meaningful contribution to the second half on fifty-eight minutes as Swindell's long, raking ball forward somehow managed to find it's way through to Holmes, who had ghosted in at the far post and tried to bring the ball down on his chest before shooting at goal, allowing Breeden enough time to come across and make the block

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Kirby-Reed picked up the first caution of the evening from Mr Chell on the hour mark for a poorly-timed challenge on Trickett-Smith, handing the hosts a free-kick to the right of the Motors penalty area

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The yellow cards continued to be dished out two minutes later as Mbolokele picked up a booking from Mr Chell, who showed the stocky former Ruthin Town defender a yellow card for a foul on McHale

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Before play could continue, the visitors made their second change of the game as Holmes made an attacking change to his side as striker Jawad Jebrin replaced full-back Solomon-Davies

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Mbolokele was lucky not to be shown a quickfire second yellow card by the match official on sixty-four minutes as he flattened Jervis down the Hednesford left to stop the forward from making progress down the wing, somehow escaping with only a talking-to from Mr Chell

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Trickett-Smith got on the end of Hussey's free-kick inside the Motors' penalty area, twisting and turning before seeing his right-footed effort from twelve yards out deflected towards goal and pushed away by Swindell

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On sixty-seven minutes, Hussey made another one of his surging runs from deep, beating no fewer than five Vauxhall Motors players as he took the ball fully fifty yards forward before being clattered into by Paddy Kay on the right flank. The pair tangled on the deck and came together once more before, with Hussey upset at the poor challenge on him and complaining vociferously to the official, who showed the veteran defender a yellow card for dissent and booked Kay for the initial foul

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With these bookings fresh in their mind, Holmes moved quickly to bring Mbolokele off before he could get sent off, with the full-back hooked by Motors a minute later as Jones came on in his place. At the same time, giant striker Josh Quarless was also brought on in place of Kay, who was also walking the tightrope with Mr Chell

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The flurry of recent cautions continued on sixty-nine minutes as Taylor picked up the Pitmen's third booking of the evening for a mistimed challenge on Kirby-Reed on the far right-hand side of the pitch to stop him from breaking into space behind the full-back after a quick counter.

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With nineteen minutes remaining, the giant figure of Blissett climbed up off the bench as the big man came on to add his aerial threat to the Hednesford attack as he replaced Johnson

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Blissett was straight into the action, getting on the end of a lofted ball in from Taylor ahead of Holmes at the near post but tamely glancing his effort well wide of Swindell's goal

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With fifteen minutes of an absorbing tie remaining, Trickett-Smith and Jervis linked up to create a chance for Watson, rolling the ball into the path of the striker on the edge of the penalty area where he turned on a sixpence but dragged his low shot along the ground and into the arms of Swindell

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Motors' final change of the evening came on seventy-seven minutes as skipper Holmes was brought off by his namesake manager and replaced by Dunne

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​Manager Holmes was clearly still smarting from some of the referee's decisions against his side and picked up a booking from Mr Chell on eighty minutes for taking his protests a little too far

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You still felt that it wasn't the end of the scoring for the night as we headed into the final ten minutes, with the Pitmen continuing to press and Motors playing on the counter and looking for the head of Quarless. A quick break from the hosts on eighty-five minutes really should have sealed the win as Blissett and Jervis linked up on the left to cross for Watson, who steered the ball goalwards with a flick of his right boot but was denied by a flying save from Swindell. The ball dropped kindly to McHale, who somehow inexplicably turned the rebound wide of the post with the open goal gaping in front of him

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The worry and pressure of the second half was finally released around the ground with a couple of minutes remaining as the Pitmen finally booked their place in the final with a richly-deserved third goal through man of the match Trickett-Smith; McHale was the provider after chasing down an apparent lost cause down the right and dispossessing Jones at the crucial moment, taking the ball into the box before unselfishly squaring it to Trickett-Smith, who expertly steered the ball beyond the reach of Swindell from seven yards out and into the far corner of the net to send Keys Park wild with excitement

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The home fans went through their whole repertoire of songs in the final moments as the referee added a whopping nine minutes of added time at the end of the game. Breeden did well to claim a dangerous corner kick from Kirby-Reed in the third minute of added time, coming off his line to claim a curling ball in ahead of Jones and Rooney at the far post

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It had been a memorable evening for the home side and another one of those great play-off semi-finals to go alongside the likes of Leamington in 2011 and AFC Fylde two years later, moving them on to Saturday's mouthwatering final against Congleton, who had been taken all the way by Chasetown at the Cleric Stadium in the other semi-final before winning on penalty kicks. A mammoth, expectant crowd will no doubt be in attendance on Saturday, with most of them hoping that Hurren's men can complete the task of promotion and restore the Pitmen to step three after a rollercoaster two seasons at step four

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Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan ▆, Taylor ▆, Johnson © (Blissett 71), Harrison, Hussey ▆, Trickett-Smith, Doyle-Charles, Jervis, McHale, Rose (Watson 55)   Subs Unused: Gwilt, Bearne, Brown

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Vauxhall Motors: Swindell ▆, Solomon-Davies (Jebrin 62), Mbolokele ▆ (Jones 68), Rooney, Hughes, Duggan (Kirby-Reed 45 ▆), Holmes © (Dunne 77), Kay ▆ (Quarless 68), Rankin, Rushton, Ellison      Subs Unused: none

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