The young Pitmen, boosted by the inclusion of former Captain and latest addition to the first team squad, Ben Bailey, were up against their long time rivals Sutton Coldfield Town FC for what is usually a first class game.

The home side started brightly enough and in the 3rd minute Jordan Nadat was on the end of a nice passing move but his right foot shot was without power. The same player was in action six minutes later taking a direct free kick but the visitors defence cleared comfortably.

 

Sutton gave warning of their danger on the break and should have taken the lead in the 14th but the unchallenged shot went past the left upright.

 

The Hednesford defence were looking very solid with both Bailey and Dunleavy on top of their game, young Nathan Demonte showed some touches of class at right back and will certainly be a regular youth teamer of the future.

 

Mark Bandurak came close with a fine header and both Nadat and Aiton had good long range shots dealt with by the Sutton goalkeeper.
For all of their possession the home side had to wait until the 41st minute for the breakthrough and JACK HEPPLE added to his growing reputation with an excellent finish crashing his firm shot in off the inside of the post.

 

The second half also started well with a 25 yard Drew Aiton effort going wide of the mark and then Jordan Nadat was unfortunate when a rebounded save came back off him to hit the inside of the Sutton goal, however, this would have been rough justice for the visitors as he had looked clearly offside.

As the game progressed the young Pitmen were still misfiring and guilty of giving the ball away cheaply in midfield. The visitors, sensing the lack of forward penetration began to grow in confidence and started to take the game to the Pitmen. Some valiant and sturdy defending by the two centre backs prevented any real scares but the lack of creativity in the final third will be cause for concern to Paul Casey and the coaching staff.
The heavy match schedule for the youths continues with an away game at Nuneaton Town on Thursday evening.

 

Team: D Faultless, N Demonte, B Farrall, B Bailey, R Dunleavy, M Bandurak,
D Rathbone (capt), D Aiton, J Hepple, O Casey, J Nadat.
Subs. T Howard, R Swetnam, J Milgate, D Scragg, M Morton.

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