The Pitmen got themselves back to winning ways this afternoon with an authoritative display against hosts Atherton Collieries, taking advantage of defeats for all of the sides around them in the table to move up to sixth place in the Northern Premier League West table

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Manager Gavin Hurren was able to call upon Dom McHale, Ollie Harrison and Jack Bearne to the squad after serving their suspensions in Tuesday night's draw at Avro, with the return of Harrison and Bearne the two changes to the side that started in midweek as they replaced Manny Duku and Dan Sparkes respectively. There was one further enforced change to the side just before kick-off as Joe Doyle-Charles arrived late for the game and was replaced in midfield by Jacob Gwilt, with the recent signing from Leamington joining McHale amongst the substitutes

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Atherton - 2-1 winners at Keys Park just six weeks ago - had done a sterling job under the experienced Michael Clegg to lift themselves out of the relegation zone in recent weeks, sitting in seventeenth place ahead of play. Clegg made three changes to his Colls side from the one beaten by Mossley last weekend as new loan signing from Fleetwood Town Toby Oliver came in for Alex Doyle, Ethan Kershaw was preferred to Bobby Bjork and Aaron Dywer replaced Tom Bentham up front

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It had been another week of cold weather and unsettled conditions, with the Dreams2Reality Stadium pitch cut up in several places ahead of kick-off. Playing down the considerable slope in the first half, the Pitmen probably should have taken the lead straight from the kick-off as Joel Taylor got the run on Toba Abitayo down the left and pulled the ball across goal to Bearne, who somehow failed to fire home from close range as his scuffed shot from the edge of the six-yard box ended up wide of the post

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No matter, as the visitors did get their noses in front on four minutes through the in-form Jake Jervis; Dan Trickett-Smith floated in a free-kick from wide on the left flank that Taylor picked up and took to the byeline, standing up a cross to the near post that was parried away by on-loan Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Sol Honor but only into the path of Jervis, who smartly volleyed home the rebound from six yards out to make it three goals in his last five games

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Back came the hosts, with Kielen Adams forcing Ryan Brown into a good save in the eighth minute after good play from Joe Edwards had sent the winger away down the left in behind Blaine Rowe, with Adams driving in a shot from sixteen yards out that was parried away by the young stopper down to his left

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Atherton's Tom Warren picked up an early booking in the eleventh minute as he was shown a yellow card for a foul on Omar Holness in the centre circle after the pair had challenged for a bouncing ball

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Jervis had started really well for the Pitmen, running the channels well and giving the Atherton centre-backs a nightmare of a time by dragging them out of position again and again. On fourteen minutes, he looked to got on the end of a Jack Bearne run and cross from the right but was beaten to it by a timely clearance over his own crossbar by Obitayo

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Sixty seconds later, Adams used his pace to good effect - or so he thought - as he latched onto a long punt forward from Dan Lafferty but was pulled back for a tight offside decision against him as he came from behind Ollie Harrison

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A delightful corner kick from Trickett-Smith gave Honor more issues in the air on twenty minutes, with the young stopper again making a meal of the high ball and having to rely on Lafferty to eventually clear Atherton's lines with Elliott Johnson lurking

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Honor had more joy in a foot race against Trickett-Smith four minutes later, racing out of his penalty area to just beat the playmaker to a long Johnson ball forward as Trickett-Smith made a clever run from deep

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Atherton's very clear ploy was to get the ball forward as quickly as possible to the likes of Adams, Dwyer and Edwards, lumping the ball high into the air in an unrefined manner time and again throughout the first half in an attempt to catch the Pitmen out. Another long punt forward from Obitayo on twenty-seven minutes found Edwards in space behind Josh Endall, but his hurried effort from just outside the penalty area ended up sailing high over the head of Brown and out of play

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Joe Edwards followed Warren into the referee's notebook on thirty-one minutes after absolutely clattering into Rowe in front of the Hednesford bench, with some of the away players and fans appealing to the match official to show the former Stalybridge youngster a red card for the crude challenge

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Trickett-Smith lined up the resultant free-kick and looked to pick out Harrison at the far post with a deep cross, only for the impressive Obitayo to beat the burly centre-back to the ball and turn it behind for a corner kick at the far post

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Dwyer was left a frustrated figure once more two minutes later as the assistant on the far side once again flagged him for offside as he raced onto a pass from Warren down the left-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area, but had moved a little too quickly as he beat Rowe to the ball

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Bearne went on one of his marauding runs down the right for the Pitmen on thirty-six minutes, taking two Atherton players out of the game with a wonderful piece of skill before pulling the ball back into the box from the byeline, where skipper Calen Gallagher managed to clear ahead of Jervis behind him

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Atherton started to see more of the ball as the half entered its final ten minutes, with Obitayo going on a superb solo run deep into the Hednesford box on thirty-eight minutes as he took the ball past three players before being denied by a block from Endall

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Warren and Edwards combined once more down the Atherton left on forty-two minutes to send over a cross to the far post, where Endall headed away under pressure from Dwyer before Harrison held off the attentions of Edwards once more before he could complete the clearance

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Bearne had the beating of Warren once more down the right for the Pitmen on forty-three minutes, darting past the left-back and forcing him into a foul out by the right-hand touchline. Trickett-Smith's delivery was again on point, forcing Lafferty to divert the ball away from Jervis at the far post and behind for a corner kick

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With the final action of the half, Brown kept his side in the lead with a superb save in added time as Edwards picked the ball up thirty yards from goal and beat both Gwilt and Johnson before firing in a low shot that bounced right in front of the stopper, forcing him to parry it away down to his right with a smart stop

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In many ways, it had been a very similar performance to the one against Trafford three weeks ago, with the Pitmen keeping the ball well and limiting their hosts to a couple of half chances whilst taking their early chance well through Jervis to hold a deserved half-time lead. The defensive foursome had been well marshalled by Johnson, keeping its line well and forcing Atherton players into an offside position on several occasions

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Atherton looked to take advantage of playing down the slope at the start of the second half, with Adams again the main threat down the flank with his pace and willingness to chase down loose balls. A good run down the right on fifty minutes saw him hold the ball up well and look to pick out the run of Dwyer, only for Harrison to come across and punt the ball clear 

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Three minutes later, Obitayo - now playing a little further up the pitch than in the first half it seemed - made a good run into the box again and pulled the ball back across the face of goal, but no one in a black and white shirt could react quickly enough and Endall cleared the danger

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Gwilt had struggled with the pace of the game in midfield and was rightly taken off on fifty-six minutes as Doyle-Charles came on to play at the base of the midfield with Holness playing in front of him

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Harrison picked up the away side's only booking of the afternoon a minute later as he brought Adams down thirty yards from the Hednesford goal and earned a yellow card for the challenge

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Atherton got themselves level shortly before the hour mark as a rare error from Johnson on the left saw him lose the ball cheaply in midfield and give it away to the former Macclesfield forward instead; he took the ball to the byeline before squaring it to Dwyer, who had the simple task of turning the ball past Brown from six yards out to equalise

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The Pitmen were to make the game's pivotal change on sixty-three minutes as the Magic Man himself McHale was brought on in place of Taylor, meaning a move from right flank to left flank for Bearne to compensate

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The tricky Adams really should have given Atherton the lead midway through the second half as a long punt upfield from Ethan Kershaw found the forward once more - he looked to take advantage of indecision between Endall and Harrison to pick up the bouncing ball and turn it past Brown, who was caught in no man's land twelve yards from goal but scuffed his low shot wide of the gaping goal in front of him

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This was to prove a costly miss for the hosts, as McHale was to have an immediate impact for the visitors as the Pitmen swiftly moved the ball back upfield; Holness headed down into the path of Trickett-Smith, with his clever flick playing McHale clean through on goal. The playmaker didn't need a second invitation, sidefooting the ball past Honor from ten yards out with his first touch of the ball to spark wild celebrations behind the goal from the festively clad away following

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Atherton's first change of the game came on sixty-eight minutes as the pacy Adams was taken off and replaced by the prolific former Wythenshawe Town striker Matty Bryan

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Dwyer was the latest Colls player to receive a yellow card on seventy-one minutes as he was found guilty of dragging Bearne down wide on the Hednesford left. Trickett-Smith looked to catch Honor and his defenders out with the resultant kick, swinging in a dipping, curling ball that was missed by everyone in the six-yard box and missed the far post by a matter of inches

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With their noses in front once more, Hurren elected to bring on the more defensive-minded Sparkes was brought on in favour of Bearne on seventy-four minutes to play down the left

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Two minutes later, Clegg rolled the dice once more with a double change as young Ashton United loanee Bjork replaced Edwards and the experienced Pa Babou Jenkins came on for Dwyer

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Within sixty seconds, Clegg elected to make another change of personnel for the afternoon as Alfie Belcher - scorer of the Colls' winner at Keys Park in October - came on in place of Warren

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The Pitmen felt that they had grabbed their all-important third goal on seventy-nine minutes as Trickett-Smith's corner kick from the right was headed goalwards by Johnson from close, with Honor pushing the ball back out into the play but on first inspection it appeared that the ball had crossed the line. However, the assistant on the far side was unconvinced by the Pitmen's protestations and the game continued as Atherton cleared their lines

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With eight minutes remaining, Atherton made their final of the five changes available to them as former Wythenshawe Town winger Will Riding came on in place of Kershaw

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Another mistake from Honor was to gift the Pitmen a third goal of the afternoon with four minutes left as Trickett-Smith popped up to put the game to bed; Sparkes delivered a wonderful ball in from a free-kick out on the right-hand touchline, forcing Honor into another error at his near post as he pushed the ball straight up into the air, allowing Endall to help the ball on and allow Trickett-Smith to nod into the empty net at the far post from a matter of inches

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Bjork picked up a booking for Atherton on eighty-eight minutes as he was yellow-carded for a mistimed and frustrated-looking challenge on Trickett-Smith to stop the Pitmen from breaking once more down the centre of the park

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A confident, deserved three points for the Pitmen and their large travelling support to enjoy, one that lifts them above both Stalybridge and Mossley and to within a point of local rivals Chasetown, all of whom suffered surprise defeats this afternoon. The third of three successive away games in the NPLW gives the Pitmen another severe test next Saturday as they travel to third-placed Vauxhall Motors, with a win potentially lifting them into the top five for the first time since August. Say it quietly, but the Pitmen might, just might, be on the move at long last after an incredibly frustrating first half of the season

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Atherton Collieries: Honor, Obitayo, Warren ▆ (Belcher 77), Oliver, Lafferty, Gallagher ©, Kershaw (Riding 82), Lambert, Adams (Bryan 67), Dwyer ▆ (Babou Jenkins 76), Edwards ▆ (Bjork 76 ▆)       Subs Unused: None

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Hednesford Town: Brown, Rowe, Johnson ©, Gwilt (Doyle-Charles 56), Harrison ▆, Endall, Trickett-Smith, Holness, Jervis, Bearne (Sparkes 74), Taylor (McHale 63)        Sub Unused: Sutherland, Rose

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