The Pitmen have to dig deep to earn themselves a point at Top Field this afternoon, taking the lead in the second half through Kyle Bennett but almost immediately allowing host Hitchin to level matters

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Steve Burr's side were still smarting at the late, late goal conceded at Basford United in midweek, halting their mini-unbeaten run of two games in the process and dumping the Pitmen back to the foot of the Southern Premier League Central table in the process. There was one change to the side that had started the defeat at Basford as Ryan Nesbitt was restored to the starting XI in place of Harvey Portman; this saw Adam Livingstone dropped back into a left wing-back position. New signing Stanley Obinna-Anaebonam - signed yesterday from Truro City - had to be content with a place amongst the substitutes

 

Hitchin sat in fourteenth in the table at the start of proceedings, having seen their good start to the season dissipate with a succession of defeats in recent games, including a 3-0 loss at home to Leiston on Monday night. Long-serving Hitchin manager Mark Burke made three changes to his side for today’s game as Bradley Bell, loanee Ciaren Jones and Steve Cawley replaced the injured Kye Tearle, Stan Georgiou and Diogo Freitas-Gouveia

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A good Top Field crowd greeted the two sides at kick-off, with the leaves now starting to fall from the trees that surround the ground and continuing to fall on the turf. An early whipped-in cross from Livingstone in the second minute was aimed at the run of the incoming Leroy Lita but was hacked clear in a timely manner by Josh Coldicott-Stevens

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Lita was denied once more a minute later as another darting run into the box from the veteran marksman was blocked by a clearance by auxiliary full-back Bell, who was deputising in place of the injured Teale

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The Pitmen's bright start continued with a flowing move through midfield involving Todd Parker and Kyle Bennett in the fifth minute, playing Lewis Ison into acres of space down the right. Rather than send over a cross, Ison elected to shoot from range but lifted his effort high over the crossbar as he got his laces underneath the ball

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Hitchin's first sight at Tiernan Brooks's goal came in the sixth minute as a delightful touch from the experienced Steve Cawley played Bell into space to the right-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area. The defender took a touch before pulling the ball across the penalty area towards Ashley Hay, only to be denied by the reflexes of Brooks to claim the ball at his near post

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A quick counter-attack from Hitchin two minutes later saw Hay make a darting run down the right to latch onto a long ball forwards, whipping in a teasing cross to the far post where Malaki Black arrived late on the scene; Ison spotted the danger early and put in a timely challenge to clear the ball from the full-back's clutches before he could shoot

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Skipper Ben Bailey had to make a risky and timely challenge to deny Hay in the twelfth minute as the former Biggleswade Town striker was played through on goal by more intelligent play from Cawley but was denied by Bailey's sliding challenge on him at the last second, clearing the danger before the striker could shoot. There were muted calls on the open terrace behind Brooks's goal for a penalty kick that were ignored by referee Mr Torz-Brown

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Lita's commitment to the cause was in full evidence on fourteen minutes as he took a goalbound shot from Toby Syme full in the face after Stephen  Gleeson's corner was rolled into the path of the defender, whose first-time effort cannoned off the head of the veteran striker from close quarters. Luta received a spell of treatment from therapist Shannon Kincade before continuing with the game

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Brooks was proving a formidable barrier for the Hitchin defence, claiming another ball confidently ahead of Hay in the sixteenth minute as Black's run and cross looked to pick Hay out in the six-yard box

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Lita's first sight at goal came sixty seconds later as a chip over the top from Chris Clements found the Pitmen's top scorer lurking inside the penalty area; his shot was well saved by goalkeeper Charlie Horlock, who claimed the ball at the second attempt before Joe Cuff could seize upon the rebound

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Cuff was proving to be a tricky customer for the Hitchin defence, testing the reflexes of Horlock on twenty minutes with a curling effort from the right-hand corner of the Hitchin penalty area that lacked power and was easily claimed by the Canaries' captain

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Coldicott-Stevens was on the end of a crunching tackle from Ison midway through the first period, leaving the midfielder in a heap on the left flank after a clash between the pair. Coldicott-Stevens received treatment and gingerly got back to his feet as Gleeson whipped in the resultant free-kick and found the head of on-loan Jones - who had returned to the club from Brackley Town this week - whose header was narrowly over the crossbar

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Coldicott-Stevens went to ground again within ninety seconds of the free-kick being taken and was eventually forced off holding his groin, being replaced by Rio Dasilva

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Another Gleeson free-kick on twenty-eight minutes - awarded in pretty much the same place as his previous one after Clements had brought down Hay - was cleared by Keith Lowe on this occasion but only as far as Bell, whose looping half-volley from thirty yards out dipped narrowly over Brooks's crossbar

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Cuff created a superb opening for himself on the half-hour mark as more wing wizardry from the former Stafford man saw him drift inside from the right as he took Bennett's pass into the penalty area, jinking his way past three players before shooting low at goal from ten yards out, prompting Horlock into a stop with his legs in the centre of the goal. Either side of the stopper and Cuff would have made it 1-0 for sure

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Neat approach play from Hitchin saw them create the game's best opening so far on thirty-four minutes as the Canaries broke down the right with Bell, whose low ball into Cawley was backheeled straight into the path of the incoming Black - his sidefooted effort across goal beat Brooks at full stretch but narrowly missed the far post

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A minute later, more excellent play from former Hemel Hempstead Town man Cawley saw him control the ball well with his back to goal and lay it off to Gleeson, whose lay-off to Dasilva saw the substitute drive a right-footed effort high over the crossbar from just outside the Hednesford penalty area

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Dasilva's introduction was giving the Pitmen a different headache, as the player was proving more attack-minded than his predecessor Coldicott-Stevens. On thirty-eight minutes, he picked up the ball on the right and danced past Livingstone before crossing in the direction of Cawley, only for another commanding save from Brooks at his near post to claim the ball ahead of the 31-year-old

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Hitchin were finishing the half strongly, forcing the Pitmen back into their own third as they looked for that all-important opener just before half-time. Brooks made a superb stop to deny them the game's first goal on forty-one minutes as Bell's cross was cleared back to him by the visitors on the right flank, with the second cross headed goalwards by Finley Wilkinson - his glancing header looked to be heading for the top corner of the net before Brooks made a superb flying stop to tip the ball over the crossbar

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In the final minute of the first period, the Pitmen worked the ball patiently down the left through Bennett and Livingstone, with the Scotsman's cross into the near post finding the head of Lita, whose downward header lacked power and drifted just wide of the post

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With four of the five minutes of added time gone, Hitchin had another great chance to score late on in the first period as Wilkinson supplied Bell with the ball on the right, with his cross unselfishly headed back cross goal by Cawley at the far post to Hay, who miscued his first-time effort and skewed his shot wide of goal. Perhaps Cawley could have been a little more selfish and headed towards goal as he was unchallenged at the far post and could have made Brooks work from eight yards out

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Much in the way that Tuesday night's game had played out at Basford, the Pitmen could go in at half-time content at being on level terms but perhaps a little concerned at the home side having the far better chances of the game and more consistently so. Burr looked to make a couple of tactical tweaks at the break in a bid to improve his side's fortunes in the second half with Livingstone getting forwards a little more from left wing-back and the anonymous Nesbitt offering more in an attacking role

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Hitchin started the second well, with Lowe making an early intervention just thirty seconds after the restart to slide in and deny Dasilva a clear shot at goal, conceding a corner kick in the process

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On forty-nine minutes, Hay made a darting run down the left flank as he beat Ison to the ball, crossing towards the incoming Cawley but seeing his effort eventually cleared by Bailey

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The Pitmen's tactical tweaks started to come into effect as they came into the game with more of the ball in an attacking third of the pitch. On fifty-three minutes, Livingstone made a superb run to the left-hand byeline and pulled the ball across the face of the Hitchin six-yard box, inches away from the boots of both Cuff and Lita who had both arrived late in the penalty area

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A moment of inspiration from Bennett finally opened the scoring two minutes later, as the former Portsmouth man brilliantly executed a free-kick from the left to give the Pitmen the lead; Nesbitt was brought down out towards the corner flag on the left flank, allowing Bennett to spot the ball up and deliver a delightful curling ball into the danger zone that appeared to take a light touch off the head of Gleeson and beat Horlock at his near post

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However, the Pitmen failed to make the most of their narrow lead as they conceded a sloppy equaliser within ninety seconds of Bennett putting them ahead. Dasilva took the ball into the box before playing Bell into space on the overlap down the right - his low cross was parried away by Brooks before running to Hay, whose follow-up shot was blocked by Ison on the line. With the ball still alive and in play, Black managed to squeeze the ball past Lowe and Bailey from an angle, finding the roof of the net via a touch off the Hednesford skipper en route to goal

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This gave Hitchin confidence once more, with Wilkinson linking up well with Lewis Barker on the hour mark to create an opening just outside the penalty area. Barker took a touch but lifted his effort well wide of Brooks's upright as Bailey looked to close him down

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After the excitement of two goals so close together, the Pitmen looked to take the sting out of the game in the following five minutes, calming play down and dictating the tempo of play, thus not allowing Hitchin to build up a head of steam. On sixty-five minutes, Lowe found himself in space thirty yards from the Hitchin goal, sending over a dangerous-looking cross towards Lita that was headed away from danger by Jones

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Four minutes later, Dasilva got on the end of another good move from the hosts but got his angles all wrong twenty yards from goal, shooting well wide of the target with a wild effort

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The Pitmen made their first change of the afternoon with twenty minutes remaining as Clements - still not looking match fit or the convincing presence many had hoped for - was replaced by the fit-again Luke Rowe

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Hay was left frustrated by a late offside flag against him with the next phase of play as he made a late run in behind Low to get on the end of Gleeson's pass, only for the assistant on the far side to flag the striker offside

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Jones wasted another great chance to deliver a ball into the box for Hitchin on seventy-two minutes as he completely scuffed his cross out of play from the edge of the penalty area with his weaker foot after Dasilva had played him into acres of space on the overlap down the right

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Gleeson was lucky to escape a yellow card from Mr Torz-Brown with fifteen minutes remaining as he went steaming into Rowe just inside the Hednesford half and flattened the former Redditch United man with a late tackle. Fortunately for the former Eire International, the referee took a lenient view and a talking-to was to suffice for the veteran midfielder

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The Pitmen's second change of the afternoon came a minute later as new boy Obinna-Anaebonam was handed his Hednesford debut by Burr as he replaced the hard-working but out-of-luck Nesbitt

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Brooks once again left Hitchin frustrated as he made a good stop on seventy-nine minutes, coming out of his goal to make a smothering save at the feet of Dasilva to reach Bell's angled through ball ahead of the substitute

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This was to prove to be Bell's last involvement in the game as the impressive full-back was forced off the pitch on eighty-one minutes after picking up a knock and was replaced by youngster Georgiou

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A frenetic final ten minutes saw the game yo-yo from end to end as both sides looked to claim the three points for themselves; on eighty-two minutes, Cuff's cross was deflected into the path of Lita by Jones, with the veteran turning quickly on the edge of the box before lifting his shot just over Horlock's crossbar

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Sixty seconds later, Black made a darting run into the box down the left before taking a tumble under a challenge from Ison; Mr Torz-Brown took a long, hard look at the incident but felt that the Hitchin man had gone to ground a little too easily and continued with play

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Aneabonam almost marked his debut with a dream goal for the Pitmen on eighty-four minutes as Lita and Parker combined in midfield to send the winger away down the left flank, out-sprinting Syme before firing in a low shot at goal from twelve yards out that Horlock saved with his legs at his near post

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From Parker's resultant corner, Jones got a touch on the ball with his head and almost glanced the ball into his own net, watching it drift just wide of the target. Parker's follow-up corner was turned home from close range by Ison, but a foul on Barker in the build-up ruled the goal out and awarded Hitchin a free-kick

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Another brilliant last-ditch challenge from Bailey denied Dasilva yet again on eighty-six minutes, sliding in to prod the ball out of play and deny the substitute a certain shot at goal from twelve yards out

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A route one boot up the pitch from Horlock on eighty-seven minutes saw Hay latch onto the bouncing ball ahead of Lowe but was to be denied by Brooks once more as the on-loan stopper stood his ground and made the save

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With the game heading into added time, there were still chances at both ends to win it for both sides. In the third added minute, a quick breakaway from Hitchin saw Gleeson take the ball down the left and sent over a fine cross that was initially split by Brooks, who just managed to recover the ball at the second attempt before Symes could turn the rebound home

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In the fifth minute of added time, Aneabonam broke quickly down the left once more and pulled the ball back towards Lita from the byeline, but again the striker failed to get on the end a tantalising ball in that was begging to be turned home from six yards out

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The Pitmen will be pleased with being able to hold onto a point following Tuesday night's late consolation, which, coupled with defeat for AFC Rushden & Diamonds against Redditch United, brings Burr's team within two points of their nearest challengers and only three points behind Barwell in the table. However, it's a tough ask for the Pitmen next as they play host to league leaders Tamworth on Tuesday night in what will be the start of five successive home games; you feel that a good showing in this run of games on their own turf will be crucial to the Pitmen's survival hopes going into a tough-looking November schedule

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Hitchin Town: Horlock ©, Bell (Georgiou 81), Black, Syme, Barker, Jones, Coldicott-Stevens (Dasilva 27), Gleeson, Hay (Freitas-Gouveia 88), Cawley, Wilkinson       Subs Unused: Chambers-Parillon, Snelus

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Hednesford Town: Brooks, Ison, Livingstone, Bailey ©, Lowe, Clements (Rowe 70), Cuff, Parker, Lita, Bennett, Nesbitt (Anaebonam 76)      Subs Unused: Riley, McQuilkin, Clayton

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