Following on from Tuesday night’s FA Cup heroics at Gateshead, the Pitmen headed north to face table-topping Widnes at the DCBL Stadium. The Pitmen were first out of the blocks with Jack Bearne forcing a save from Mark Halstead in the opening few seconds of the game. It took two minutes for the Pitmen to take the lead when Halstead was only able to parry Dom McHale’s shot, allowing Dan Trickett-Smith to shoot home the rebound. Widnes replied strongly and dominated the next quarter of hour, retaining possession and calling on Ryan Brown to make a couple of comfortable saves before hitting the post in the 15th minute. Hednesford came back to life following the near miss and asked questions of the Widnes defence with two well taken corners and a free kick routine. Bearne fizzed a great effort just a few inches wide as the Pitmen tried to claim a second goal. A Widnes freekick into the box found James Steele who let off the Pitmen by firing wide from close range. A series of shots from Widnes were blocked by the hard working Hednesford defence, as the home side looked to get back into the game. However a break from the Pitmen in the 43rd minute saw some excellent work from McHale, beating his defender and squaring the ball to Trickett-Smith who made no mistake in claiming his second goal of the afternoon to give the Pitmen a healthy lead going into the break.
HT 0-2
The second half began with Steele shooting well wide of the target for the home side. The game appeared to be over in the 49th minute when McHale dribbled through the Widnes defence before beating Halstead with a well placed shot. Bearne went close again forcing a near post save from Halstead as the Pitmen went into cruise control with their three goal lead. However, a Widnes revival began in the 62nd minute when Dominic McGiveron questionably remained onside, raced forward, placing the ball past Brown. Two minutes later a shot from the edge of the box by Sharif Deans found the back of the net reducing the deficit to just one goal. The Pitmen were forced into a spell of last ditch defending as Widnes controlled the game, with the visitors finding holding onto possession increasingly difficult. Even though the home side had the majority of the ball in the closing stages, they were unable to carve out any clear openings as the game ended in a win and all three points for the Pitmen.
Widnes; Halstead, Walls (Danku 89), Isherwood, Battersby, Musanhu, Williams (Adams 79), Bott (Rydell 50), Caine (High 77), Steele (Briggs 70), McGiveron, Deans.
Hednesford Town; Brown, Roberts, Taylor, Maye (Holness 51), Endall (Harrison 65), Johnson, Trickett-Smith, Spence, Stevenson (Sutherland 89), McHale (Gwilt 82), Bearne (Duku 85)
Attendance 307
