For the second time this season already, Hednesford are beaten on their own patch by ten men as Atherton Collieries take all the points courtesy of a late, late Alfie Belcher goal

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Tuesday night's unconvincing draw at home to rock-bottom Hanley Town left manager Steve King with much to ponder, both tactically and personnel-wise. King made just one change to his XI for this afternoon's game as Omar Holness came back into the side in place of Manny Duku as the Pitmen adjusted their formation to 4-3-3 from the 4-4-2 that started against Hanley

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Atherton - sitting just above Hanley at the foot of the table - had struggled with scoring goals all season long with only four goals scored on their travels so far this term. The experienced Michael Clegg had returned to the club in. August after a successful spell away at the likes of Warrington Rylands and Macclesfield, picking up a useful point courtesy of a 0-0 draw against high-flying Widnes in midweek. Clegg made two changes to his Colls side for their first-ever league trip to Keys Park as Tom Bentham and Will Riding came in for Alex Doyle and Lewis Rawsthorn

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Atherton - backed by a small but noisy following with the aid of a drum - had the game's first half chance in the second minute of the game as Kielen Adams made a run down the left in the second minute, driving into the penalty area but shooting into the side netting as Blaine Rowe looked to cut out the shot

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Three minutes later, neat play from the home side saw Dan Trickett-Smith send Jack Bearne away down the left flank with a raking ball out to the winger from the centre circle. The former Liverpool man tuned inside and past the challenge of Ashton United loanee Bobby Bjork before shooting low at goal from fifteen yards out, only for his effort to be blocked by Daniel Lafferty

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The away side went close to opening the scoring in the tenth minute after a corner kick from the right flank from Riding was met by the head of Lafferty, who saw his goalbound effort cleared off the line by Sion Spence, conceding another corner kick in the process

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From the resultant Riding corner, Adams met the ball with his head but was way off target with his effort and the ball dropped wide of goal for a goal kick to the Pitmen

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Another good run from Bearne on twelve minutes saw him bring the ball in from the left and drift past Bjork once more, drilling a low cross into the six-yard box that no one in white could react to as it skipped across the face of goal before Danny Lambert turned the ball behind for a corner kick

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Another run and cross from Bearne on fifteen minutes saw him work the ball onto his right foot just outside the Atherton penalty area after good work from Joel Taylor, whipping the ball into the danger zone where Blackburn Rovers loanee goalkeeper Sol Honor - making only his second senior appearance for the visitors - claimed ahead of Rob Stevenson

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A wonderful cross-field ball from Dom McHale on eighteen minutes sent Bearne away in behind the Atherton defence, only for the assistant on the Wimblebury side to flag the winger offside when it appeared that the official was about five yards behind play so probably wasn't in the best position to make the judgement

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More set-piece wastefulness from the hosts - something that had been the hallmark of Tuesday night's poor display against Hanley - was in evidence again midway through the first half as Trickett-Smith rolled a corner kick into the path of McHale, who tried to be a little too clever with the ball at his feet sixteen yards from goal and allowed the away side to clear their lines. Poor from the playmaker

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Bearne was proving a slippery customer for Bjork on the left, escaping the attentions of the 20-year-old once more on twenty-five minutes as he took the ball past the right-back and Lafferty, going to ground under the challenge of the youngster but having his pleas for a penalty kick turned away by referee Mr Wootton

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The teams continued to trade set pieces but with no real quality at either end, with a corner kick to Atherton on twenty-six minutes played short by Riding into the path of Pa Babou Jenkins, who dithered on his shot and saw Ollie Harrison clear the danger

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Two minutes later, a free-kick from Trickett-Smith was floated into the box but way too high for anyone in a white shirt to get their head on and the ball drifted out of play at the far post

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The big, sturdy figure of Bentham did well to hold off the attentions of Elliott Johnson on thirty-one minutes and play Riding into space down the right; his low cross back into the penalty area finally landed at the feet of Babou Jenkins, whose turn and shot sailed over Jack Rose's crossbar and into the Heath Hayes terrace

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On thirty-five minutes, Josh Soloman-Davies tested Rose's reflexes with a low shot at goal from twenty yards out that the on-loan Sutton United stopper pushed away for an Atherton corner kick. Riding sent over a ball to the far post from the subsequent corner which was met by the head of Solomon-Davies, but his header lacked power and was easily fielded by Rose

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A flat and largely uninspiring first half suddenly crackled into life on forty minutes as Bearne produced a wonderful moment of quality to hand the hosts the lead; Rowe's long throw into the box was flicked on by Stevenson into the path of Holness, who saw his shot blocked. Taylor did well to keep the move going, driving into the box as he picked up the bouncing ball and stood up a cross from the left that was deflected into the path of Bearne, who unleashed an unstoppable rising shot from sixteen yards out that arrowed past Honor and found the top corner of the net

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Babou Jenkins earned the game's first yellow card from Mr Wootton on forty-two minutes as he was booked by the match official after a foul on Holness in midfield

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However, the hosts couldn't hang on to their advantage going into the break as they handed Atherton a glorious chance to equalise with the last action of the first half. Harrison was the villain of the piece for the home side as he mistimed his clearance from an Adams pass into the path of Babou Jenkins, missing the ball and only managing to kick the Atherton midfielder instead; this left Mr Wootton with no choice but to point to the spot and award Atherton a penalty kick. After a lengthy spell of treatment for Babou Jenkins, Bentham placed the ball down and sent Rose the wrong way from twelve yards out to equalise for Colls

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It had been a poor spectacle of a first half and not one that you would be looking to use as a good example of the Northern Premier League West; Hednesford had been familiarly ponderous and slow in their build-up play once more despite oodles of possession, whilst Atherton had been happy to sit back, soak up the pressure and had taken full advantage of the one chance gifted them on a plate just before the break

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Bjork picked up a yellow card with the very first action of the second half as he dragged Trickett-Smith down to the left-hand side of the Atherton penalty area and was booked for the foul. McHale had his say on the foul and got into a bout of pushing and shoving with Lafferty, earning both players a booking apiece from Mr Wootton for dissent. This resulted in a ridiculously long stoppage whilst Trickett-Smith was being treated by the medical staff and the referee taking far too long to dish out cards and warnings to various players from both sides

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The resultant free-kick was eventually taken by Trickett-Smith after a long conversation with McHale, whipping in a shot that was at a comfortable height for Honor to claim to his left

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The Heath Hayes terrace seemed determined to sway the referee into giving them a penalty, with three strong challenges on Hednesford players in quick succession - firstly Bearne, then McHale and Stevenson - were all waved away by the match official on fifty-one minutes as the Pitmen pressed the Colls defence hard in search of another goal

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Bjork's yellow card was to come back to haunt him on fifty-six minutes as the right-back sent Bearne sprawling in full flight on the Hednesford left with a mistimed challenge and was shown a second yellow card in quick succession by Mr Wootton, reducing Atherton to ten men for the final thirty-four minutes of the game

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Trickett-Smith again assumed responsibility for the free-kick on the very edge of the Atherton penalty area but saw his curling low effort into the six-yard box smothered by Honor. Another poor, lazily taken set-piece from the hosts

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In response to this red card for Bjork, Clegg made an immediate change to his side as target man Bentham was brought off on fifty-eight minutes and replaced by Max Bardsley-Rowe

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The Pitmen looked to up the tempo with the man advantage and enjoyed long periods of possession in and around the Atherton penalty area. However, with Colls now very much in a tight 4-4-1 formation with a low block and very little space between the lines for Hednesford players to run into, it became a tight, niggly affair. Trickett-Smith looked to engineer a chance for McHale on the edge of the box on the hour mark, but courageous defending from Lafferty saw him throw himself in front of the ball and block McHale's left-footed drive

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Taylor was having an excellent game for the hoists, running beyond Bearne on regular occasions as the two players looked to double up on the visitors down the left wing. His run and cross on sixty-three minutes was headed out as far as Spence, who took far too much time to decide what to do with the ball and lost possession cheaply when a first-time shot was in the offing

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Great feet from McHale on sixty-seven minutes saw him take the ball past two Atherton players to the right of the penalty area and win the Pitmen a corner kick, which Trickett-Smith whipped in from the right and found the head of Harrison. However, the former Leek Town man was off-target as the ball bounced off the top of his head and drifted well, well wide of goal

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Trickett-Smith was at the heart of everything the hosts were trying to create in the final third of the pitch, taking yet another free-kick on seventy minutes that was headed back out to him by Babou Jenkins; after picking up the loose ball, the playmaker got his laces underneath the bouncing ball on the edge of the box and lashed his effort high and wide of goal

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A minute later, Bearne also tried his luck from eighteen yards out after drifting in from the left and firing in a wild effort that flew over the crossbar as Honor watched it out of play

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Bardsley-Rowe was the latest player in green to pick up a booking from Mr Wootton on seventy-three minutes as he was shown a yellow card for a foul on Trickett-Smith

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A minute later, Atherton made another personnel change as Clegg decided to bring on former Mossley attacker Alfie Belcher in place of the tiring Riding, who had chased lost causes for the visitors all afternoon down the right

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The Pitmen finally elected to make a change with fourteen minutes of the game remaining as Holness was brought off and replaced by Jake Jervis - this saw several positional changes to the side with Trickett-Smith dropping into central midfield, McHale shifting into the attacking midfield role, Bearne swapping wings to the right and Jervis slotting in on the left flank

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Trickett-Smith was denied a goalscoring opportunity by the assistant on the main stand side on seventy-eight minutes as he picked up a cross from Rowe inside the penalty area but was flagged offside in what must have been a marginal call from the official

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With eight minutes remaining, Atherton made their final change of the afternoon as young striker Rawsthorn - on loan to the club from Radcliffe - came on in place of Adams

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With his first touch of the ball, Rawsthorn got on the end of a rare counter-attack from the visitors on eighty-three minutes, picking up a pass from Solomon-Davies but hitting a weak low effort at goal from twenty-five yards out that was easily saved by Rose

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Atherton were living on their wits at this juncture as the Pitmen continued to dominate play and territory; another free-kick from Trickett-Smith on eighty-five minutes was floated into the box from the left and somehow scrambled away from danger before either Harrison or Stevenson could turn the loose ball home at the far post

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With the Pitmen attacking in wave after wave on the Atherton defence, you felt that there was only likely to be one winner, but Colls stunned the majority of the 872-strong crowd with what was to prove to be a late winner of their own on eighty-seven minutes; the chance stemmed from an opportunity for Stevenson at the opposite end initially as the striker got on the end of a low Trickett-Smith corner but was felled by a challenge on him from Babou Jenkins. With the Pitmen perhaps expecting a penalty or at least a break in play for Stevenson to receive treatment on what looked like a knee injury, Atherton quickly countered with no whistle from Mr Wootton, breaking down the right through Bardsley-Rowe as he beat namesake Rowe to the bouncing ball and turning it back to Babou Jenkins, who in turn picked out the completely unmarked Belcher. The substitute had time to take a touch before calmly turning the ball past Rose from twelve yards out

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Stevenson had remained on the ground throughout the Atherton counter-attack, holding his right knee in the process and after a long spell of treatment was carried off by the Hednesford medical team and replaced by Duku up front. The home supporters and officials were furious with Mr Wootton for not pulling play back before the goal and let him know in no uncertain terms what they thought of the decision to play on

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The confirmation of eight minutes of added time saw the Pitmen once again camped inside the Atherton third of the pitch, with Harrison now moving up front as an auxiliary target man looking to get on the end of any long balls into the box. Johnson's angled ball in on ninety-two minutes was flicked up in the air by the centre-back, with Duku trying to bring it under control but being hounded out of it by a spirited and hungrier Atherton side as they cleared their lines once more

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Honor received a late yellow card from Mr Wootton for blatantly time-wasting at a goal kick in the sixth minute of added time, purposely throwing the ball into the Heath Hayes terrace rather than spotting the ball up for a goal-kick after Bearne's opportunistic shot from the edge of the area flew high over the crossbar

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A minute later, Taylor did well to create space for himself down the left and send over a deep cross that was headed straight into the arms of the grateful Honor by Harrison

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There was an audible chorus of boos from the home supporters at the final whistle, frustrated at their team's lack of desire and ability to see off another side lurking at the foot of the table. That is now only one home win at Keys Park in the league all season - the opening day win over Vauxhall Motors - with the subsequent record reading as P5 W0 D2 L3. Like many Hednesford sides before them, there appears to be a real issue with playing in front of their own supporters which only the players and manager can explain why there is so much of a problem replicating their away form, which for the same period reads P5 W3 D1 L1. Put very frankly, the performances at Keys Park simply aren't anywhere near an acceptable level and will most likely cost the club its promotion ambitions over the course of the season if not rectified. There is now a much-needed week off from competitive action before the Pitmen play host to Northern Premier League Gainsborough Trinity in next weekend's eagerly-anticipated F.A. Cup first-round tie

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Hednesford Town: Brown, Rowe, Taylor, Spence, Harrison ▆, Johnson ©, Trickett-Smith, Holness (Jervis 77), Stevenson (Duku 90), McHale ▆, Bearne   Sub Unused: Endall, Alamu-Tajudeen, Gwilt

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Atherton Collieries: Honor ▆, Bjork ▆▆ (56), Warren, Lambert, Lafferty ▆, Gallagher ©, Solomon-Davies, Babou Jenkins, Bentham (Bardsley-Rowe 58 ▆), Adams (Rawsthorn 82), Riding (Belcher 74)       Subs Unused: Sheppard, Kershaw

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