The Pitmen are edged closer to the relegation trapdoor by fellow strugglers Alvechurch at an overcast RACE Stadium this afternoon as the home side fail to provide a response to last week's mauling at Tamworth

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The home side returned to Keys Park with last week's record 9-1 defeat at the Lamb still fresh in the memory. Player/manager Danny Glover - who had missed last week's game due to injury - passed himself fit to return to the side for today's game in the one change to the side that had started against Tamworth, with young defender Ben Kaninda dropping to the bench. Recent acquisition Owen Watkins - signed on dual registration from Romulus - was also amongst the substitutes for the first time

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Alvechurch made the short journey up to Staffordshire sitting in nineteenth place in the Southern Premier League Central table, six points above Hednesford but with a whopping eight games in hand on their hosts due to their F.A. Cup exploits earlier in the season. Form had been poor for Ian Long's side since the turn of the year, however, having lost their last three league games in January to Tamworth (0-3), Basford United (0-3) and St. Ives Town (1-3). Long made three changes to his side from the one that had started at St. Ives on Tuesday night as Brad Burton replaced Ben Cassidy at left-back, ex-Hednesford man Jack Hallahan came back in for Autio Neto Texiera and Harry Williams was preferred to Jamie Willets at centre-back

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On a miserable, grey afternoon and on a heavy pitch that was still holding plenty of moisture after the past two weeks' weather, the Pitmen pressed their visitors early on as they saw plenty of the ball early on through the likes of Todd Parker and James McQuilkin. Church looked to catch their hosts on the counter in the third minute as a long ball forward from Burton sent Danny Waldron away, only for a covering tackle from Lewis Ison to stop the former Rushall man in his tracks

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Ex-AFC Telford United man Jed Abbey tried his luck for the away side in the seventh minute with an ambitious free-kick from fully thirty-five yards out that sailed harmlessly into the Heath Hayes terrace

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A minute later, Abbey's free-kick was cleared back into his feet down the left, with the talented midfielder sending over a fine cross that was headed on by Williams but pulled back for a tight offside call against him in the build-up

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The Pitmen's first sight at goal came in the tenth minute via the boot of Steph Moreley after a quick break from the hosts saw the ball worked into the path of Kyle Bennett, who was brought down by Williams five yards outside the Alvechurch penalty area. The left-back set-piece specialist took the resultant kick but could only curl his effort straight into the wall and the danger was cleared

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Another free-kick was awarded to the Pitmen on the opposite side of the pitch a minute later as Williams again was the perpetrator, this time fouling Niah Payne. Bennett, Glover and Parker all stood over the ball before Parker drilled his effort high over the crossbar from twenty-five yards out

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Despite looking the more positive of the two sides in the opening fifteen minutes, the Pitmen once again found themselves chasing the game as Alvechurch stole into the lead through top scorer Abbey in the seventeenth minute; Hallahan's neat through ball caught the Hednesford defence square and played Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton through down the right flank, despite vague calls from the defenders for an offside flag. The winger pulled the ball back from the byeline and into the path of Abbey, who fired a first-time shot past Ronnie Hollingshead and into the roof of the net from ten yards out

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As had been the case for much of the season, Hednesford have proven to be incredibly wasteful from set-pieces, with a free-kick from Parker on twenty-one minutes dropping into the box with no one in a white shirt able to apply the finish from close range, allowing Williams to scramble the ball clear for a Pitmen corner

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Good play from Church three minutes later saw Skeen-Hamilton earn them another corner after a slalom-like run down the flank saw him beat three players before his pull-back into the box was turned behind by Luke Redfern. The hosts had looked out of shape and lacking in communication at the back thus far with the three-man defence composed of Ison, Redfern and Morley struggling to cope with the pace of the Church attack

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Another excellent run from Skeen-Hamilton, this time down the left, saw him streak past Ison on twenty-seven minutes and reach the byeline before delaying his angled shot a little too long and allowing the Hednesford skipper to get back and pick his pocket at the crucial moment

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The hosts got themselves back on level terms just before the half-hour mark as a corner kick routine finally paid off for them. Bennett's near post flag kick was flicked on by Glover before being headed down by Redfern into the path of Parker, whose first-time shot from eight yards out found the roof of the net

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Despite this, the Pitmen failed to take advantage of the momentum potentially swinging their way and allowed Alvechurch to take the initiative back almost immediately. Waldron's nuisance value on thirty-two minutes saw the burly forward hold off Ison with some excellent play that forced Ison into a foul, which also earned Ison a taking-to from referee Mr Clarke. Abbey's free-kick was disappointing, however, as it lacked direction and the Pitmen cleared with ease

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The visitors got themselves back in front three minutes later as the Pitmen's familiar defensive woes came back to haunt them once more. A quickly-taken free-kick from Abbey spotted the run of Skeen-Hamilton, who had broken away from the pack to make a run into the inside left position. With no one in a white shirt reacting quickly enough, Skeen-Hamilton was able to slide the ball past Hollingshead with a left-footed angled drive that found the far corner of the net. Terrible defending from the hosts

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Back came the hosts, with Bennett and Ison linking up down the right on forty minutes to earn them a corner kick, which Morley swung into the far post but got a little too much on it as it sailed over the head of Glover

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Neat play from McQuilkin two minutes later saw the former Stourbridge man take the ball into a pocket of space in midfield before playing Payne into the penalty area down the left. The Spennymoor Town loanee twisted and turned past Josh Dugmore and looked to pick Riiley O'Sullivan out, only for skipper Ash Carter to step across and clear the danger before the ball reached the forward

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Alvechurch were happy to let the Pitmen have the ball but look to catch them on the counter-attack, with Skeen-Hamilton racing onto Abbey's pass once more on forty-three minutes but was pulled back for another tight offside call against the pacy winger

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In the final minute of the half, Glover managed to get his head to a cross from Morley out on the left but watched his flicked effort sail harmlessly wide of Dan Jezeph's left-hand post from six yards out as he could not get enough purchase on the ball

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It had been another one of those afternoons thus far for the hosts, who had shown plenty of willingness to play on the front foot but had shown a real lack of invention or creativity in the final third against a resolute Alvechurch defence. At the back, another pacy, quick-footed attack was proving too much for the three-man Hednesford defence to cope with at times as Waldron, Abbey and Skeen-Hamilton a constant menace on the counter

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With the second half just three minutes old, Hallahan drew ironic cheers from the home crowd as he was handed the first booking of the afternoon for a late challenge on Parker on halfway, sending the young midfielder flying in the process

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Just a minute later, Alvechurch were forced into making a change as the long-serving Willets was brought on in place of Jack Concannon, slotting into central defence alongside Carter

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The Pitmen looked to ramp up the pressure on the Church defence with a long throw from Ison into the box on fifty-two minutes that was aimed at Glover, only for Carter to get in front of the experienced front man and head the ball away from danger

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A minute later, the Pitmen worked the ball back across the face of the Alvechurch penalty area via Payne, Morley and Thorley and into the path of Ison, who lashed his effort high over the crossbar from twenty yards out

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A quick break from the hosts on fifty-four minutes saw Morley feed Payne down the left within a slide-rule pass, with the forward stepping inside but seeing his attempted shot blocked by the boot of Skeen-Hamilton, who had dropped back to support his defenders

 

Bennett followed Hallahan into the referee's notebook on fifty-seven minutes as he chased down the former Hednesford man and clumsily brought him down ten yards inside the Alvechurch half to stop him from breaking over the halfway line

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McQuilkin was also wasteful with a shot on the edge of the penalty area on fifty-nine minutes after O'Sullivan had laid the ball off to the former Kidderminster Harriers man, who got his laces underneath the ball and fired well over Jezeph's crossbar

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On the hour mark, the visitors made their second change of the afternoon as Neto Teixeira made a swift return to the side, coming on in place of Peter Taylor in midfield

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Sixty seconds later, the influential Abbey made another one of his powerful runs from deep and looked to play a clever angled ball into the path of Waldron, who wasn't quite on the same wavelength as his team-mate as the ball ran harmlessly away into the arms of Hollingshead

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Mr Clarke was embroiled in the first controversial moment of the afternoon on sixty-three minutes, as Glover and O'Sullivan worked together to play McQuilkin into the box. The midfield man took too many touches as he looked to bring the ball under control and ended up on the floor as the danger was hacked clear by Neto Teixeira. In the aftermath, Burton and McQuilkin clashed inside the Alvechurch six-yard box, with the Alvechurch left-back clearly and deliberately stamping on the midfielder as he lay on the floor. Players from both sides squared up to each other, with Willets, Jezeph, O'Sullivan, Carter and Glover all getting involved in a bout of pushing and shoving. After a long chat with his assistant on the main stand side, Mr Clarke booked both O'Sullivan and Carter for their part in the ruckus but somehow failed to discipline Burton for the initial incident

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There was another, more muted, call for a spot-kick three minutes later from the increasingly desperate Pitmen as O'Sullivan took a tumble in the area under a challenge from Willets, but Mr Clarke was having none of it and the game continued

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Yet another penalty shout from Pitmen came on seventy minutes as the men in white claimed that the ball had struck an Alevchurch hand following a Bennett corner kick that had dropped in the six-yard box. Yet again, the referee was unmoved and Alvechurch cleared their lines

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A good move down the right wing from the Pitmen with fifteen minutes to go saw Ison and Bennett combine to play Parker in behind Neto Teixeira, with the midfielder's fine low cross into the six-yard box turned wide of the far post by a flick from Payne

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With twelve minutes remaining, the Pitmen made their second substitution of the afternoon as wide man Chay Tilt came on once more as he replaced the willing runner of Payne, who had once again given his all for little reward

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Mr Clarke's indifferent afternoon continued on seventy-eight minutes as he controversially chalked off an equaliser for the hosts; Ison's ball into the box appeared to be chested down by Bennett before the attacking midfielder lashed his shot beyond Jezeph and into the roof of the net. However, the Pitmen's joy was short-lived as the referee felt that he had handled the ball in the build-up

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Jezeph was finally booked by Mr Clarke with ten minutes remaining for a totting up of time-wasting measures as he consistently took longer than expected to take his goal kicks

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A minute later, Thorley was the final Hednesford player to have his name taken by Mr Clarke for a clumsy and late tackle on Abbey in midfield, stopping the former West Brom man from starting another attack

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Alevchurch's final substitution of the game came with six minutes to go as former Leek Town defender Tom Edge was brought on to give the visiting defence more legs in place of Hallahan

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On eighty-eight minutes, Watkins was handed a late and short debut by the hosts as the teenager was brought on to try and conjure up a late equaliser in place of Bennett

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As we entered six minutes of added time, there was yet another shout for a spot-kick from the hosts as Bennett's corner was turned goalwards by Morley, who felt that his volley was pushed away by the hand of the covering Waldron. Once again, the referee showed no charity towards the Pitmen and the visitors cleared their lines

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Defeat leaves the Pitmen still rooted in the bottom four and with very little in the way of any evidence that they have either the spirit, quality or mentality to escape the drop with games now quickly running out. A short trip down to Worcestershire next weekend sees Glover's men travel down to the Victoria Ground to face mid-table Bromsgrove Sporting

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Hednesford Town: Hollingshead, Ison © ▆, Morley, Thorley ▆, Redfern, McQuilkin, Bennett ▆ (Watkins 88), Parker, Glover, O'Sullivan ▆, Payne (Tilt 78)     Sub Unused: Agustien, Kaninda, Williams

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Alvechurch; Jezeph ▆, Dugmore, Burton, Hallahan ▆ (Edge 84), Williams, Carter © ▆, Abbey, Taylor (Neto Teixeira 60), Waldron, Concannon (Willets 49 ▆), Skeen-Hamilton      Subs Unused: Randle, Soule

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