THE GAME
- Stocksbridge Park Steels v Hednesford Town
- Northern Premier League Premier Division
- Bracken Moor Stadium, Bracken Moor Lane, Stocksbridge S36 2AN
- Saturday 21st March 2026, 3pm kick off
THE HOME SIDE
Following last Saturday’s defeat at Workington Stocksbridge slumped to the bottom of the table with 31 points from 33 games. 13 of those points have been earned at home from three wins, four draws and nine defeats although they are undefeated in their last three matches on their own pitch. The three wins have come against Prescot Cables (2-1), Warrington Town (2-1) and Whitby (4-1) with the draws being against Morpeth, Hyde, Stockton (all 1-1) and Warrington Rylands (0-0). They have tasted defeat at the hands of Bamber Bridge (0-2), Guiseley (1-3), FC United (0-3), Lancaster (1-4), Rushall Olympic (0-1), Workington (0-1), Hebburn (1-2), Gainsborough Trinity (0-2) and Cleethorpes (1-3). Leading scorer is the former Doncaster and Matlock striker James Morris with eight while Luke Rawson who is in his second spell with the club has five.
THE PITMEN
Hednesford went down to only their second home defeat of the season in all competitions when they lost 0-1 to Rushall Olympic in the Staffordshire Senior Cup semi-final on Tuesday night and away from Keys Park in the NPL this season they have won seven games, drawn four and lost five games giving them 25 points out of a possible 4. They have beatien Hebburn 1-0, Leek 2-0, Guiseley 5-1, Ashton 1-0, Ilkeston 3-0, Stockton 2-1 and Bamber Bridge 3-1. Leading scorers are Ahkeem Rose with 20 goals (14 league, five FA Cup and one in the county cups) and Montell Gibson who has 10 (eight league and two in the county cups). When The Pitmen and The Steels met at Keys Park earlier in the season Hednesford won 2-0 thanks to a goal apiece from their top marksmen in front of a crowd of 1809.
MANAGER’S THOUGHTS
FORM
From their last six league games Hednesford have picked up 11 points with a GD of +2 while Stocksbridge have gained five with a GD of -6.
- HTFC WWWLD
- SPS LDLLWD
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS
This will be only Hednesford’s second visit to Bracken Moor, the others coming in 2011/12 and 2012/13. The former saw a 0-4 defeat for The Pitmen when goalkeeper Dan Crane was sent off and with no sub keeper on the bench, captain Darren Campion was forced to don the gloves only to concede four goals in the last 35 minutes. The latter was a 3-3 draw with Hednesford 3-1 in front after 64 minutes thanks to goals from Ben Bailey, Aaron Rey and Elliott Durrell. The attendances were 141 and 143 respectively.
MATCHDAY DETAILS
Stocksbridge have played at Bracken Moor since their formation in 1986. The ground has a capacity of 3,500 with 450 seats. One side of the ground adjoins a cricket pitch and is divided by a temporary fence. Their average attendance this season is 267, the highest being 448 against Guiseley and the lowest 153 v Rushall. The home kit is yellow with blue sleeves with blue shorts.
Admission will be £12 adults. £8 concessions and £5 U16s. Car parking is available opposite the ground for players, officials and supporters with plenty of on street parking if needed.
The game will be covered by Pitmen Radio on Mixlr for any one who can’t make it.
