Second placed Hednesford Town took on eighth placed Lancaster City at Keys Park in new Pitmen manager Kelvin Davis’ home debut. The Pitmen commenced the first half with intent early on with Joel Taylor supplying the first of a number of dangerous crosses, with the first one gathered in by Lancaster keeper Brad Kelly. Minutes later Montel Gibson provided a cross from which Akheem Rose was unable to get a shot away following some last ditch defending by the visitors. Chris Hussey and Taylor combined well to provide a chance for Rose who headed wide from inside the box. In the 12th minute a smart ball from Taylor found Gibson in the box who beat two defenders before drilling home his shot to give the Pitmen a deserved lead. Liam Kinsella won a corner which was taken by Hussey who delivered the ball to the far post where it was headed over the bar by Rose. The Pitmen’s dominance of the game continued and in the 24th minute Max Sheaf chipped a ball up towards the far post where Gibson was waiting to head back across the goal into the bottom corner to claim his second and double the home side’s lead. Gibson went close to a hat trick a few minutes later when he shot over from Hussey’s freekick. On the half hour mark some good work in the box from Sheaf found Omari Sterling-James who fired home with a superb strike to give the home side a convincing 3-0 lead. Rose went close to adding a fourth when he almost took the ball around Kelly, however the Lancaster keeper came out on top of the challenge to prevent further damage.
HT 3-0
Rose was flagged narrowly offside from Gibson’s flick on at the start of the second half before Sterling-James landed a corner onto the roof of the net. A quadruple substitution from Lancaster changed the flow of the game. Dylan Thompson was booked for a foul on Sterling-James and the subsequent freekick was delivered into the area and cleared. Lancaster tried to seek out a consolation goal and worked a couple of corners, the first was gathered by Tony Breeden and the Hednesford keeper was on hand to punch away the second corner. Breeden collected a dangerous cross but in reality, he did not have too much to do throughout the game. Rose went through on goal and slotted the ball past Kelly however the goal was disallowed due to an offside offence. Substitute Dom Lawson fired over for Lancaster deep into stoppage time as the game ended in a much-deserved victory for Hednesford Town which saw them regain the top spot in the division.
After the game Hednesford manager Kelvin Davis said; “It was a strong performance against tough opponents, we showed energy and commitment and scored three good goals at the right time. The first half performance was what we want to try to impose throughout the game, the team took the ideas on very well. The energy levels dropped off a little in the second half as the players tired, however it was a strong showing, and we were worthy of the win.”
Hednesford Town; Breeden, Morgan, Taylor, Hussey, Harrison (Doyle Charles 46), Johnson, Sheaf, Kinsella (Trickett-Smith 77), Gibson (Watson 65), Sterling-James (Hylton 86), Rose. Sub not used; Labadie
Lancaster City; Kelly, Nolan, Thompson, Oliver, Grand (Moonan 53), Brindle (Bjork 53), Sloan (Amison 53), Bailey, Mansell (Craig 53), Evangelinos (Lawson 67), Yawson.
Attendance 1627
