Pitmen's Title Dreams Shatter as Raimy Sees Red

Hednesford Town hopes of a title winning season were dealt a lethal blow on Saturday as Eastwood came away from Keys Park with three points in the bag. The East Midlands side now lead ‘The Pitmen' by four points with two games in hand.

Dean Edwards' men were looking to improve on a run of form which has seen them win only one of the last six games in all competitions and had four new signings in the first-team squad. In a noisy and atmospheric Keys Park the opening exchanges were fraught and unsettled; the first shot in anger did not come until fourteen minutes had been played.

The away side had three chances in quick succession with the lively Lindon Miekle seeing his shot blocked, former Pitman Paul Robinson heading over from a Richard Dunning corner and Dunning then shooting at the Hednesford defence when well placed.

Eastwood were controlling the game in possession and on nineteen minutes Ross Gardner screwed his shot wide after good midfield work by the league leaders. The away sides' pressure continued when on twenty-two minutes Mark Hume came up from the back to head firmly against the crossbar with Woodhall beaten.

The Hednesford defence were struggling to keep a lid on the mazy runs and incisive breaks by Lindon Miekle; the Eastwood number seven was proving to be the best player on the park. ‘The Pitmen' were still managing to battle hard and Draper summed up this desire on numerous occasions in the first half; showing strong midfield play to disrupt Eastwood's confident flow.

Paul Robinson felt the wrath of the Hednesford faithful earning himself a yellow card with an ugly challenge on Elliott Durrell after thirty-two minutes and two minutes later Durrell was again involved in an important moment of the half.

Durrell showed clever skill to turn the Eastwood midfield and after his shot was blocked Sean Platt's follow up took a wicked deflection; with Redmond in the Eastwood goal stranded, the ball trickled inches past the far upright.

Muted handball shouts followed a Hednesford corner on thirty-eight minutes as Marshall headed a decent chance over the bar seconds later. Following the goal kick, Hednesford's new signing Florent Raimy jumped in badly on Richard Dunning and after playing a brief advantage the referee brought play back for a free kick. After some careful consideration Raimy was giving his marching orders on his debut and as the Frenchmen walked down the tunnel Hednesford's title hopes looked to be disappearing with him.

As the second half began the ten men of the home side stood toe to toe with their opponents and looked ready to face to the difficult task in hand. However as the fifty-fifth minute passed Andy Todd cut in from the left and ghosted past the non-existent Hednesford midfield, after riding the challenge of Danny Harvey the winger flashed his shot wide of the post.

Tyrone Barnett was introduced on fifty-nine minutes as Hednesford began to chase the game but it was the travelling army of away fans who were celebrating two minutes later. Andy Todd was again at the centre of good attacking play for Eastwood and his teasing cross evaded everyone in the penalty area and luckily bobbled into the far corner of the net.

‘The Pitmen' were left with a serious mountain to climb in the last half an hour but nearly hit back immediately with Durrell running dangerously at the Eastwood back line; Barnett was in space on the shoulder of Robinson but the young striker chose to shoot wildly over the bar.

Durrell again came closest for the ten men when his rasping shot was pushed away well by Shane Redmond on sixty-five minutes.

Eastwood came close to doubling their lead and putting the game to bed when quality play by Miekle led to Ross Gardner forcing Woodhall to make a fantastic save in the Hednesford goal. As the follow up was lobbed over the flailing goalkeeper a linesman's offside flag came to the rescue for ‘The Pitmen' and the goal was chalked off.

The extra man advantage was beginning to show in the midfield areas and Eastwood were able to stretch the game out when breaking quickly from defence. Miekle cut in from the right wing past Marshall on sixty-nine minutes and brought another good save out of Woodhall.

Eastwood's strikers continued to find space to exploit and as Hednesford's hopes ebbed away in the eighty-fourth minute Richard Dunning broke through the middle and Danny Woodhall was again called upon to make an impressive save. The rebound was crashed into the net by Ian Holmes but the striker ran from an offside position and Eastwood's celebrations were cut short again.

The tiring home side worked and worked to try to get a breakthrough in the final minutes but short of a bobbling weak shot by Draper on eighty-eight minutes and Marshall's header over the bar right at the end the final step towards a famous equaliser never really materialised.

The referee blew the final whistle and sent the voiceiferous and passionate Eastwood fans home to celebrate a massive win on the road to the Unibond title. Dean Edwards and his playing staff were left to reflect on what might have been and will have to pick themselves up for the vital game at home to Ilkeston on Tuesday night. Following this defeat ‘The Pitmen' will begin to look over their shoulder at the form teams in the chasing pack as the promotion race comes to the boil and the pressure begins to build.

Hednesford Town

Woodhall, Platt, Cowley, Gill, Harvey, Marshall, Raimy (Sent Off 39), Durrell, Lewis (Barnett 59), Dyer (Darby 86), Draper,

Subs Not Used - Hall, Maguire, Briggs

Eastwood Town

Redmond, Asher, Cooke, Dunning, Hume, Robinson, Meikle, Foster (Matthews 90+1), Holmes, Gardner (Holland 51), Todd

Subs Not Used - Rhead, Knox, Deakin

Referee - Mr W. D. Smallwood (Northwich)

Attendance - 860

Chris Brewerton