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Neil Davis

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Kettering Town (H) 14.10.00

At the seventh time of asking, the Pitmen finally record their first away win of the season in a timely manner as a superb display sees them pick up all three points at The Lawn this afternoon

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Three defeats in a row had severely dented the Pitmen's confidence after a run of encouraging form in September had lifted John Baldwin's side as high as fourteenth in the table at one stage. Baldwin - starting to come under pressure from the Keys Park faithful to make changes to his error-strewn and shot-shy side - made three changes to the side that had started Monday night's 2-1 defeat at home to Woking as Neil Pointon was dropped after some indifferent displays and was replaced by Lee Colkin at left-back; Keith Russell came in for the suspended Micky Norbury up front and Russell Bradley came in for the injured Mark Haran at the centre of defence. In the absence of regular skipper Pointon, the captain's armband was passed to Jake Sedgemore for the first time in his career

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Fourteenth-placed Forest Green returned to the Lawn having been on the receiving end of a 2-0 defeat at Nuneaton Borough in midweek - their third defeat in five games. Manager Frank Gregan made one change to his side from the one that had started at Manor Park as former Southampton man Frankie Bennett came in ahead of Bradley Thomas. The hosts' line-up was brimming with experience as they named former Aston Villa trio Nigel Spink, Tony Daley and Dave Norton in their starting XI as well as Bennett, whilst the well-travelled Dennis Bailey was named amongst the substitutes

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Referee Mr Cairns was to prove to be a frustratingly inconsistent influence on proceedings, setting his stall out within the first two minutes as he pulled Neil Davis back for a dubious-looking offside call against the striker after he appeared to come from behind Wayne Hatswell to reach a long pass through from Colkin

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Another tight offside call, this time at the other end of the pitch, benefitted former England winger Daley in the fifth minute as his run in behind Ian Robinson was deemed to be onside, despite the veteran looking a yard or so in front of play when Norton's pass was played. His low cross into the Hednesford penalty area was met by the incoming Jason Drysdale, whose right-footed effort from eight yards out came back off the base of Mark Gayle's right-hand post

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A minute later, Rovers went even closer to opening the scoring once more as Drysdale turned provider to beat Sedgemore and cross from the right to find Bennett, who nipped in behind Bradley and pulled the ball back into the place of striker Alex Meechan, whose shot struck the crossbar and dropped over the net

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In the ninth minute of a busy opening period, Drysdale's chipped corner into the Hednesford penalty area was met by the head of the incoming Hatswell, who glanced his effort narrowly over Gayle's crossbar from close-range

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The Pitmen had struggled to make an impact in the attacking third thus far, with the wantaway Stuart Lake striking a firm free-kick straight into the hands of veteran Spink on thirteen minutes after Sedgemore had been brought down to the left-hand side of the Forest Green penalty area by Norton

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The prolific Adrian Foster - a thorn in previous Hednesford sides for Rushden & Diamonds and Yeovil Town - picked up the game's first booking from Mr Cairns in the seventeenth minute as he took a comedic dive in the Hednesford penalty area under pressure from Lake, prompting an angry response from Lake and a well-deserved booking for a blatantly orchestrated tumble

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The Pitmen were finding more of the ball inside the Forest Green half at this point with Mark Cooper playing a fine through ball into the path of Davis on twenty-two minutes, finding the striker lurking just outside the penalty area and allowing the Pitmen's top scorer to turned quickly and strike a shot at goal that Cannock-born Norton did well to block

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Bradley flicked a Cooper free-kick just wide two minutes later as he diverted the midfielder's inswinging ball from the left just wide of Spink's left-hand post after beating Hatswell to the ball

 

The Pitmen made their recent pressure pay on twenty-six minutes as the ever-dangerous Davis handed the visitors the lead; Colkin's deftly-taken free-kick caught out the home defence as Davis reacted quickest to get goal side of the Rovers back line and guide the ball past Spink with a well-placed header from close-range

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The away side went close to a quickfire double on the half-hour mark as Bonsall flicked on Colkin's throw-in to Sedgemore, whose first-time shot from twenty yards out cleared Spink's crossbar by a matter of inches

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The hosts were forced into making an injury-related substitution on thirty-five minutes as Daley - who appeared to pick up a knock in an earlier clash with Sedgemore - was forced off and replaced by Steve Campbell

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Eight minutes before the break, Forest Green had a great chance to level matters once more as a lob over the top from Ian Hedges found Meechan in behind a hesitant Hednesford defence, electing to try and chip the ball over the advancing Gayle from fifteen yards out but was denied by a fine fingertip save from the Hednesford stopper, who got enough on the ball to turn it away for a corner kick to the hosts

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In the fortieth minute, Drysdale followed Foster into the referee's notebook as the highly-rated midfield man was shown a yellow card for bringing Val Owen down in the centre circle

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Sixty seconds later, Norton's quickly-taken free-kick picked out the head of Foster, whose glancing header from a tight angle ended up in the side netting as he got the jump on Lake on the corner of the Hednesford six-yard box

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With the final action of the first half, Robinson's run and cross from the right was cleared by Hatswell but only as far as Cooper, whose attempted lob back at goal dipped over the head of Spink but also over the Forest Green crossbar

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It had been a competitive first period from both sides, with the Pitmen you felt a little fortunate to be ahead at the break but had shown good character to limit the dangerous Forest Green attack to chances from set-pieces. The individual errors that had plagued recent games had been largely stamped out, with Colkin's inclusion making the left-hand side look more sturdy and dangerous on the counter-attack

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Baldwin's rousing half-time team talk seemed to have a positive effect on the men in navy blue, who extended their lead on fifty minutes through Davis; Sedgemore - having a superb game in midfield - played fellow midfielder Owen into space with a fine reverse ball down the centre of the park to split the Forest Green defence. Owen spotted the run of Davis and played the striker in on goal, with the former Aston Villa man taking a touch before curling the ball beyond the reach of Spink and into the far corner of the net

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The Pitmen almost gifted Forest Green an immediate route back into the game just two minutes later as Robinson's misplaced backpass towards Gayle was seized upon by Foster, who took the ball into the penalty area but a heavy second touch allowed Gayle to make a smothering save at his feet

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Gayle was on his toes once more to deny Bennett on fifty-six minutes as the experienced left-sided player struck a powerful effort from the corner of the penalty area that the stopper acrobatically turned over to a corner kick to the hosts

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Colkin picked up the Pitmen's first booking of the afternoon shortly before the hour mark as his mistimed tackle on Meechan and aggressive reaction to the forward's rolling around on the floor saw him yellow carded

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Old stager Dennis Bailey came on in place of Hedges on sixty-two minutes to add some guile to the flagging Forest Green attack and set up Foster just two minutes after coming on as his downward header from a Drysdale corner found Foster, whose low drive was blocked and cleared by Bradley

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Davis was denied a hat-trick midway through the second half by some last-ditch defending from Hatswell after he had been played clear once more by another fine Sedgemore pass, taking the ball away from Norton before working it onto his right boot and allowing the centre-back enough time to get across and divert the shot away from goal

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A mis-hit pass from Hatswell played Spink into trouble twenty minutes from the end as his attempted back header towards the former European Cup winner fell woefully short and into the path of Owen, whose shot was gratefully picked up by the stopper on his goal line

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The hosts were enjoying plenty of possession but were doing very little with it as the Pitmen stood firm in front of them with two solid banks of four. Sedgemore blocked a long-range effort from Campbell on seventy-three minutes, with the ball running kindly to Bennett on the edge of the penalty area. His recycled cross was half-cleared by Lake but only as far as Drysdale, who cut across his half-volley and sent the ball just wide of Gayle's right-hand post

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With eleven minutes remaining, Hatswell looked to turn the ball over the line from close range as he fought with Bradley for a bouncing ball after Drysdale's cross was not cleared by the Pitmen. However, the inconsistent Mr Cairns once again stopped play and penalised the home defender for a mysterious offence which allowed the Pitmen to clear their lines, much to the home side's frustrations

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Russell and very much been a peripheral figure for the Pitmen, running down blind alleys and struggling to get any change out of the experienced Forest Green back line. His one glimpse of goal came on eighty-three minutes as he drifted past both Rob Cousins and Campbell but struck a firm shot into the Hednesford supporters gathered behind Spink's goal

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A minute later, Cooper incurred the wrath of Mr Cairns as he was shown the game's final yellow card of the afternoon for an overly-aggressive challenge on Dennis Bailey as he tried to win the ball from the veteran forward

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With three minutes of the game remaining and the Pitmen now looking fairly comfortable, Campbell picked up a pass from Bennett and turned past Bradley, but saw his low driven shot from fifteen yards out saved easily by Gayle

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The Hednesford stopper launched the ball forwards immediately and into the path of Davis, who suddenly found himself clear of a tiring and back-tracking Forest Green defence. The striker was forced wide by Spink's positioning, with the goalkeeper making a fine recovering save at the feet of his former Villa Park team-mate to deny him his hat-trick

 

Meechan fired inches wide of Gayle's post in the final minute of the game as Campbell's pass to Bennett played the former Southampton man into space behind Robinson, crossing for the striker who diverted the ball wide of the near post from eight yards out

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A well-deserved and timely first away win of the season for the Pitmen, one that lifts them up two places in the Nationwide Conference table into sixteenth place. Fellow strugglers Kettering Town - one of the six sides below them in the table - make the trip to Keys Park next Saturday with the Pitmen looking to build on this morale-boosting three points with another sequence of unbeaten games similar to that one in September, when Baldwin's men went five games without defeat

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Forest Green Rovers: Spink, Cousins, Hatswell, Norton, Clarke, Hedges (Dennis Bailey 62), Daley (Campbell 35), Drysdale ▆, Foster ▆, Meechan, Bennett (Thomas 62)       Subs Unused: Danny Bailey, Perrin

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Hednesford Town: Gayle, Bradley, Colkin ▆, Robinson, Lake, Sedgemore ©, Owen, Cooper ▆, Bonsall, Russell, Davis     Subs Unused: Pointon, Brown, Airdrie, Rhodes, Carney

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