The Pitmen's tough 2023-2024 season continues this afternoon as the 2004 F.A. Trophy winners are dumped out of the competition at the first hurdle after a dire performance at Keys Park sees local rivals Walsall Wood ease past their near-neighbours with three unanswered goals

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Last weekend had seen Danny Glover's side allow Stalybridge Celtic to take all of the points courtesy of a late goal at Bower Fold, extending the Pitmen's winless run to five games in the process. Glover had delved into the transfer market in midweek to make a double attacking swoop, bringing winger Joe Morley back to the club from Chasetown and also signing attacking midfielder Jez Abbey from Redditch United. Both players came straight into the side to make their debuts as they replaced Jack Sang and Wembanvuanda Star Mayemba, with Lewis Wright and Sam Griffiths the other changes to the XI as the pair came back into the side ahead of the injured Tom Thorley and suspended Desean Martin

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Northern Premier League Midland new boys Wood - promoted from step five in the summer - made the short journey to Keys Park off the back of a 3-2 defeat at Quorn last weekend, with manager Harry Harris making two changes to his side with Sam Unitt and Rory Roberts coming in ahead of former Hednesford man Joe Fitzpatrick and Phil McKerdy respectively. Several familiar names swelled the ex-Pitmen club in the Wood ranks as Joey Butlin, Tyreace Brown and Carter Lycett all started whilst Owen Watkins, Fitzpatrick and former goalkeeping coach Adam Marusiak were named as substitutes

 

It was a beautifully sunny day in South Staffordshire as temperatures touched thirty degrees ahead of kick-off on what was the hottest day of the year so far.  The hosts saw plenty of the ball in the opening exchanges, with Rivel Mardenborough flicking on an angled ball from Michael Williams into the path of Max Dixon in the second minute, only for the former Lichfield City man to struggle with his control of the ball and was dispossessed by Lycett

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Williams was involved again in the fifth minute as the veteran utility man won the ball from Kevin Montiero in midfield and played the ball out to Morley on the left wing. The teenager teased his way past Josh Mansell but was crowded out by some efficient Walsall Wood defending before he could look to pick Mardenborough out at the far post

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Griffiths had the game's first genuine sight at goal in the seventh minute as he rose highest to meet a Jack Kelly corner kick from the left but saw his looping header drift over the crossbar from eight yards out

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Wood's first sight at goal also came from a corner kick in the tenth minute of the game as the giant Brown strode forwards to head wide of Dan Crane's right-hand post after Lycett had sent over a deep corner kick from the right

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Crane's mixed afternoon saw him called into action three minutes later as the combative Butlin was brought down by Sam Paddock twenty-five yards from goal. The striker took the free-kick himself and forced Crane into a safe low down to his left. The loose ball prompted a goalmouth scramble, with Griffiths eventually turning the ball behind for a corner kick

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This seemed to lift Walsall Wood's spirits as they took every opportunity to hit Butlin and the pacy Daniel Gyasi. Some unorthodox defending from Griffiths on fifteen minutes saw him manage to hook the ball away from Butlin after the striker had taken advantage of a slip from Paddock which allowed Butlin to take possession just outside the Hednesford penalty area

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Two minutes later, more poor defending from the Pitmen saw Jai Verma dispossess a dawdling Kelly down the left and take the ball into the box, shooting from an angle that forced Crane into a save down to his left

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The hosts were forced into making their first change of the afternoon on nineteen minutes as Wright went to ground on the right flank holding his groin and was replaced by Sang. This saw a reshuffle in the pack for the Pitmen as Williams went to right-back and Sang slotted into central midfield

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Midway through the first half, Lycett went incredibly close to handing Walsall Wood the lead against his former club as the left-back made a typically bustling run down the flank and cut inside past Williams but drove his low angled shot inches wide of Crane's far post

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The game had started to resemble several games so far this season, where the Pitmen had started well but had allowed the opposition to take charge of the game and create a growing number of chances as the game wore on. Good play from Gyasi saw him play the dangerous Verma into space down the right on twenty-six minutes, with the former Stoke City youngster turning past Kelly and drilling in a cross to the near post that was cleared by Paddock

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On the half-hour mark, Walsall Wood again sprang a quick and direct break down the left through Butlin, whose lay-off to Alex Bradley saw the former Burton Albion man drive a rising shot narrowly over the crossbar from twenty yards out

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Three minutes later, Gyasi went even closer for the away side as he was afforded too much time and space to size up a shot from the edge of the box, shooting past a stranded Crane but seeing his effort come back off the crossbar. Close from the ex-Redditch man

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Having had so many good chances, it was perhaps no surprise then that Walsall Wood took the lead on thirty-seven minutes, although they were handed the chance on a plate from the penalty spot after more dreadful decision-making at the back from the Pitmen; Griffiths was the culprit, making a needless and clumsy challenge on Butlin to bring the striker down inside the eighteen-yard box. Referee Mr Hanson had no hesitation in awarding Wood a penalty, which Bradley dispatched confidently by sending Crane the wrong way from the spot to give his side a deserved lead

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Wood continued to look the more likely to grab a second goal before half-time against a rudderless and out-of-ideas Hednesford side, with Lycett's cross on thirty-eight minutes drifting right across the face of Crane's goal before being cleared by Kelly at the far post. A touch from any of the incoming men in red and it would surely have been 2-0

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Lycett was involved once more with three minutes of the first half remaining as his corner kick was headed back to him by Williams at the near post. The youngster took a couple of touches before shooting inches wide of Crane's near post with a low-angled shot at goal

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The final action of the first half saw Verma get past Paddock with ease, prompting the young defender to bring the forward down in full flight which brought the game's first booking of the afternoon

 

It had been another utterly miserable and uninspiring half for the once-again superb Keys Park crowd to witness, with their team wilting in the afternoon sun and allowing their opponents to take the upper hand as the first half had worn on. Up front, the like of Dixon, Mardenborough and Morley had barely even had a touch of the ball against a well-drilled Wood defence, marshalled by the experienced Kieran Boucher in goal. glover elected to bring himself on at the start of the second half to inject some physicality to the attack as he replaced Paddock. Williams moved into the centre of defence as a result, with Jacob Gwilt slotting in at right-back for the second period

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The hosts looked for a more direct approach to their game at the start of the second half, aiming for the head of Glover early on as the player/manager looked to win some of the aerial balls against Brown. However, a succession of poorly delivered set pieces from both Morley and Kelly saw them play tame crosses into the box that were easily claimed by Boucher, under no severe pressure from anyone in a white shirt

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On fifty-three minutes, Gyasi's pace was too much for Williams, who brought the player down and handed Wood a free-kick in a dangerous position. After much gesticulating between Butlin and Bradley, Butlin tried his luck from twenty-five yards out but drove his effort straight into the Hednesford wall

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The visitors made an attacking change of their own on fifty-seven minutes as the tricky Gyasi was taken off by Harris and replaced by Watkins, who had a brief spell on dual registration with the Pitmen from Romulus towards the end of last season

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Still the chances continued to come for Wood, with Brown again just off target on the hour mark as he made his way forward to meet a free-kick from Monteiro but glanced his effort just over the crossbar

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A deeply depressing feature of the Pitmen's season so far has been the sheer number of sloppy unforced errors that have led to goals being conceded, with another one added to the scrapbook of woe on sixty-two minutes courtesy of veteran stopper Crane. A simple backpass to the 39-year-old was mis-controlled by Crane as he got himself into all sorts of trouble under pressure from Butlin, culminating in Crane ending up in a heap on the floor and his former team-mate slotting the loose ball into the empty net from a couple of yards out. Horrendous viewing for the majority of the 654-strong crowd

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Stung into action, the Pitmen finally put some pressure on the Walsall Wood back line with two corners in a row, both of which were frustratingly clipped straight into the arms of the unchallenged Boucher from both Kelly and Morley on either side of the pitch

 

On sixty-five minutes, Glover did well to collect a pass from Gwilt, turning on the edge of the penalty area and trying his luck with an early shot at goal that was charged down by a committed challenge from Roberts

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Morley received the vitriol of the Heath Hayes terrace three minutes later as he yet again tamely chipped a corner kick on the right straight into the arms of Boucher for the umpteenth time in the afternoon, prompting a furious response from a visibly frustrated fanbase to keep the ball away from Boucher's clutches

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Crane partially atoned for his earlier error with a fine stop to deny Bradley his second goal of the game on seventy-two minutes, making a superb save from point-blank range to tip the former Tamworth man's angled drive away from goal at his near post after the forward had been given yet more time and space to pick his spot

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With fifteen minutes remaining and the home side getting desperate, they made their final change of the afternoon as the fading Abbey was replaced in midfield by Harry Bower

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It was left to Verma to put the cherry on top of the cake for Wood a minute later as he added a third goal for the cock-a-hoop visitors with a fine individual strike; Verma picked the ball up just outside the box and brilliantly side-stepped two half-hearted challenges before firing across a horribly exposed Crane and into the corner of the net

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Butlin was afforded generous applause on his Keys Park return on seventy-nine minutes as he was given a well-earned rest by Harris as he was replaced by former Shifnal Town striker Kyle Montague

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The home crowd started to empty Keys Park at a rate of knots on eighty-four minutes as yet another Morley corner kick was easily plucked out of the air by Boucher, once again under absolutely no pressure from any home player

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Three minutes later, former Hednesford midfielder Fitzpatrick made a late return to his former ground as he came on in place of goalscorer Bradley in the attacking midfield role

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Griffiths did manage to get his head to the ball on eighty-eight minutes from a Gwilt cross on the right, heading downwards but watching the Walsall Wood defence clear their lines in a no-nonsense fashion

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Out of both major cup competitions by early September, with only the less-profitable and less-glamorous senior cups and going through the motions in the league left to play for leaves Hednesford and their supporters with very little to play for in the seven and a half months left of the season. The positivity and siege mentality of the summer months appears to have dribbled away since the Darlaston debacle and there are genuine concerns that this group of largely untried and alarmingly inconsistent players will continue to turn in these poor, characterless performances that will drop the Pitmen into the bottom three of the league within the next seven days. Tuesday sees them make the trip to Cheshire to face old NPL foes Witton Albion before bottom-of-the-table Hanley Town make their first-ever trip to Keys Park next Saturday

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Hednesford Town: Crane, Wright (Sang 19), Kelly, Griffiths © ▆, Paddock ▆ (Glover 45), Morley, Williams, Mardenborough, Abbey (Bower 77), Dixon      Subs Unused: Mayemba, Richards

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Walsall Wood: Boucher, Mansell, Lycett, Roberts, Unitt, Brown, Verma, Monteiro, Butlin (Montague 80), Bradley © (Fitzpatrick 87), Gyasi (Watkins 57)     Subs Unused: Clarke, Marusiak, McKerdy, Machisa

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