2,620

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Dan Sparkes

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Melton Town (A) 31.8.24

Today's big local derby ends with a point apiece and the Pitmen remaining at the top of the Northern Premier League West table, despite the hosts turning in a poor, pedestrian performance that saw them rarely threaten the Chasetown defence

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Saturday's staggering 6-2 win over Runcorn Linnets had moved the Pitmen to the top of the league table coming into today's Bank Holiday Monday clash, with manager Steve King able to call upon Jake Jervis again after the big striker had served a two-match ban for his red card against Nantwich Town earlier in the month. Jervis had to be content with a place amongst the substitutes for today's tie as King made just the one change to his starting XI - birthday boy Dan Sparkes came in at left-back ahead of Joel Taylor

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Local rivals Chasetown had also picked up three points at the weekend, beating nine-man Avro 3-0 at Church Street to move up to thirteenth place in the table. Manager Mark Swann included several familiar faces in his squad for their short trip across town, starting Sam Griffiths, Sam Wilding and Joe Thompson whilst naming George Cater as one of the substitutes. There was no place however for veteran trio Kris Taylor, Danny Glover or Joey Butlin in the Scholars' matchday squad, three more faces from Hednesford days gone by

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The buzz around the game had certainly captured the imagination of the local community, with an astonishing 2,620 people attending in what will most likely be the highest attendance in the Northern Premier League West this term. The Pitmen looked to make one of their flying starts to proceedings in the late summer sunshine as Jack Bearne got on the ball in the third minute, taking it past Joe Dunne down the right and looking to pick out Rob Stevenson in the middle, only to see his cross drift all the way across goalkeeper Curtis Pond's goal and put of play on the other side of the pitch

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A quick counter from the Pitmen a minute later saw Omar Holness win the ball in midfield and send Manny Duku away down the right, with the striker cutting inside but seeing his low shot blocked and turned away for a corner kick by the excellent Kieren Fenton

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Chasetown, like many before them so far this season, had highlighted the Pitmen's proclivity to concede from set-pieces and looked to make an early breakthrough from a Jack Langston corner in the sixth minute, clipping the ball into the box where Tom Unwin rose above Kory Roberts but tamely headed well wide of goal at the far post

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The Pitmen's early pressure was to pay them dividends in the eighth minute as skipper Elliott Johnson opened the scoring with his first-ever goal for the club; Bearne had earned the home side a free-kick on the right after being fouled by Dunne, allowing Dan Trickett-Smith to curl the ball into the box with a delightful pass that Johnson turned home at the near post unchallenged

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Stevenson - looking to make it three goals in three games in the past week - was denied a chance to run through on goal by a late offside flag in the eleventh minute as a superb through ball from Duku saw the striker make a move slightly too early for the assistant on the main stand side

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The Pitmen committed more men forward for another free-kick on fourteen minutes after Stevenson had been bundled to the ground by Griffiths out on the left flank. Trickett-Smith's ball in was again looking for Johnson at the near post, but Fenton was alert to the danger and beat the Hednesford skipper and Roberts to the ball to clear

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Blaine Rowe was the first player to have his name taken by referee Mr Schofield in the sixteenth minute as the full-back hauled Luke Yates down on the Chasetown left and was booked for the challenge. Fenton was utilised at the other end as the big defender managed to get his head on Langston's ball in but saw his effort diverted over the crossbar by Duku for a Chasetown corner

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Langston whipped in the resultant corner from the right and found ex-Hednesford skipper Griffiths with his cross, only for the veteran defender to loop his header over the crossbar from eight yards out

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Ex-Hereford man Pond had to be alert to more set-piece action inside his own penalty area three minutes later, palming away Roberts' flicked header after a Sparkes ball in was diverted goalwards by the centre-back, with Unwin having to turn the loose ball behind once more for a corner ahead of the lurking Duku

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Langston - so often Chasetown's main threat and creator - looked to play Yates in midway through the first half with a clever lofted pass over the head of Rowe and into the path of the winger, only for Jack Rose to spot the danger and just about beat the ex-Halesowen Town man to the ball

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Stevenson was working hard for the Pitmen up against Fenton for little reward and was again adjudged to be slightly the wrong side of the defender  on twenty-seven minutes as he raced on Sion Spence's pass, but was yet again flagged offside by the assistant on the main stand side

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Rose made an excellent save to keep his side in front on the half-hour mark as Langston's corner kick was never completely cleared by the Hednesford defence, allowing Chasetown to recycle the ball out on the right through Yates, who took the ball down the right and pulled it back into the danger zone, where Langston was on hand to drive in a low shot from the edge of the penalty area that the on-loan stopper pushed away down to his right

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Assistant manager Junior Lewis had taken exception to some of the earlier decisions and let Mr Schofield know what he thought about it all on thirty-two minutes, earning the former Leicester City man a booking in the process for dissent

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More corners from the visitors came and went, with Langston continuing to test the flaky-looking Hednesford defence with a stream of dangerous balls into the box that the hosts struggled to see out

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Thompson picked up Chasetown's first booking of the afternoon on thirty-seven minutes as the former Hednesford man was shown a yellow card by Mr Schofield for a foul on Trickett-Smith

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A minuter, Trickett-Smith's cleverly constructed corner kick on the right saw him roll the ball into the unmarked Spence inside the Chasetown penalty area, with the midfielder striking a firm low shot that was deflected just wide of goal for another corner kick

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The resultant kick from Trickett-Smith was played all the way to the far post and onto the head of Duku, who was over-reaching for the ball and could only head over the crossbar with an off-balance effort

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On thirty-nine minutes, an inswinging corner from the right from Sparkes was met by the head of Omar Holness, whose effort was a little too high and skipped a few inches over the crossbar

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Stevenson's bad luck in front of goal continued as he was denied a goal by a superb save from Pond on forty-one minutes; Trickett-Smith rolled the ball into the feet of the striker on the edge of the six-yard box, with Stevenson showing excellent feet to turn past Unwin and strike a shot at goal that looked to be heading for the bottom corner of the net until Pond made a great save, stretching full length to his right to tip the ball away from goal

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In the final minute of the first period, Oli Hayward and Yates combined down the left flank, with Yates sending over a cross that was headed tamely wide by Max Chimenes for a goal kick as he was put under pressure by Johnson

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It had been a keenly contested local derby thus far, although the quality from both sides had been lacking somewhat in the final third of the pitch. The Pitmen had looked composed on the ball as per usual, keeping it for long periods of the game but once again lacking a cutting edge with the final ball at times to hurt a one-paced, but well-organised, Chasetown defence

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Langston looked to send Chimenes away in behind Roberts three minutes after the restart with a fine chipped pass, only for the big striker to be pulled up by an offside flag against him

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Midfielder Wilding - briefly a Hednesford player at the start of the 2022-2023 season - picked up a yellow card for the Scholars on fifty-two minutes after a late challenge on Johnson as the defender looked to clear his lines

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Pond was on hand to deny Stevenson or anyone else in white on fifty-five minutes after the striker had got in behind the Chasetown defence to get on the end of Rose's long punt forward and loop the ball back towards goal from the left, with Pond claiming the awkward looping ball ahead of Duku at his far post

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Sparkes followed his fellow full-back Rowe into Mr Schofield's book on fifty-nine minutes for kicking the ball away at a Chasetown free-kick and stopping Langston from making a quick pass

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Stevenson thought that he had found a way through for the Pitmen just after the hour mark as he was played in by Bearne's reverse ball, only to take a heavy touch in the six-yard box and allow Wilding to get back and clear the danger before he could get a shot away

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It was becoming clear that both sides were struggling to create any real openings in the second half, with the stoic Chasetown defence easily keeping a tired-looking Hednesford attack at bay and limiting them to long, aimless balls forward towards the head of Duku or Stevenson. The visitors were keen to try and hit the Pitmen on the counter, with Chimenes a willing runner to chase down Langston's passes or press the defenders into individual errors. There was the added element of tiredness also starting to creep into the game, with many of the players on the park playing their second ninety minutes in seventy-two hours

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Ex-Basford man Fenton had been outstanding so far for the visitors, repelling the Hednesford attack with a composed but aggressive display in the air up against Stevenson and Duku. He did, however, blot his copybook somewhat on sixty-four minutes as he picked up a yellow card for a foul on Duku

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Chasetown elected to bring some fresh legs onto the park on sixty-six minutes as former Hednesford winger Cater was brought on in place of Griffiths, forcing a reshuffle in the Scholars ranks to accommodate the former Tamworth man

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Bearne had been largely nullified by Chasetown so far with two players on the winger at every opportunity in a bid to stop him from playing. He did, however, find a pocket of space to go incredibly close for the home side on sixty-six minutes as Duku did well down the left and pulled the ball back to Stevenson, whose clever dummy allowed Bearne to run onto the ball and shoot first time from eight yards out, only to see his effort come back off the post

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Cater's introduction injected some pace and urgency into the Chasetown ranks, something they had lacked in the final third so far with a largely defensive display up to now. On sixty-nine minutes, he picked the loose ball up thirty yards from goal and tried his luck with a right-footed effort that Rose saw just over his crossbar

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More changes were afoot for Chasetown on seventy minutes as Danny O'Callaghan replaced Chimenes up front, whilst the Pitmen also made a double attacking change of their own with Jervis coming on for Stevenson and Zidan Sutherland replacing the disappointing Duku

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Another run down the left from Cater was brought to a halt by a foul on him by Rowe on seventy minutes, allowing Hayward to whip the ball into the six-yard box where no one in blue was able to turn the ball home and the Pitmen managed to clear their lines

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Chasetown's growing pressure on the Hednesford backline finally paid off with seventeen minutes remaining as Langston grabbed an equaliser for the visitors; Cater was involved again with a surging run down the left before laying the ball off to Dunne, whose up and under out on the left was met at the far post by the Chasetown captain. His looping ball back across goal had enough on it to carry over the head of Rose and find the far corner of the net. Most likely, Langston was just looking to put the ball back into the danger zone and got lucky with the flight of the ball, but as they say, they all count

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This gave the away side huge momentum going into the final fifteen minutes of the game, with the men in blue looking the more likely to grab a winner in the latter stages of the game in the manner in which Kidsgrove had claimed their smash-and-grab win at Keys Park the previous week.

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The Pitmen looked to add more legs to their midfield on seventy-nine minutes as the enthusiastic Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen came on in place of Bearne and Dom Mchale replaced Spence

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The substitute's first involvement in the game was to almost hand Chasetown a gilt-edged chance a minute later as his attempted pass to Johnson fell way short of its mark, allowing Yates to pick the ball up and play O'Callaghan in. Roberts denied him initially with a sliding challenge before a goalmouth scramble saw Holness eventually clear the danger almost on his own goal line to deny Cater a tap-in at the far post

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You still felt that the game was there to be won by either side despite the lack of quality in either box, with Sutherland going close to a winner for the Pitmen on eighty-five minutes as he raced onto Jervis's chest-down on the edge of the box, taking the ball past Unwin before striking a low shot just wide of Pond's left-hand post

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The Pitmen made their final change of the game in the last minute as Sparkes - who had been excellent up and down the left flank for the Pitmen all afternoon - was replaced by Taylor for added time

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Despite the game being on a knife-edge for the last fifteen minutes, it seemed as though both sides were happy to take a point each as the tempo dropped considerably and chances completely dried up at either end of the pitch. The Pitmen will be pleased with remaining top of the league and taking four points from their two games this week but will be unhappy at the complete lack of quality in the final third in the second half, creating next to nothing and allowing Chasetown to come back into contention to claim a point with Langston's freak goal. King's side now take a long break from league action as they play Melton Town in the F.A. Cup first qualifying round this Saturday and play host to Quorn in the F.A. Trophy first qualifying round the following weekend

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Hednesford Town: Rose, Rowe ▆, Sparkes ▆ (Taylor 90), Roberts, Johnson ©, Holness, Trickett-Smith, Spence (McHale 79), Stevenson (Jervis 70), Duku (Sutherland 70), Bearne (Alamu-Tajudeen 79)    Subs Unused: None

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Chasetown: Pond, Griffiths (Cater 66), Dunne, Fenton ▆, Unwin, Wilding ▆, Hayward, Langston ©, Chimenes (O'Callaghan 70), Thompson ▆, Yates      Subs Unused: Evans, Atherton, Cunningham

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