The Pitmen's continued woes continued this evening as they made it three defeats in a row in all competitions with a narrow defeat at in-form Congleton Town

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The managerless Pitmen - with Martin Hunter continuing in his interim manager role - had only had seventy-two hours to recover from their epic F.A. Cup tie against Gainsborough Trinity at the weekend, with Hunter shuffling his tired pack for tonight's trio up the M6 as Blaine Rowe, Dan Sparkes and Ollie Harrison all came back into the side ahead of Simeon Maye, Josh Endall and Joel Taylor

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Newly-promoted Congleton - up to seventh place in the Northern Premier League West table after a thrilling 4-3 win over Atherton Collieries at the weekend - made two changes of their own for their return to the Cleric Stadium as player/manager Richard Duffy and Matt Gillam came in for Josh Ryder and Max McCarthy. There was a familiar face in between the sticks for the Bears in the form of the experienced Dave Parton, who had enjoyed a brief spell at Keys Park during their final Vanarama National League North season in 2015-2016. Former Hednesford midfielder Louis Dodds had joined the Bears coaching staff after leaving Hanley Town in the summer and was the other familiar face on the Congleton bench

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On a cool autumn evening in Cheshire, the hosts made a good start to the game and almost made the breakthrough in the second minute as

George Sankey broke through the flimsy Hednesford offside trap down the left, squaring the ball to Gillam who saw his initial shot saved by Jack Rose before Ethan Hartshorn's follow-up shot from the edge of the penalty area was hacked clear by Elliott Johnson

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A free-kick just inside the Congleton half - handed to them by a foul from Blaine Rowe on Sankey - was floated into the Hednesford penalty area by Peter Williams in the sixth minute, looking to pick out his manager Duffy at the far post but was denied by a fine clearing header from Kory Roberts

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Rose was on his mettle for the visitors in the ninth minute, making a fine double save to deny Congleton as he first got down low to his left to palm away a shot from Kieran Garner-Knapper to deny the midfielder a wonderful solo goal, following this up with a claim down at his near post to field Sankey's first time effort on the follow-up

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Sankey was denied a clear run in at the Hednesford goal in the eleventh minute as a quickly taken free-kick played him in down the left, only for the assistant on the far side of the pitch to pull play back for a tight offside call against the winger

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Dom McHale - arguably the Pitmen's standout player in recent games - almost broke the deadlock a minute later with a typically quick-footed move as he drifted in from the right, beating Marco Fregapane with a neat piece of skill before firing in a swerving, dipping shot from the edge of the penalty area that Parton did brilliantly to push over the crossbar and deny what looked to be a certain goal

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This sparked a mini spell of pressure from the visitors as they played much of the next five minutes inside the Congleton third of the pitch. Dan Trickett-Smith's inswinging corner kick from the left on fourteen minutes was aimed at the giant figure of Harrison, who could only head the ball up in the air and allowed Congleton to clear their lines before Manny Duku could react

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On seventeen minutes, more McHale magic saw him pick out Johnson on the left with a fine pass out to the flank, with the Hednesford skipper's cross deflected into the path of Omar Holness and hit firmly towards goal by the midfielder, only for Parton to position himself well and smother the ball inside his six-yard box

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Congleton countered and went close to grabbing the lead on eighteen minutes as Garner-Knapper was again allowed to make a run, this time down the left as he cut inside of a challenge from Sparkes before drilling in a shot to the near post that Rose pushed away

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Rowe picked up the game's first booking on twenty-four minutes as he was found guilty of dragging Sankey to the floor as the pair clashed on the Congleton left, earning the right-back a yellow card and Congleton a free-kick. The ubiquitous Williams took the free-kick and forced Rose into a fantastic flying save to his left to tip the ball away for a corner kick and deny the hugely experienced playmaker a goal

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There was to be a lengthy stoppage on twenty-seven minutes as a Congleton corner from Williams was punched away by Rose, who inadvertently flattened Sparkes in the process, leaving the left-back needing some attention from Dan Brayson before gingerly returning to the pitch

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Parton made a meal of a long-range Trickett-Smith shot on thirty-one minutes, dropping the weakly struck shot and inviting Duku to come onto the ball, only for Duffy to show his leadership quantities with a sliding challenge to clear the bouncing ball away from the Dutchman

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Williams was at the heart of everything positive for the Bears, covering every blade of grass and making himself available for his team-mates at all times. Another corner kick on thirty-five minutes was played deep to the far post, where Roberts just about managed to get in ahead of Sankey and turn the ball behind for another flag kick

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On thirty-eight minutes, Williams tried his luck once more from a free-kick to the left of the penalty area, curling in a ball that Jack Bearne had to turn away from his own goal to deny the incoming Hartshorn

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Gillam looked to make progress down the middle for Congleton in forty-one minutes but came off worse in a challenge with Holnbess, requiring another lengthy stoppage before play could continue

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With the game looking to be heading in goalless at the break, the hosts were awarded a penalty kick with what was to prove to be the final action of the first period - although there was initially some confusion as to what had happened. A corner kick from Williams on the right. was swung into the box and met by Duku, who had dropped back to help defend the set-piece, appearing to strike his arm at the near post as he looked to turn the ball away. After initially pointing to the spot before Duffy could get to the rebound, referee Mr Bates consulted with his assistant for a lengthy spell before confirming that the penalty had been given, booking Duku in the process for the deliberate handball. Williams stepped up and fired high to Rose's left-hand side to score and put the hosts ahead at the break

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It had been a mostly disappointing, disjointed half from the men in grey, who were once again finding it hard to break down a hard-working, spirited but limited side that was willing to do the basics well and work as a team - everything this Hednesford team seems to be lacking at times and in certain games

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There was a more visible urgency to the Pitmen's play at the start of the second half as they pressed Congleton for long periods of the half in search of a leveller. Trickett-Smith's early corner kick was claimed by Parton ahead of Harrison on forty-seven minutes before the best spell of football all evening long on fifty-two minutes saw thre Pitmen open up the Congleton defence as Rowe, McHale, Holness and Duku played some superb one-touch football to slip the ball to the playmaker, whose shot from twenty yards out was high and wide

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Two minutes later, Harrison probably should have done better as an inswinging free-kick from Bearne out on the left was met at the far post by the burly centre-back, who could only divert the ball over the crossbar with a miscued header from six yards out

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Harrison had another great chance to head home from close range for the Pitmen on fifty-five minutes, getting on the end of Trickett-Smith's corner kick but again getting his angles wrong as he tamely nodded over the crossbar

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Duffy once again denied the visitors three minutes later as he threw his body in front of the ball and blocked McHale's attempted shot from just inside the Congleton penalty area after good approach play from Rowe down the right. There were some muted calls for a penalty for handball against the Welshman but the ball had clearly struck the midriff of the veteran Congleton player/manager

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Congleton made their first change of the evening shortly afterwards as the lanky Lewis Porter - formerly of Stafford Rangers in recent times - came on in place of Gillam

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There was a bizarre break in play midway through the second period as the ball in play was kicked out over the main stand and not retrieved, leaving the players and officials looking for a usable ball to continue with. Congleton had plenty of spare balls but had stored them away in a large bag that had been tied up a little too securely for the home officials, who took over a minute to untie the pesky knot and send a new ball onto the pitch

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The Pitmen's first change of the evening came on sixty-six minutes with Duku quickly departing the pitch as he was replaced by Rob Stevenson up front with the visitors looking for a more aggressive, physical approach to their game

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Congleton thought that he had doubled the hosts' lead on sixty-nine minutes as a quick break down the left from Sankey saw him get to the byeline and pull the ball back to Williams, whose first-time shot at goal was diverted into the net by Porter from close-range. However, an offside flag against the substitute in the build-up to the strike from the assistant on the main stand side saw the goal disallowed

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Sixty seconds later, Congleton elected to make their second substitution of the game as the hard-running Sankey was taken off and replaced by the vastly experienced former Leek Town man Darren Chadwick. At the same time, the ineffective and, put frankly, seemingly disinterested, Bearne was taken off and replaced by Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen

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Stevenson created a chance out of nothing for himself on seventy-four minutes as Rowe's low cross into the box from the right was picked up by the striker, who did well to turn past Duffy from a tight angle and fire in a shot that Parton held at his near post

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On seventy-seven minutes, there was another bizarre break in play as Mr Bate pulled up in midfield holding his hamstring and had to receive a course of treatment from the home physio before he was able to continue

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The Pitmen continued to press, becoming increasingly desperate in their attempts to get the ball into the penalty area. Taylor and Sparkes combined down the left on eighty-one minutes, with Taylor pulling the ball back into the penalty area where Stevenson had the ball taken off his toes by Josh Hall, who was no-nonsense in his punt upfield​

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A run from Alamu-Tajudeen down the left on eighty-five minutes saw him take on Fregapane and look to pull the ball back across goal, but the substitute ran out of turf and ended up running into the advertising hoardings behind the goal, taking a nasty bump in the process that required a lengthy spell of treatment for the winger before play could restart

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The Pitmen's supporters were left frustrated with just a minute to go as Trickett-Smith's free-kick to the left of the Congleton penalty area was completely wasted, chipping the ball straight into the hands of Parton with no one in grey anywhere near the ball

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The Hednesford fans were left in bewilderment at the added time board going up as it indicated that there would only be six added minutes, something that seemed scarcely believable when there had been lengthy stoppages for five separate substitutions, the ball retrieval fiasco, Mr Bate's hamstring injury and the long spell of treatment provided to Alamu-Tajudeen

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Parton made another timely and dominant claim in the first minute of added time as he punched away Taylor's cross off the head of Stevenson, with Duffy once again hacking the ball clear of danger

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There was an air of dissatisfaction between the supporters and players at the final whistle, with some muted boos coming from the terraces as some players in grey trudged straight off and only a handful decided to acknowledge the travelling support. You feel that the club will need to move quickly and decide on the managerial vacancy as some notable players appear to lack motivation on top of the obvious issues surrounding the squad regarding fatigue and carrying knocks. Another away day follows this weekend as the Pitmen head to nearby Newcastle Town in a must-win Staffordshire derby for the high-earning but hugely underperforming men in grey

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Congleton Town: Parton, Fregapane, Morris, Williams, Duffy, Hall, Garner-Knapper, Arnold ▆, Gillam (Porter 62), Hartshorn ©, Sankey (Chadwick 70)       Subs Unused: McCarthy, Hampton, Ziglam

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Hednesford Town: Rose, Rowe ▆, Sparkes (Alamu-Tajudeen 80), Johnson ©, Harrison, Roberts, Trickett-Smith, Holness, Duku ▆ (Stevenson 66),   McHale, Bearne (Taylor 70)     Sub Unused: Brown, Gwilt

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