Pitmen Draw Again as Cambridge Impress

Hednesford Town boss Simon Line saw his side earn an encouraging point against a quality Cambridge City team and was pleased with the level of performance shown by The Pitmen. The draw is the ninth of the season for both sides who will no doubt feel that their seasons could have been improved greatly by turning one point into three on a more regular basis.

‘We came on strong in the second half and five or ten minutes of solid play after our second goal may have seen us through but you can’t complain about Cambridge’s equaliser; it was a quality goal.’

Cambridge City manager Gary Roberts was content with a share of the spoils as his side earned an important point in the race for promotion. ‘The game was a great advert for the league, two good sides were playing but I feel we kept possession better than Hednesford and despite being happy with a point I feel we could have edged it.’

It was Hednesford centre-back Paul McMullen who opened the scoring on a chilly day in the Midlands with an imperious back post header eleven minutes into the game from a deep Elliott Durrell free kick.

Cambridge had looked the better side before the goal with Ashley Fuller skimming the bar with a turn and shot and Neil Midgeley finishing meekly when through on Stuart Brock’s goal.

The away side kept possession well and, despite Durrell hitting the crossbar with a volley for Hednesford, equalised on twenty-six minutes when Tony Burke took advantage of a defensive mistake and slammed the ball in after scuffing his first attempt at the back post.

The man of the match, Adrian Cambridge, tested Brock after bundling his way past the challenge of Goodhead eight minutes before half time as the away side threatened but it was Hednesford who took the lead against the run of play on the hour mark.

Ross Dyer sprung the offside trap and outpaced the Cambridge defence to coolly slot the ball beyond Zac Barrett for his fourteenth goal of another prolific season.

Hednesford;s joy was short-lived as two minutes later the extra class Cambridge possessed tolled as Burke skilfully skipped past Sean Platt and squared the ball for Ashley Fuller to spectacularly fire the ball into the top corner for the equaliser.

Both sides pressed for a vital winning goal with Burke seeing his shot desperately cleared off the line for Cambridge and Dyer forcing a reaction save from Barrett for the home team.

Neither team could find a breakthrough and will go into the next game a point better off but both sides, especially Gary Roberts’ men, will feel that two more may have sufficed.

Hednesford Town

Brock, Platt, Anslow, Jagielka, McMullen (15), Goodhead, Durrell, Bailey, Barnett (Ellis 85), Dyer (60), Aiston,

Subs Not Used

Chapman, Morton, Carvey, Stevenson

Cambridge City

Barrett, Stewart, Krause, Theobald, Chaffey, Nightingale, Burke (26), Cambridge, Gentle, Midgley (Frendo 71), Fuller (62)

Subs Not Used

Mitchell, Haniver, McLachlan

STAR MAN – Adrian Cambridge

Attendance – 335