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Joel Taylor

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FC United of Manchester (H) 27.12.25

The Pitmen ensured that they would remain top of the Northern Premier League at Christmas after they had earned themselves a battling draw at Warrington Town this afternoon

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Gavin Hurren's side had maintained their three-point gap at the top of the table last weekend courtesy of a confident 3-0 win at struggling Ilkeston Town; with this in mind, the Hednesford manager chose to stick with the same XI that had started the game at the New Manor Ground. Talisman Dom McHale was available again after sitting out last weekend's game through suspension and was named amongst the substitutes

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Warrington had recovered well from their rotten start to life back at step three and were currently in the hunt for a play-off place, sitting eighth in the table ahead of play. The experienced Paul Carden had been forced into a key change to his side from the one that had beaten Rushall Olympic late on last Saturday as regular number one Liam Isherwood was ruled out due to injury and was replaced by Fleetwood Town loanee stopper Luke Hewitson

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In front of Warrington's third-best crowd of the season so far, the Pitmen made a flying start to proceedings as they forced the hosts straight onto the back foot; Chris Hussey delivered a fine corner into the box in the second minute from the right that dropped to Joe Doyle-Charles, whose ball back into the box was deflected behind by Troy Bourne for another corner on the opposite side

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Hussey's second corner of the afternoon was once again right on the money, with the ball somehow flying straight across the face of the Warrington goal with no one in a white shirt able to apply the finish inside the six-yard box

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Joel Taylor looked to be the Pitmen's main outlet down the left in the early stages, making a superb run from deep in the fifth minute as he showed some excellent footwork to leave both Joe Rodwell-Grant and James Melhado in his wake before crossing low into the box, where Bourne hacked the danger clear ahead of the incoming Ahkeem Rose

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Montel Gibson's first sight of goal came to him in the eighth minute as he picked up a Taylor ball down the left, taking it across the face of the Warrington box before lashing his shot high and wide of goal with a wild right-footed effort

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Niall Watson - fresh from his prolific loan spell at Warrington with seven goals in twelve games - had a glorious chance to open the scoring in the eleventh minute as he broke clear of the flimsy Warrington offside trap, running onto a superb pass from Dan Trickett-Smith as he got goal side of Melhado and took a touch, delaying his shot momentarily as Hewitson came out to meet him and allowed Melhado to make a smothering challenge to turn the ball away for a corner kick

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Warrington looked to get themselves going after a shaky start to proceedings with good play down the left on fourteen minutes, allowing full-back Chris Doyle to stand up a cross for Matty Waters, whose looping header dropped into the feet of Rodwell-Grant at the far post, who tamely side-footed his effort into the side netting under pressure from Hussey

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This led to a sustained period of Warrington pressure from set-pieces, with Reece Daly swinging in successive corner kicks from the right on seventeen minutes; his second ball in was met by the head of former Chorley striker Max Thompson after a flap from Tony Breeden, whose effort dropped wide of the far post under pressure from Ollie Harrison

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A minute later, Doyle's corner into the box on the left was cleared as far as Thompson, lurking on the edge of the penalty area - his effort was brilliantly blocked by a fully committed challenge from Jamie Morgan, deflecting the ball away from goal and over the crossbar for yet another corner kick to the hosts

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Some sloppy play from the Pitmen out of defence gifted the ball to Daly on twenty-four minutes as the forward picked the pocket of a dawdling Doyle-Charles in a dangerous area and played the ball to Thompson, who struck a powerful low shot at goal from just outside the box that beat Breeden to his right but also missed the target by a yard or so

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Two minutes later, good play from Rodwell-Grant saw him skip past challenges from Taylor and Hussey and lay the ball off to Josh Vela, on space on the right flank - his deep cross was headed back across goal by Waters, who saw his effort glanced over his own crossbar by Morgan 

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Vela picked up a deserved booking from referee Mr Chell on twenty-nine minutes as he crudely brought Trickett-Smith down twenty yards from goal with a poorly-timed challenge. Hussey and Trickett-Smith sized up the resultant ball, with Hussey whipping in a low left-footed shot at goal that took a nick off the Warrington wall and forced Hewitson into a smothering save down to his right

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Trickett-Smith had a sight at goal of his own on thirty-two minutes as he picked up a quickly-taken throw-in from Taylor on the edge of the box, working the ball onto his right foot before shooting wide of goal 

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More superb footwork from Taylor saw him surge past Melhado and Vela on thirty-six minutes, making a twenty-yard run into the Warrington half before seeing his cross diverted behind by Bourne for a corner kick at his near post

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Gibson was denied another sight at goal by some more excellent Warrington defending on thirty-eight minutes as a free-kick from the left from Hussey was floated into the box and flicked on by Max Sheaf to Gibson, whose driven shot across the face of goal was somehow missed by Watson at the far post, with the ball agonisingly dribbling wide of Hewitson's right-hand post as the striker was a matter of inches away from a tap-in

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Hewitson denied Watson once more on forty-two minutes, making a comfortable save down to his right to claim a bobbling low shot from the striker after Trickett-Smith's ball over the top had played Watson in to the right of the Warrington box

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A frustrated Gibson picked up the Pitmen's first booking of the afternoon late on in the first half as he blatantly pushed Evan Gumbs to the floor off the ball right in front of Mr Chell's eyes

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It had been a fairly well-balanced and competitive first half from both sides, who had both had fair chances but had failed to take any that had been presented to them. Both sides had looked strong in defence, using their muscle and physicality well to see off the challenge of the opposition's attackers

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Warrington looked to start the second half on the front foot through Gumbs on forty-eight minutes, bringing down a free-kick from Doyle and shooting at goal from ten yards out, but skewing his effort well wide of Breeden's right-hand post

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​Another absolutely brilliant run from Taylor on fifty-four minutes saw the left-back intercept a loose ball in his own half and take it fully forty yards upfield before laying off to Rose, whose left-footed effort from inside the 'D' was deflected into the arms of Hewitson by a Gumbs deflection 

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Sheaf - looking to follow up his goalscoring start last week at Ilkeston -  lifted a half chance high over the crossbar two minutes later as he leant back and got his laces underneath a first-time effort from the edge of the box after good work involving Morgan, McHale and Trickett-Smith

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Vela - booked in the first half and also lucky to not pick up a second yellow for a crude challenge on Rose towards the end of the first period - made a risky challenge on Rose once more three minutes later to deny the striker a chance at goal, putting in a crucial block wth his left foot to deny the Pitmen's top scorer a shooting opportunity after good approach play from Gibson

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A minute later, the Pitmen made their first change of the afternoon as the out-of-luck Gibson was replaced by McHale, with Rose moving into the number nine role vacated by Gibson

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Warrington continued to look for ​joy with balls into the box from wide areas, with a good cross from Rodwell-Grant on the right flank on sixty-one minutes eventually dropping at the feet of Waters via a clearance from Morgan; the former Chester man took a touch and looked to curl his shot into the far corner from eighteen yards out but scooped his effort over Breeden's crossbar

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With the temperature starting to drop and the sun setting, the game's frenetic pace also started to drop as both sides settled into a strong defensive shape once more, protecting a hard-earned point in the process. Rose had been flagged offside on three occasions so far in the game, with another infuriating offside call halting his progress on sixty-five minutes as the striker did brilliantly to make a run initially and exchange passes with McHale, but found himself in an offside positon when he received the Magic Man's return pass inside the Warrington box

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On sixty-nine minutes, Hurren made his second attacking change of the afternoon as Watson was brought off and replaced by Dan Turner on the left flank

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The hosts were at sixes and sevens on seventy minutes as they desperately looked to clear their lines following a throw-in on the right from Morgan to Rose that saw both Sheaf and Trickett-Smith look to turn Rose's pass home from close-range, only to be denied by some last-ditch defending from the Yellows

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Warrington's first change of the afternoon came with eighteen minutes of the game remaining as the industrious Rodwell-Grant was brought off by Carden and replaced by former City of Liverpool striker Elliot Morris down the right

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The visitors were dealt a huge blow on seventy-six minutes as Doyle-Charles hit the deck in quite some pain after a fairly innocuous coming-together involving himself, Morgan and Thompson that led to Morgan being booked. The midfielder stayed down, clutching his knee in some pain and was subjected to several minutes of treatment on the pitch before being stretchered off. He was replaced by the returning Joss Labadie on eighty-one minutes for the remainder of the game

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Breeden was given something to keep an eye on by Warrington on seventy-eight minutes as he fielded a low daisy-cutter of a shot from Harris from twenty-five yards out after good approach play from Waters had played his skipper into space just outside the Hednesford penalty area

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Three minutes later, Waters spotted up the ball after Thompson had won a free-kick in a dangerous position, twenty yards from the goal and to the right of the box after a mistimed challenge on him from Harrison. Waters, however, got a little too much on his effort and lifted it over Breeden's crossbar

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​On eighty-five minutes, Doyle picked up the game's final booking as he was shown a yellow card by Mr Chell for a bout of dissent after he had had some words with the assistant 

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Turner was denied a certain goal by some last-ditch defending from Melhado on eighty-six minutes - Rose was sent clear by a brilliant McHale pass down the right flank, with the striker outpacing Gumbs and shaping to shoot, only to dither at the crucial moment and see his effort deflected away by Melhado. The ball looked to be running kindly for Turner at the far post, with Mehaldo somehow managing to get across and block the striker's rebound, sending the ball ricocheting off the substitute and narrowly over the crossbar from a couple of yards out

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There was a muted appeal for a penalty kick for the home side on eighty-nine minutes as Waters' ball into the box from the left found Thompson, who was eased off the ball by Harrison and tumbled comically to the ground. Despite the question being asked by Thompson, Mr Chell allowed play to continue and the Pitmen cleared their lines

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Breeden was called upon to make a regulation save for the Pitmen in the final minute of normal time, claiming a low shot from Thompson after a looping ball forward from Waters had picked the striker out just inside the Hednesford penalty area. The Pitmen broke on the counter down the left through Trickett-Smith, who picked the pocket of Melhado and made a run into the penalty area before striking a rising shot inches past Hewitson's far post

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Breeden made another comfortable save low down to his right in the first of seven added minutes, claiming a low shot from Daly from long range that lacked any real power or accuracy

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A late salvo from the Pitmen saw them win successive corners on the right, with Hussey's second ball into the punched out by Hewitson as far as McHale, whose lobbed ball back into the penalty area was looped onto the roof of the net by Rose's miscued header

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Six minutes into the lengthy added time at the end of the game, the Yellows made a second change of the game as Thompson made way for the experienced Liam Brazier

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All in all, a point gained and a fair one in the context of play; neither side could really lay claim to have deserved the win as the game had yo-yo'd from end to end for spells in the game without either attack looking convincing in the final third of the pitch. The Pitmen remain top of the league table, although Hebburn Town's win over Guiseley narrows that to a solitary point. A huge game at Keys Park next Saturday sees third-placed FC United of Manchester making their first trip to the ground since 2015, which should prove to be the highest-attended game in the whole league so far this term

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Warrington Town: Hewitson, Melhado, Doyle ▆, Gumbs, Bourne, Vela ▆, Waters, Harris ©, Thompson (Brazier 90+6), Daly, Rodwell-Grant (Morris 72)      Subs unused: Lloyd, Shaw, Tweedley

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan ▆, Taylor, Trickett-Smith, Hussey, Watson (Turner 69), Doyle-Charles © (Labadie 81), Gibson ▆ (McHale 58), Sheaf, Rose    Subs unused: Wynter, Parke

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