Hednesford Town faced Stockton Town at Keys Park in a rearranged fixture, with both teams looking to consolidate their positions amongst the league front runners.
The Pitmen got off to the best start possible when after four minutes the visitor’s Josh Baggs was booked for a foul on Jamie Morgan. Chris Hussey stepped up to take the freekick wide on the right-hand side, his curling delivery deflected off goalkeeper Nathan Harker and ended up in the back of the net to give the home side an early lead. Harker was more successful in parrying Montel Gibson’s effort a few minutes later, before Jermaine Hylton shot narrowly wide for the Pitmen. Stockton were back in the game in the 24th minute when a freekick was played into the area allowing skipper Adam Nicholson to force the ball home from close range. The Pitmen continued to look the more dominant attacking force despite the equaliser with Akheem Rose heading wide from Dom McHale’s cross. Baggs was fortunate to avoid a second yellow card after a foul on Gibson, however it would be the Pitmen who went down to ten men when Max Sheaf was dismissed for an off the ball incident. In the closing stages of the half Hussey managed to hit the bar with a rasping shot from outside the area.
HT 1-1
Joss Labadie replaced Rose at the start of the second half as the Pitmen adjusted to being a player short. Harker did well to narrowly beat Gibson to a through ball as Hednesford tried to regain the lead. Another freekick from Hussey was unconvincingly punched clear by Harker as Stockton struggled to take advantage of the numerical advantage in the early stages of the second half. Stockton squandered an opportunity to score from close range, instead firing the ball high over the crossbar, a few minutes later Tony Breeden made a superb save from Joshua Scott to keep the scores level. The Pitmen were by now having to defend in numbers, a crunching tackle from Labadie broke up a Stockton attack, Ollie Harrison headed a corner away, before Scott shot wide for Stockton. McHale had a decent shot blocked in the 82nd minute and Breeden made another quality stop as the result remained in the balance. Stockton broke down the Pitmen’s resistance when Scott smashed the ball home from close range to give the visitors the lead in the 85th minute. Ryan Wynter went down under a challenge in the Stockton area, but the referee waved away any claims for a spot kick. Deep into injury Scott could have added to the score, but his effort went narrowly wide of the post.
Hednesford Town; Breeden, Morgan, Hussey, Sheaf, Harrison, Wynter (Wilson 90+1), Rose (Labadie 46), Doyle-Charles, Gibson (Turner 65), McHale, Hylton. Subs not used; Parker, Taylor.
Stockton Town; Harker, Baggs, Arjun Purewal, Bramwell, Nicholson, Coulthard, Scott, Petitjean (Thompson 73), Amar Purewal (Sweet 80), Painter, Hayes. Subs not used; Gallacher, Steels, Spears.
Attendance 1630
