THE GAME
- Hednesford Town v Stockton Town
- Tuesday 28th April 2026, kick off 7.45pm
- Northern Premier League Premier Division Play-Off Semi Final
- Keys Park Stadium, Keys Park Road, Hednesford, Staffordshire WS12 2D2
THE PITMEN
Hebburn’s 2-0 win over Rushall on Saturday ensured that Hednesford would take part in the end of season Play Offs as they finished second with 77 points, two fewer than Hebburn and five clear of third placed FC United. 45 of those points have come at Keys Park from 13 wins, six draws and just one defeat, scoring 37 goals and conceding 12. The average home attendance this season is 1,935 with a high of 4,784 against FC United followed by 4,016 last Saturday for the visit of Ashton United, the sixth highest non league crowd of the day. Montel Gibson scored his 11th league goal of the season in the game while Ahkeem Rose leads the way with 13 and Omari Sterling-James has nine.
THE OPPOSITION
Saturday’s 2-1 win at Warrington Rylands secured Stockton’s place in the Play Offs for the second season running. They finished in the final Play Off spot with 63 points from their 40 games, one better than sixth placed Lancaster City. This is Stockton’s second season in the Premier Division after gaining promotion through the East Division Play Offs in 2023/24, beating Dunston 5-3 on penalties after a 4-4 draw and last season finished in third place with 75 points from 42 games. Despite beating Guiseley 1-0 in the Play Off semi-final, they were disqualified from the final after fielding an ineligible player. This season The Anchors have picked up 34 points at their Bishopton Road West ground from 10 wins, four draws and six defeats, scoring 40 goals and conceding 29 and 32 points on their travels from eight wins, eight draws and four defeats, scoring 22 goals and conceding 21. The four defeats have come at Gainsborough (0-2), Warrington Town (0-2), Hyde (0-3) and Hebburn (0-1) and the club were deducted three points after fielding an ineligble player in the win against Warrington Rylands. Their leading scorers in the league are Kevin Hayes with 14, Josh Scott with 13 and Jake Petitjean who has 10.
MANAGER’S THOUGHTS
FORM
From their last six games Hednesford have gained 13 points and a GD of +6 while Stockton have eight and a GD of -1.
- HTFC: DWWWWL
- STFC: WDDLLW
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS
Although Hednesford and Stockton both played in the Midland Counties League in 1972/73, this was in fact a different club to the Stockton Town of today meaning that this season’s meetings between the two teams were the first ever between the teams. Back on October 28th, Stockton became the only team to win at Keys Park in the league this season when they returned to Teeside with a 2-1 win. Chris Hussey had opened the scoring for The Pitmen before skipper Adam Nicholson equalised. Max Sheaf was sent off in the 37th minute and Stockton took full advantage with Josh Scott netting an 86th minute winner. However Hednesford gained their revenge on January 17th with a 2-1 win. Tom Coulthard gave the home side the lead on 57 minutes and Omari Sterling-James leveled things up with four minutes to go before Ahkeem Rose put away an injury time penalty to secure the win.
MATCHDAY DETAILS
Kick off is at 7.45pm with the turnstiles, ticket office and club shop open from 6pm (club shop closes at 7.40pm).
Admission will be £13 adults, £10 concessions, Under 18s £5 and U10s £1 but all U16s must be accompanied by a paying adult and should be under their supervision at all times. U10 tickets should be purchased from the ticket office. Tickets are available in advance via the Fanbase app. Season tickets are not valid for this game.
The Sunflex unit is offering parking for £5 (proceeds go to charity) on a first come first served basis.
Don’t forget that if you use the self-serve BoltBar before kick off, there’s a chance to win £25 of credit straight to your account.
The multi-award winning matchday programme will be on sale at £2.50, cash payments to the programme sellers or by card from the club shop.
