Despite playing the majority of the game with a man advantage, the Pitmen are eased out of today's encounter by hosts Ilkeston courtesy of two goals in each half, condemning Danny Glover's side to heavy back-to-back away defeats in the visitors

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Last weekend had seen the Pitmen's home game with Needham Market called off due to a waterlogged pitch, with other results elsewhere finally condemning the club to relegation to step four without them kicking a ball. Glover's men made the short journey across to Derbyshire looking to salvage some pride from what has been a rotten season on and off the pitch for the club. Glover elected to leave himself out of the side for today's game as he made three changes to the XI that had started their last match - the 5-1 defeat at Barwell - as Zac Hartley came back into the side in place of Ethan Patterson, on-loan Fenton Heard replaced Glover and Ben Kaninda was preferred to Kemy Agustien

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Ilkeston - still harbouring vague and fanciful ambitions of gate-crashing the play-offs but being reliant on other results going their way - had seen their hopes hit last week after losing 2-1 at Alvechurch, with Ilson manager Jamie Ward making two changes to his side for their return home as Mason O'Malley and Tyree Wilson came into the side ahead of Tom Hilton and the recently-departed Burton Albion loanee Finn Delap

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It was a beautifully sunny and reasonably warm early Spring day, with both sides well represented on the terraces amongst the impressive 600-plus for what was essentially a dead rubber. The Pitmen started proceedings well, with the ball being worked down the left early on to Stanley Asomugha via Steph Morley on several occasions in the first five minutes. A slalom-like run from the former Alvechurch winger in the fifth minute saw him turn ex-Hednesford loanee Jack Thomas inside out and look to pull the ball back into the path of Jordan Graham, only for Kieran Fenton to cut the ball out and turn it behind for a corner kick

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Another good run from Asomugha three minutes later saw him take the ball down the left-hand touchline and toward the corner flag, clipping the ball past Fenton but again failing to find any of his team-mates as his low cross was hacked clear

 

The dangerous Lita looked to add to his thirteen goals for Ilson so far this year as a well-worked move down the left saw Henri Wilder's low cross volleyed high over the crossbar by the veteran striker, doing well to react to the ball was slightly behind him as he entered the penalty area

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A minute later, skipper Steph Morley delivered an unwinding corner kick from the right-hand side that was glanced across the face of goal by Graham at the near post but was cleared by the hosts before anyone in sky blue could react

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Lita went even closer to opening the scoring for the hosts on eleven minutes as he ran in behind the square Hednesford defence to latch onto a pass from Wilson, taking the ball around the despairing dive of former team-mate Oliver Basey but seeing his angled effort strike the outside of the goalkeeper's right-hand post

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The end-to-end nature of the game continued as Asomugha broke quickly down the left as he picked up Harvey Portman's pass on thirteen minutes, making his way into the Ilkeston penalty area from the left but being his shot blocked by Oliver Brown-Hill

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Good play from the home side on seventeen minutes saw Wilson and Lita's hold-up play set up Tristian Bennett down the left, whose lofted cross into the six-yard box was headed away in a timely manner by Kaninda

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Asomugha earned the Pitmen a free-kick in a dangerous position to the left-hand side of the Ilkeston penalty area on nineteen minutes after being brought down by Thomas. Morley took the resultant kick and floated in a teasing ball that Graham was inches away from connecting with at the far post as it skipped across the face of goal

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That man Lita continued his white-hot run in front of goal since leaving the Pitmen for Ilkeston in January as he grabbed his fourteenth goal in fourteen starts for the hosts with the opening goal of the afternoon shortly before the midway point of the first half; Bennett picked the ball up out on the left and was given time and space to pick out the 38-year-old, whose firm downward header beat Basey from close-range

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However, the hosts were hit with a blow two minutes after taking the lead as they were reduced to ten men; Heard looked to get on the end of a pass from McQuilkin, making a strong run through the centre of the Ilkeston defence. Brown-Hill came across and brought the young midfielder down before he could break into the penalty area, leaving the referee with no option but to send the defender off with him being the last man

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Morley spotted down the ball and curled the resultant free-kick over the heads of the Ilkeston wall, but saw his dipping effort ripple the top of Harrison Foulkes's netting as it went narrowly over

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Despite this, the Pitmen failed to take advantage of their extra man as Ilkeston tightened up and played on the counter-attack with Lita the lone attacker up against Kaninda and Portman. Indeed, it looked more likely that Ilkeston would extend their lead as they continued to threaten down the left through Bennett, who played a quick one-two with Wilson on twenty-six minutes before firing high and wide of goal from long-range

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Thomas went close for the hosts on the half-hour mark as he picked a loose clearance from Portman up thirty yards from goal and stuck a curling shot at goal that Basey did well to claim on his goal line

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Graham did well to get his head to a Morley corner kick on thirty-four minutes but glanced his weak header straight into the arms of Foulkes as he escaped the attentions of Fenton at the near post

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Todd Parker and McQuilkin were seeing plenty of the ball in midfield but were lacking in options going forwards, with this issue summed up three minutes later as Parker's through ball towards Hartley on the right ran harmlessly away for a goal kick

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A deep cross from Bennett on thirty-eight minutes was headed away by Portman but straight into the feet of Remaye Campbell, who took a touch too many as he shaped to shoot and allowed McQuilkin to recover and make the tackle

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With half-time fast approaching at the game fairly well-balanced, Ilkeston put themselves firmly in control as they grabbed a second goal of the afternoon with the last meaningful action of the half through skipper Kieran Fenton. A corner kick on the right-hand side was swung in by Thomas and found the Ilkeston defender unmarked, with Fenton diving in and heading firmly beyond the reach of Basey at the near post to make it 2-0 at the break to the hosts

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The Pitmen had once again summed up their current predicament in forty-five minutes; plenty of effort, lots of time on the ball but nothing to show for it as their hosts had shown more quality in the final third then they had over the course of the game so far

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Campbell went within a matter of inches of increasing Ilkeston's lead just a couple of minutes after the restart as O'Malley's deep free-kick from the left caught the Pitmen ball-watching, allowing the former Notts County youngster to glance a diving header just wide of Basey's left-hand post

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At the other end of the pitch, Graham went close for the Pitmen on forty-nine minutes as Hartley did well down the right, holding off Wilder's challenge and whipping a cross that was headed agonisingly wide of the post by the on-loan Kettering Town man

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Graham created another chance for himself two minutes later as he picked up McQuilkin's pass in midfield and drove forwards before firing in a rising shot from twenty-five yards out that Foulkes watched over his crossbar

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Basey was alert to the danger created by Campbell sixty seconds later, making a smart save down at his near post to deny the forward after he had turned quickly just inside the penalty area to get goal-side of Kaninda and fired in a low shot at goal

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The Pitmen were seeing plenty of the ball once more, playing some neat triangles in midfield and working the ball out to Asomugha whenever possible. A quickly-taken Parker corner on fifty-three minutes was worked to Hartley, whose powerful low shot from an angle was saved by Foulkes

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Foulkes was on hand to make an excellent save to deny Graham once more on fifty-eight minutes as the striker controlled Parker's pass well before striking a low shot at goal that forced the young stopper into a flying save to push the ball away

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A timely block from former Tamworth man Wilder denied Hartley a glorious chance to reduce the deficit on the hour mark as the left-back threw himself into the path of the ball to divert the Hednesford number seven's well-struck effort away from goal

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Patient build-up play from the Pitmen five minutes later saw Asomugha work the ball down the left before cutting it back to McQuilkin, whose rising shot failed to test Foulkes as it sailed over the crossbar from twenty-five yards out

 

The Pitmen made a double attacking substitution on sixty-eight minutes with the introduction of Chay Tilt for the infuriatingly inconsistent Asomugha out on the left flank, whilst player/manager Glover replaced Heard, who had looked a little out of his depth up against the two tall, powerful Ilkeston centre-backs. Ilkeston also made their first change of the afternoon at this point as Harley Kozluk replaced Wilson

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An ambitious effort from O'Malley failed to test Basey on seventy minutes as the on-loan Scunthorpe United player struck a wayward effort from range that took a nick off Kaninda and earned the hosts an unexpected corner kick

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O'Malley turned provider for Fenton two minutes later as he swung in another deep corner kick to the far post, where the burly Ilkeston skipper headed the ball straight into the arms of Basey

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The final Hednesford substitution of the afternoon came in defence on seventy-four minutes as Yeomans was replaced by Ethan Patterson, meaning a shift in formation with Hartley dropping back to a right-wing-back role

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Tilt's first real involvement saw the diminutive winger make his way down the left flank on seventy-eight minutes and cut the ball back from the byeline, where Foulkes was on hand to deny Glover as he claimed the cross at his near post

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Fenton put the game to bed once and for all with eight minutes remaining as he grabbed a second goal of the afternoon with another header from a corner kick, rising highest at the far post to head O'Malley's deep cross past Basey from close range. Dreadful defending from the visitors, who failed to lay a glove on the skipper as he rose unchallenged to head home. It had been easy to forget that the hosts had been playing with ten men for the last hour of play as they had dealt with the Hednesford threat with relative ease

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This goal allowed Ilkeston to make a double change on eighty-four minutes and rest two of their key players as Lita and Bennett were replaced by Latrell Patterson and ex-Hednesford man Mitch Woakes respectively

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Tilt's trickery earned the Pitmen a free-kick on the edge of the Ilkeston penalty area on eighty-seven minutes, taking the kick himself and curling a great shot around the wall that forced Foulkes into a fine full-length stop to his right to push the ball away

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Tilt reduced the deficit and gave the healthy away following something to cheer at long last with a consolation goal on eighty-nine minutes, drifting inside from the left flank and sending over a cross to the far post that arced over the outstretched arm of Foulkes and sailed into the corner of the net via a touch off the far post

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Alas, the Pitmen's brief moment of joy was cancelled out within sixty seconds as Ilkeston restored their three-goal lead through Latrell Patterson, who was played through on goal by Dec Eratt-Thompson's reverse pass that caught the Pitmen flat-footed, allowing the substitute to fire the ball into the far corner of the net from a tight angle

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Kozluk - the son of former Sheffield United and Ilson defender Rob - was booked late on for the hosts for a mistimed challenge on Tilt that sent the winger sprawling down the left

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Another spirited display from the visitors, but as has been the way for much of Glover's brief reign the spirit and hard work isn't matched by the quality at his disposal - particularly in attacking areas - to make the difference in some of their games. Glover will point to several good chances that came and went for his side this afternoon that they failed to take, as well as the good approach play from the likes of Parker, McQuilkin and Asomugha that failed to deliver the final killer ball to the forwards. The down-and-out Pitmen face three home games in succession in the next twelve days as they play host to Rushall Olympic on Bank Holiday Monday, followed by Kings Langley next Saturday and finally Needham Market the following Thursday night

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Ilkeston Town: Foulkes, Thomas, Wilder, O'Malley, Eratt-Thompson, Fenton ©, Campbell, Brown-Hill ▆ (23), Lita (L. Patterson 85), Wilson (Kozluk 68 ▆), Bennett (Woakes 85)       Subs Unused: Hilton, Woodward

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Hednesford Town: Basey, Yeomans (E. Patterson 74), Morley ©, McQuilkin, Kaninda, Portman, Hartley, Parker, Graham, Heard (Glover 68), Asomugha (Tilt 68)      Sub Unused: Agustien, Williams

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