THE GAME
- Hednesford Town v Lancaster City
- Saturday 21st February 2026, kick off 3pm
- Northern Premier League Premier Division
- Keys Park Stadium, Keys Park Road, Hednesford, Staffordshire WS12 2D2
THE PITMEN
After the unexpected heavy defeat at Hyde, The Pitmen stayed in second place in the NPL table with 54 points from 30 games. Hebburn are a point ahead after playing out a 1-1 draw with third placed FC United although they have played a game less than Hednesford while FC United have 52 points from 29 games. Warrington Rylands and Stockton fill the remaining play-off places with Gainsborough moving up to sixth after their 2-1 midweek win at Whitby. Saturday’s loss was the first time that Hednesford had conceded five goals in a league game since the 1-5 defeats against Widnes and City of Liverpool in 2023/24 and was their fifth league defeat away from home this season. At home the record is much better, the only reversal coming against Stockton to go with five draws and nine wins.
THE OPPOSITION
Lancaster are in eighth place in the NPL table, four points off the final play-off spot with 44 points from 29 games. 25 of those points have been picked up at home including a 0-0 draw with Hednesford back in October. Their 19 points on the road have been gained from five wins and four draws to go with five defeats, those losses coming at Ilkeston (0-3), FC United (1-2), Warrington Rylands (0-2), Warrington Town (2-3) and Hyde (0-1). Their leading scorer is Nik Evangelinos with eight league goals while both Steven Yawson and Dom Lawson have six.
MANAGER’S THOUGHTS
FORM
From their last six games Hednesford have nine points with a GD of -3 while Lancaster have eight points and a GD of -2.
- HTFC: LDDDWW
- LTFC: WLDDWL
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS
This will be Lancaster City’s third visit to Keys Park, twice in the Northern Premier League and once in the FA Trophy. It’s all square in terms of results with one win for The Pitmen, one for the Dolly Blues and one draw.
- 2003/04: HTFC 1-0 LCFC FA Trophy Steve Evans Att: 276
- 2017/18 : HTFC 1-1 LCFC Northern Premier Danny Glover Att: 412
- 2018/19 : HTFC 0-1 LCFC Northern Premier Att: 324
MATCHDAY DETAILS
Kick off is at the usual Saturday time of 3pm with some of the turnstiles and ticket office open at 12pm for anyone who wants to watch the West Bromwich Albion v Coventry City Championship game at 12.30pm in the Chase Suite although the rest of the turnstiles and club shop won’t open until 1pm.
There will be parking available at the Sunflex site at a cost of £5, first come first served with all proceeds going to charity.
Saturday’s match sponsors are i-on Security. The Royal British Legion will also be in attendance – setting up a pre-match gazebo inside the stadium adjacent to the main stand.
Why not have a look at the new fanzone area situated between the Wimblebury Terrace and Heath Hayes End. A burger van will be there along with the self-serve BoltBar. There are now four newly installed port-a-loos in the area as well. Also the BoltBar near to the club shop now offers Kronenbourg 0% as an alternative.
Admission will be £13 adults, £10 concessions/17-18 and disabled (non-wheelchair access), £5 U16 and free for U10s but all U16s if not season ticket holders or Junior Pitmen Members must be accompanied by a paying adult and should be under their supervision at all times.
The multi-award winning matchday programme will be on sale, cash payments to the programme sellers or by card from the club shop and will take a closer look at The Pitmen’s FA Trophy win over Lancaster in the 2003/04 season
