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Joel Taylor

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Runcorn Linnets (A) 24.8.24

The Pitmen crash to their first defeat of the new season this evening as a mixture of bad luck, yet more poor finishing and an outstanding defensive display from ten-man Kidsgrove in the second half earned the visitors all three points at Keys Park

 

Coming into tonight's game after four wins in a row, Hednesford fans were understandably confident of making it five out of five in tonight's return to league duty. Manager Steve King continued to rotate his players where possible, making four changes to the side that had beaten Worcester Raiders to progress in the F.A. Cup at the weekend; Jack Rose, Joel Taylor, Sion Spence and Jack Bearne all returned to the side ahead of Ryan Brown, Dan Sparkes, Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen and Zidan Sutherland. Jake Jervis's late red card at Nantwich ruled him out of tonight's game through suspension, with player/coach Matthew Barnes-Homer making up the substitutes

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Ninth-placed Kidsgrove had also made progress in the F.A. Cup at the weekend with a 6-0 hammering of Atherstone Town, with manager Anthony Malbon making one change to his Grove side for their trip to the south of the county as Shaun Rhodes replaced Kyle Stubbs in defence. Also present in the away defence was the familiar figure of veteran centre-back Ritchie Sutton, who had played fifteen times for the Pitmen last term

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In front of yet another astounding Keys Park crowd of over 1,000, the in-form hosts made a flying start to proceedings as they grabbed the evening's opening goal in just the fourth minute; some attritional football in midfield saw both sides scrap for the loose ball and fail to get hold of possession until Spence picked the pocket of Jack Bromfield and played the ball to Omar Holness, whose chip over the top sent Bearne away down the left. the flying winger cut the ball back into the penalty area and behind both covering Kidsgrove defenders, where Rob Stevenson was on hand to fire home from ten yards out to register his first goal for the club since his summer move from Leek Town

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Bearne could have doubled the home side's tally with a quickfire second just two minutes later as Rose's long punt forward was flicked on by Stevenson and into the path of Bearne, whose half-volley from the edge of the penalty area took a slight nick off Rhodes and narrowly skimmed the top of the crossbar, with Kidsgrove goalkeeper Kieran Harrison rooted to the spot

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Kidsgrove's first sighting at goal came in the eighth minute as veteran Matt Rhead's knock-down was latched onto by Robbie Hatton to the left-hand side of the penalty area, only for the ex-Witton man to pull his effort well wide of Rose's right-hand post

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Bearne was enjoying the freedom of the Keys Park pitch against Harry Goode down thre left for the hosts, jinking his way past the full-back once more on twelve minutes before delivering a superb cross to the far post that Dom McHale was inches away from turning home as he arrived a second too late into the six-yard box

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The Pitmen's pressure continued through Dan Trickett-Smith, who went close to his first Hednesford goal on seventeen minutes as he seized upon a lazy lay-off from Aaron Bott and took the ball into the box after turning past Rhodes, only to pull his effort across goal just wide of Harrison's left-hand post

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Kidsgrove continued to struggle to assert themselves in the final third of the pitch, seemingly reliant on the portly figure of 40-year-old Rhead to gain yards with knock-downs to the incoming midfielders. A corner kick from Bromfield on twenty-one minutes was swung into the six-yard box, aiming for the figure of Rhead but was cleared by a timely dipping header from Kory Roberts

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Rhead picked up the game's first booking three minutes later as referee Mr Walker showed the former Lincoln City striker a yellow card for presumably saying a little too much to the official as the Pitmen took their time in lining up a free-kick

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Another run from Bearne forced Goode into action on twenty-seven minutes as the defender hauled the winger down as Bearne looked to play the ball past him. Trickett-Smith looked to play Blaine Rowe into the penalty area with a quickly-taken ball but caught the right-back in an offside position in the process

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Successive Kidsgrove corners just after the half-hour mark gave Rose and his defenders some issues as they struggled to clear their lines, with one such ball in testing the reflexes of the on-loan stopper as he managed to hang on to Bromfield's deep cross ahead of Sutton at his far post

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Yet more set-pieces followed for Grove as Ernest Ofosu earned them a free-kick in a dangerous position to the right of the Hednesford penalty area on thirty-seven minutes after a foul on him by Elliott Johnson. A clever ball into the box looked to pick out Bott at the far post, but the striker could only tamely turn the ball into the side netting as Roberts put him under pressure

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Roberts could have doubled the Pitmen's lead at the other end three minutes later as Trickett-Smith picked the centre-back out with a corner kick played into the near post, where Roberts headed goalwards but was to be denied by a brilliant save on the line by the stopper, pushing the ball away low down to his right

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With half-time starting to loom large, Bearne could have grabbed a timely second goal on forty-four minutes after Stevenson had latched onto a long ball forward from Johnson and taken it around Harrison, who had gone walkabout on the edge of his area, before pulling it back to Bearne. The winger jinked his way to the byeline and looked to pull the trigger, but was denied by Rhodes' sliding tackle to put the ball behind for a corner kick

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In added time at the end of the half, Kidsgrove were dealt a further blow as they were reduced to ten men; Rhead looked to latch onto a long ball from Harrison but missed the ball and in doing so caught Rowe square in the face. Having already been booked, it was an easy decision for Mr Walker to make to show the striker a second yellow card and send him off

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It had been a controlled and confident first-half display from the Pitmen, having stolen into the lead early on and dictating the tempo of the game for long periods of the half. They will have been confident of finishing the job in the second half now that their visitors had been reduced to ten men, although events were about to take an unexpected turn in the second forty-five minutes...

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With only ten men on the pitch, the usual early fightback from Kidsgrove at the start of the second half never really materialised as the hosts controlled possession in the early stages, pulling their opponents around the pitch with some neat and tidy football that would not look out of place at a much higher level. McHale's dribbling ability got him into a good position on fifty minutes as he picked the ball up from Holness on the right and weaved his way past two challenges before electing to take a third player on rather than shoot, allowing Rhodes to make the block and clear the danger
 

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More McHale magic three minutes later saw him drift across the face of the Kidsgrove penalty area as he looked to fashion a chance for himself onto his favoured left foot before Sutton managed to make the challenge

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Malbon chose to change things up for the visitors on fifty-four minutes with a triple tactical change; Rhodes was replaced by Kyle Diskin, Hatton made way for Stubbs and the disappointing Bott - a goalscorer in this fixture almost a year to the day last season - made way for the pacy Kingsley Adu-Gyamfi. This saw Grove line up with two banks of four in front of Harrison and Adu-Gymafi playing as the lone striker on the counter

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The Pitmen did have the ball in the net again on fifty-seven minutes as Johnson's superb angled ball forwards found Bearne in space down the left, with the winger pulling the ball back into the area where Stevenson was on hand to slot into the empty net from close-range. However, the striker had moved a little too early in the move and was flagged offside by the assistant on the main stand side

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Despite the Pitmen looking incredibly comfortable and having all the bases covered, Kidsgrove found a way back into the game with an equaliser completely out of the blue on sixty-three minutes. Sutton's long-ball forward was laid into the path of Adu-Gyamfi by Nat Morley, with the substitute trying his luck from twenty yards out with a superb long-range effort that beat Rose and nestled into the net via a deflection off the goalkeeper's left-hand post

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Back came the shell-shocked Pitmen as McHale brilliantly slotted the ball through the eye of a needle with a fine pass into the feet of Spence on sixty-three minutes, requiring a last-ditch tackle from Sutton to deny the Welshman a clear strike at goal

 

Harrison denied Stevenson a goal on sixty-six minutes as he managed to get his legs behind the striker's low shot from fifteen yards out and divert it behind for a corner kick

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Bearen was also denied by Kidsgrove simply throwing bodies in front of the ball on seventy-one minutes after McHale's clever run and cross from the right found the winger in space, with Bearne taking a touch before firing in a shot at goal that was blocked by the heel of Sutton, although the 38-year-old didn't know a lot about it in truth

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The Pitmen looked to make tactical changes of their own on seventy-two minutes as Stevenson was replaced by Manny Duku up front and the more attack-minded Sutherland came on in place of Holness

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With time starting to tick away and the Pitmen becoming frustrated at not being able to break down the wall of blue and red shirts in front of them, they resorted to some aimless shooting in spells as Rowe drove an effort from long-range high and wide of goal on seventy-four minutes after more McHale trickery to set him up

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A minute later, McHale forced Harrison into yet another save with his feet as he drifted in from the right taking the ball past four Kidsgrove players before firing in a low shot that the portly stopper managed to divert away with his standing foot

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Adu-Gyamfi was causing the Pitmen more issues with his pace on the counter again, making another run forward on seventy-seven minutes before striking a volley from range just over Rose's crossbar

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It was one-way traffic once more as the home side looked for that elusive second goal, peppering the Kidsgrove goal with shots. Sutherland went to ground just inside the penalty area on seventy-nine minutes under a challenge from Stubbs, but his half-hearted appeals were waved away by Mr Walker. McHale wasn't happy with this decision and was promptly booked for taking his protests too far by the match official

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The Pitmen were made to pay a heavy price for their over-indulgent second-half display on eighty-four minutes, as the ten men of Kidsgrove incredibly took the lead. Spence brought down the flying Adu-Gyamfi twenty yards from the Hednesford goal, earning himself a booking in the process.  Diskin took the resultant free-kick and cleverly rolled the ball into the path of Adu-Gyamfi, who turned it past Rose from close range with a set-piece straight off the training ground to silence the Keys Park crowd

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Roared on by the Heath Hayes terrace, the final ten minutes of the game was spent largely inside the Kidsgrove penalty area as the home side looked to rescue something from a game they had been in complete control of until Adu-Gyamfi's equaliser. On eighty-seven minutes, patient build-up play involving Johnson, Trickett-Smith and Spence finally broke the lines and played McHale in, only for his angled drive at goal to be turned away by Harrison at his near post

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Another half-hearted shout for a penalty on eighty-nine minutes came from the crowd and Hednesford players after Rowe had been sent tumbling under a challenge from Morley as the pair clashed on the right-hand byeline. Again, nothing was forthcoming from Mr Walker and Sutton was able to clear

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With the game now drifting into a long spell of added time due to several Kidsgrove players blatantly time-wasting throughout the second half, McHale came within the width of the post of equalising for the hosts after turning and twisting on the edge of the box before firing in a low shot at goal that beat Harrison on this occasion but came back off the base of the goalkeeper's left-hand post

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The Pitmen's final change of the evening came in the second minute of added time as the excellent Taylor was taken off and replaced by Sparkes at left-back

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A minute later, Trickett-Smith's corner kick played into the near post caused an almightly goalmouth scramble as Duku, Spence and Roberts all tried to turn the ball home before Harrison punched the ball off the line and into the path of Trickett-Smith, whose looping header at goal came back off the crossbar

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​Kidsgrove looked to run down the clock even more deep into added time with a late change as Morley slowly ambled off and was replaced by Keiran Lazenby

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The final whistle was greeted with ecstasy by the away side and their small; band of fans housed in the Hednesford end of the ground, having somehow managed to hold on in the face of extreme Hednesford pressure and claim all three points. The hosts will be bitterly disappointed at the way their winning run has come to an end, having completely dominated the game and having nothing to show for it. The first two home league games have given King and his team a real insight into the rigours and expectations of the NPLW, where passion, commitment and hard work can easily trump quality football if you allow it to over ninety minutes. The games continue to come thick and fast for the Pitmen at this time of the season, with a trip to the much-fancied Runcorn Linnets next on the calendar on Saturday afternoon as they look to get back to winning ways against a Linnets side that has made a slow start to the new campaign

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Hednesford Town: Rose, Rowe, Taylor (Sparkes 90), Roberts, Johnson ©, Holness (Sutherland 72), Trickett-Smith, Spence ▆, Stevenson (Duku 72), McHale ▆, Bearne     Subs Unused: Barnes-Homer, Alamu-Tajudeen

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Kidsgrove Athletic: Harrison, Goode, Morley (Lazenby 90), Shotton, Rhodes (Diskin 54), Sutton, Bromfield ©, Ofosu, Rhead ▆ ▆ (45), Bott (Adu-Gyamfi 54), Hatton (Stubbs 54)    Sub Unused: Allen

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