Hednesford are dumped out of the F.A. Trophy this afternoon as league rivals Coalville ease past their hapless visitors with a goal in each half to move into Monday's third-round draw

 

The Pitmen had had a free week since last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Kings Langley, with Manager Steve Burr moving to bring in two more players to add to his numbers with the double swoop for Demi Akinwe and Jack Broome. Despite this double swoop, Burr elected to stick with the same XI that had come away from the Orbital Fasteners Stadium with nothing, despite dominating proceedings for much of last week’s ninety minutes

 

Coalville had already been one one cup adventure this season, having made it through to the first round of this season’s F.A. where they had been beaten by Charlton Athletic. Manager Adam Stevens made one change to his Ravens side from the one that had drawn 2-2 at Hitchin Town in midweek as the prolific Ashley Chambers returned to the side ahead of Tim Berridge

 

It was a very sunny but cold afternoon in rural Leicestershire, with Coalville still enjoying higher-than-previous crowds off the back of their historic cup run. The blue-clad Pitmen kicked off proceedings and started well, with Adam Livingstone involved early on as his run down the left wing on three minutes forced Luke Shaw into a desperate block to deny the Scotsman a chance to pick out the unmarked Leroy Lita inside the six-yard box

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Two minutes later, Livingstone had to defend well at the opposite end as he cut Craig Dean's cross out and hand Coalville their first corner kick of the afternoon. Eliot Putman's corner kick was aimed at skipper Chris Robertson but cleared any Lita, who inadvertently sent Stanley Obinna Anaebonam away on the counter-attack down the right. The Norwegian perhaps did a little too much with the ball as he elected to pick out Todd Parker, and allowed Coalville to recover and clear their lines

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A minute later, another one of goalkeeper Tiernan Brooks's long goal kicks forward was flicked into the path of Livingstone by Lita, sending the winger into space down the left. After taking a touch and steadying himself, Livingstone drove a shot across goal that looked to be heading for the corner of the net until a slight nick off Jake Eggleton and weren't behind for a corner kick

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A long, angled ball over the top from Harvey Portman in the twelfth minute found Lita inside the Coalville penalty area, with the veteran striker taking a tumble under the challenge of Robertson. Despite the player's pleas, referee Mr McQuillan was unimpressed and the game continued with Chambers breaking on the counter but firing just wide if Brooks' upright from the edge of the penalty area

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Brooks made the first of a series of impressive saves to deny his former club on fourteen minutes, making a brilliant instinctive save to deny Shaw after he saw the midfielder's low shot through a crowd of legs late on and made a fine parry down to his right

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A minute later, Chambers was shown was to prove to be the only caution of the afternoon as he cynically hacked Livingstone down on the halfway line to stop the winger from breaking, earning himself a deserved yellow card from Mr McQuillan

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Ison was also handed out some rough treatment from George Wilson on seventeen minutes as he was chopped down by the midfielder just inside the Coalville half. Luke Rowe took the resultant free-kick but was wasteful with his cross as goalkeeper Paul White claimed the ball ahead of Lita at his near post

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Shaw was handed the game's best chance to open the scoring thus far on eighteen minutes as Chambers played a delightful ball into the path of his team-mate down the left to send him away and past Levi Andoh. The former Grantham Town man struck a powerful low shot at goal from the edge of the penalty area that skipped inches wide of Brooks's left-hand post

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The Pitmen were once again wasteful from a promising set-piece position on twenty minutes as Andoh won a free-kick out on the right flank which was whipped in by Livingstone and onto the head of Ison, whose looping effort was cleared from danger by Coalville before Lita could punch on the loose ball

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Midway through the first period, the home crowd are up in arms with the referee as he failed to book Lita for a late and clumsy challenge on Dean down the left after the Coalville man had got the better of the striker

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White made a timely save to deny Ison on twenty-four minutes as Parker's deep corner kick from the right was headed back across goal by the Hednesford skipper, prompting White into making a good save low down to his left to turn the ball behind for another corner kick

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Neat build-up play from Lita and Livingstone created an opening for Obinna Anaebonam on twenty-eight minutes as Lita's flick on to the Scotsman saw Livingstone play the ball into the path of the right winger. After working the ball onto this right boot, Obinna Anaebonam drove in a shot at goal that was deflected behind for another corner by Eggleton

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From the resultant Parker corner kick, Ison's attempted overhead kick at goal was deemed as a high boot by Mr McQuillan and play was halted. Lita complained to the match official that Robertson had manhandled him inside the penalty area in the build-up, but once again his comments fell on deaf ears

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Sloppy play from the Pitmen saw them gift possession cheaply to Shaw just before the half-hour mark as Luke Redfern's attempted pass out went straight to the winger, who drove back into the box before drilling a low cross into the danger zone which drifted across the face of goal and wide of the far post

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On thirty-three minutes, good play from Obinna Anaebonam saw him show Putman a clean pair of heels and played Lita into the penalty area. However, more stoic defending from fellow veteran Robertson saw him beat Lita to the ball and turn it behind for a corner kick

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Obinna Anaebonam went closest to grabbing the game's opener three minutes later as Rowe played a good through ball into the path of the winger down the right, with the Hednesford number seven cutting inside of Putman's challenge and drilled his low shot inches wide of White's far post

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As has been the way for most of this season for the hapless Pitmen, they are punished heavily for not taking their chances in front of goal as Coalville took the lead seven minutes before the break; it was another defensive error that was seized upon by Coalville as Redfern's pass out of defence was seized upon by Chambers, who neatly turned on the edge of the box before dispatching a fine low driven shot behind the reach of Brooks

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Back came the Pitmen, who were denied an almost-immediate equaliser by White on forty minutes as Livingstone laid the ball off to Ison on the edge of the penalty area, with the defender's first-time shot tipped around the post by the former Forest Green Rovers man

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Livingstone had been arguably the pick of the Pitmen's players in the first half but got his angles horribly wrong a minute later as he spooned a long-range effort high over the crossbar after Parker had found the winger in space twenty yards from goal

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In the final minute of the half, Chambers looked to hoodwink Mr McQuillan into awarding the hosts a penalty kick as he took a blatant dive inside the box as he and Keith Lowe clashed. The referee took a look at the incident but was not to be fooled by the experienced striker's antics and play continued

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It had been yet another forty-five minutes that had once again shown up the away side's woes this season; some good approach play, some decent possession but ultimately not good enough at either end of the pitch against a hard-working and quick-countering Coalville attack. The visitors made a half-time change as Obinna Anaebonam was taken off in favour of Kyle Bennett

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One of Coalville's quick counter-attacks neatly caught the Pitmen out just two minutes after the restart as Lita lost out to Robertson, whose long, rangy ball forwards was picked up by the ever-willing Chambers. His run took the ball into the Hednesford penalty area but saw his shot drift wide of goal

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White did well to claim an inswinging cross from Ison ahead of Lita two minutes later, coming out of his goal to pluck the ball out of the air ahead of the striker at the near post after Ison had recycled Andoh's initial cross that was cleared

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Lowe did well to cover the ground and block a shot from Tom McGlinchey on fifty minutes, coming across to deflect the forward's effort from the edge of the penalty area over the crossbar after good play from Shaw down the wing

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The resultant corner kick was played back to Andy Thanoj by the Pitmen, whose follow-up effort from an able was comfortably held by Brooks down to his left

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Another individual error from one of the Hednesford defenders, this time from Lowe on fifty-two minutes, saw the veteran inadvertently gift the ball to Chambers in a dangerous position just outside the penalty area. He slipped the ball into the path of Kee, whose heavy first touch allowed Redfern enough time to get across and clear the danger

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Good defending from Coalville deny the Pitmen two chances in quick succession on fifty-five minutes as a Bennett free-kick was flicked towards goal by Lita and cleared by Eggleton, before Rowe's follow-up shot was charged down by Putman

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Rowe again went close for the Pitmen shortly before the hour mark as Bennett went on a slalom-like run across the edge of the Coalville penalty area before laying the ball off to the former Redditch United midfielder, whose shot looped up and just over White's crossbar. Close from the Pitmen

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The away side made their second change of the afternoon on the hour mark as the mercurial Joe Cuff was brought on to add more urgency to the flagging forward line as he replaced Redfern. This saw Cuff move out to the left wing and the Pitmen revert to a three-man central defence comprising of Portman, Lowe and Ison with Livingstone playing in a more defensive role down the left

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More frustration was to follow for the men in sky blue as more crosses from either flank failed to find Lita or Cuff in the middle, with Portman's cross cut out by Eggleton on sixty-one minutes and Ison's deep free-kick sailing harmlessly over the heads of everyone in the penalty area two minutes later

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Good wing play from Cuff midway through the second half saw the former Market Drayton Town man beat a couple of players on his way inside from the flank before his cross was cut out by the hosts. The ball ran to Rowe on the edge of the penalty area, whose speculative shot was blocked and cleared

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Brooks made another fine save to deny Coalville on sixty-five minutes as he parried a Shaw shot away from goal after the winger had once again cut in from the left and beaten Andoh all ends up 

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The hosts finally made their extra quality pay a minute later as they settled the tie with a killer second goal through Kee; a good one-two from McGlinchey and Chambers opened up the Hednesford defence before Chambers' cross was turned home from close range by the former Accrington Stanley man

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James McQuilkin was sent on by the away side in a bid to add some quality to the side two minutes later, as the former Kidderminster Harriers midfielder replaced the tiring Livingstone. The hosts elected to make a change at the same time as Tendai Chitzia came on in place of the unusually quiet McGlinchey

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The second Coalville goal appeared to kill the game off as a contest for much of the final twenty minutes of the game, with the Pitmen seemingly acceptant of their fate and Coalville happy to sit in front of the hosts and allow them to play in front of them for the remainder of the game

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Andoh was perhaps a little lucky not to join Chambers in the book on seventy-five minutes as the Dutchman sent Chambers sprawling with a mistimed challenge just inside the Hednesford half. Despite many home supporters demanding a card for the young defender, Mr McQuillan played advantage without handing Andoh a retrospective card

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The Pitmen were guilty of more of their old over-indulgent play on the edge of the penalty area with ten minutes remaining as Portman found Lita with an angled ball down the left that was laid off to Bennett on the edge of the box. However, neither he nor Parker or Rowe, could get their shot away before Coalville turned the ball behind for a corner kick to the visitors

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Parker delivered a fine corner kick into the box that Coalville struggled to clear and could only find Cuff, who was lurking fifteen yards from goal. His excellent effort was seen late by White, who got enough behind it to turn the ball away from danger. The ball broke for Andoh, whose follow-up shot was drilled wide of the near post from ten yards out

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Another Parker corner kick three minutes later was played quickly by the midfielder into the path of the unmarked Bennett, whose shot was inches wide of White's left-hand post

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The home side made their final change of the afternoon with two minutes left as club vice-captain Steve Towers came on to see the game out in place of Wilson

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With the game drifting into added time, the home side were awarded a late penalty kick as Rowe blotted his copybook by caulking the short of substitute Chitiza inside the penalty area and hauling the Zimbabwean forward to the ground. Mr McQuillan had no hesitation in pointing to the post, allowing Putman to place the ball down on the spot and take the resultant penalty kick. Brooks had other ideas, however, and made a superb stop to push the spot kick onto the crossbar and away from danger with what was to prove to be the final action of the afternoon

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Another defeat for the Pitmen leaves them with only two wins in their last ten games and three defeats in a row in all competitions, with Burr's side low on confidence and quality going into Tuesday night's return to league action at Stourbridge. Anything less than a win will leave the Pitmen with a mammoth deficit to make up at the foot of the Southern Premier League Central table and surely it will be time to start plotting trips to Yaxley, Boldmere St. Michaels and Bedworth United in 2023-2024

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Coalville Town: White, Dean, Putman, Eggleton, Robertson ©, Thanoj, Shaw, Wilson (Towers 88), Chambers ▆ (Smith 80), Kee, McGlinchey (Chitiza 68)       Subs Unused: Laban, Towers, Smith, Doyle-Charles

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Hednesford Town: Brooks, Andoh, Portman, Ison ©, Lowe, Redfern (Cuff 60), Obinna Anaebonam (Bennett 45), Parker, Lita, Rowe, Livingstone (McQuilkin 68)       Subs Unused: Akinwe, Clayton

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