Horsfield Leads Vale As Pitmen Seen Off

Veteran striker Geoff Horsfield put The Pitmen to the sword in Bernard McNally’s first game in charge as permanent manager with two first half goals as Port Vale showed their class and advanced to the Staffs Senior Cup Semi Final.

Hednesford started the brighter of the two sides with Ross Dyer testing Joe Anyon inside two minutes. Eliott Durrell and Sam Adkins tried their luck from distance but the young goalkeeper confidently repelled their efforts.

Pitmen Progress With Blistering Ten Minutes

Hednesford Town progressed into the second round of the Staffordshire Senior Cup with relative ease thanks mainly to a blistering start and a momentary lack of discipline from Biddulph Victoria’s Daniel Smith.

On a bitterly cold and damp night at Keys Park the on form Ross Dyer side footed in from four yards after seven minutes following a Tyrone Barnett flick on. The home team doubled their lead two minutes later when Sam Aiston broke powerfully through the Biddulph back line and pulled the ball back for Barnett to finish from close range.

Elliott Durrell was enjoying acres of space on the right wing but Matt Pearson looked intent on stopping the diminutive winger from having an effect on the game as on eleven minutes the defender crashed through the back of him and earned himself a yellow card. As Durrell lay pole-axed on the ground, Daniel Smith aimed a petulant kick and received a red card.

With The Pitmen’s opening salvo and Smith’s subsequent dismissal the game all but ended as a contest and the home side added to their lead with Durrell rifling the ball into the far corner after a quality through ball by Barnett on twenty-nine minutes.

To their credit, Biddulph battled hard in the second half and the ten men scored a consolation goal in confusing circumstances when the Hednesford defence hesitated as they expecting the ball to go out for a goal kick; the indecision left Robert Tice to scuff into the net with ten minutes remaining on the clock.

Hednesford Town

Flynn, Carvey, Martin, Jagielka (Nisbett 81), McMullen, Goodhead (Chapman 81), Durrell (29), Bailey, Barnett (9), Dyer (7), Aiston,

Subs Not Used

Ward, Platt, Walker,

Biddulph Victoria

Smith, Price, Pearson, D Smith, Burge, Ellis, C Smith (Massey 81), Chadwick (Tice (80) 58), Spencer (Barlow 71), Baker, Mould,

Subs Not Used

Heeps

Bookings

Pearson, D Smith (Sent Off)

Attendance 116,

Hednesford Town .v. Stafford Rangers

Chase Cup 1st Leg

Saturday 18^th July 2009

New signing Tony Dinning was the hero for Hednesford Town as his eighty-second minute winner saw ‘The Pitmen’ record a long overdue win against their fiercest rivals and also take an important goal lead in the inaugural Chase Cup.

The former Stockport midfielder drove the ball past Tom Harrison in the Stafford goal from twenty yards out after strong running from Sam Aiston had set him up. The goal was deserved for Hednesford on the strength of their opening twenty minute performance but the away side will certainly feel aggrieved at leaving  Keys Park with nothing after an assured second half display.

It was ‘The Pitmen’ who started the game the strongest and after four minutes Ross Dyer broke with pace down the right, he squared the ball to Elliott Durrell but the pint-sized striker was prevented from tapping the ball in by a superb challenge by Nick Amos. Stafford failed to clear the resulting corner and a looping ball played over his head by Richard Walker found Tyrone Barnett in acres of space six yards out to sweep the ball into the net.

The score could have been doubled when, after eleven minutes, Durrell chipped the ball in from the right wing and Sam Aiston’s point blank header was unbelievably tipped over by Tom Harrison. The home side had Chris Brindley’s men rattled and Barnett failed with two guilt-edged chances on seventeen and nineteen minutes; on both occasions Harrison pulled off smart saves but the usually clinical striker should have scored.

‘The Pitmen’ were made to rue their missed opportunities when Stafford Rangers equalised with hesitant goalkeeping to blame. Gavin Ward failed to cleanly collect a ball into the area and after bouncing off the foot of the post Bobby Wilson was left with the simplest of finishes from three yards out.

The away side took great confidence from their equaliser and began to dominate possession with Hednesford failing to keep the ball upfront. Ian Hall looked dangerous for the away side and curled a shot over the bar from the left edge of the area on thirty-five minutes.

A minute later Hall skewed a volley high and wide but on thirty-seven minutes Gavin Ward was called on to take evasive action to preserve parity between the two sides. A Jake Moult cross found Nick Wellecomme unmarked in the middle and the Hednesford keeper saved superbly from point blank range.

It was Ross Dyer’s turn to fluff his lines next as the game opened up and he found himself clean through following a ball from Aiston; unfortunately for ‘The Pitmen’ his finish lacked conviction and Harrision clutched the ball gratefully to his chest.

As the first half came to an end both sides walked back to the dressing room believing they had done enough to be ahead and also realising that no Hednesford .v. Stafford match can ever be considered a meaningless pre-season friendly.

That fact was proved to be very true in an aggressive opening twenty minutes of the second half which saw numerous strong challenges and two ‘brawls’ where, in a league fixture, both sides would have found themselves seeing red. Dinning and Moult came together after fifty-three minutes when the latter went in too strong on the Hednesford midfielder. A fist fight of sorts ensued and the referee was called upon to calm things down.

Neither side took heed of such advice and tension boiled over again three minutes later with ‘Pitmen’ keeper Ward restraining a baying mob of Stafford and Hednesford players inside his own net in the build up to a Stafford free kick.

A mass of substitutions and changes from both sides meant the game struggled to reach its entertaining peaks of the first half but Stafford continued to monopolise the ball if not creating too many clear cut opportunities. As the pace of the game slowed, both sides looked content with a draw but cometh the man and Tony Dinnings’ thunderbolt out of nowhere sent Hednesford fans wild.

Dorryl Proffitt will still be kicking himself today as, with two minutes remaining, he bundled past Scott Lycett and, when faced with only Ward to beat, side footed the ball wide of the post. It was an absolute sitter and a chance which come the return leg at Marston Road may come back to haunt Chris Brindley and his Conference North team.

‘The Pitmen’ face last years promotion rivals Eastwood Town next Saturday in a game which sees Tom Marshall making a quick return to Keys Park and follow that game up with the second leg of the Chase Cup way at Stafford Rangers on Saturday 1^st August.

Hednesford Town

Starting XI

Ward, Lycett, Stair, Dinning, Walker, Bailey, Durrell, Palmer, Barnett, Dyer, Aiston,

Substitutes

Rix, Nisbett, Harvey, Foyle, Platt,

Stafford Rangers

Starting XI

Harrison, Francis, Vauls, Thorley, Wilson, Amos, Hall, Moult, Wellecomme, Mills, Hill,

Substitutes

Proffitt, Allen, Miller, Rogers, Hulme

Referee – Mr A Sheffield

Attendance – 302

Article: Chris Brewerton
Images : Faulkvalley Photography