Saturday 18th January sees Avro make the journey down from Oldham to Keys Park for a Northern Premier League West game against Hednesford Town. The visitors are in 13th place in the league table with 34 points from 23 games. The majority of those points (21) have come from the 12 games they have played at home with six wins, three draws and three defeats while they have won four, drawn one and lost six on their travels, picking up 13 points. Those six defeats came at Wythenshawe (0-1), Chasetown (0-3), Bootle (1-2), Stalybridge Celtic (0-1), Congleton (1-2) and Atherton Collieries (0-2) while the 1-1 draw came at league leaders Widnes.
Earlier in the season Hednesford and Avro played out a 1-1 draw at Avro’s Vestacare Stadium, a Deane Smalley own goal gave The Pitmen a 15th minute lead before AJ Warburton equalised 15 minutes later. Warburton has scored five goals this season, all in the league, the same as Kyle Hawley who has four in the league and one in the Manchester Premier Cup. Their leading scorer is Liam Ellis who has eight league goals and one in the FA Trophy. Scoring goals has been a problem for Avro this season with their total of 30 being the sixth lowest in the Division. However, the 27 goals they have conceded is bettered only by Widnes.
After resting several players in the penalty shootout defeat to Darlaston in the Walsall Senior Cup on Wednesday, Hednesford’s injury list is showing signs of improvement with only Jake Jervis and Rob Stevenson certain to be missing. Recent signing Chris Hussey may have to wait for his debut as he, Sion Spence and Dom McHale will undergo late fitness tests. The other two new signings Tony Breeden and Niall Watson both featured in midweek and will be looking to make their home debuts although Breeden played one game on loan from Kidderminster Harriers in 2011/12, a 6-1 win over Mickleover Sports.
Manager Gavin Hurren is expecting a hard match: “We face a strong Avro side who gave us a tough game at their place. They are a well drilled unit with the capability to beat anyone in this league”.
Kick off on Saturday is at the usual time of 3pm with gates opening at 12.30pm. Admission will be £11 adults, £8 concessions/ disabled with carer, £3 10-18, free for U10s but all under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult. Tickets can be bought via the Fanbase app or by cash/card at the appropriate turnstile.
On Sunday 19th January Hednesford Ladies are also at home. They play Lichfield City Ladies in a 1st v 2nd league clash after the Ladies won 2-1 at Lichfield last week. Kick off is at 2pm with admission being £3 adults and £1 concessions.
