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Paul Bagshaw

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Yeovil Town (H) 29.1.01

The Pitmen are now in serious trouble at the foot of the Nationwide Conference table as defeat this evening to a mid-table Leigh RMI leaves them three points from safety and without a win now in ten games

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The past fortnight had been a frustrating one for Neil Pointon's side, having seen last weekend's game at Stevenage Borough called off due to a waterlogged pitch, followed by their home game against Telford United going the same way after a late pitch inspection on Tuesday night. Pointon was still looking for his first win as the club's new manager and made five changes to the side that had started their last game - a 3-0 defeat at Southport in the F.A. Trophy - as Mark Gayle, Paul Bagshaw, Val Owen, Mark Cooper and Scott Goodwin replaced Stuart Ford, Pointon, Stuart Lake, Russell Bradley and Scott Bonsall respectively

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Unlike the Pitmen, eleventh-placed Leigh had made progress in the F.A. Trophy last weekend with a 1-0 win over UniBond Premier League side Hucknall Town at Hilton Park. Tuesday night has seen Steve Waywell's continue their recent good spell of form with another 1-0 win, this time over Northwich Victoria. Waywell made three changes to his side for today's trip down to South Staffordshire as former Hednesford loanee Dave Ridings came in for Robert Trees in midfield, Ged Kielty replaced Mick Morrell and top scorer Grant Black returned to the side ahead of Ricky Harris

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With the Keys Park pitch soft and digging up in places due to the recent spell of wet weather, players on both sides struggled to keep their feet in the early exchanges. Leigh's first sight at goal came in the sixth minute as Kielty chested down a long ball from Iain Swan and laid the ball off to Ian Monk, whose speculative effort from nearly thirty yards out sailed into the Heath Hayes terrace

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The Pitmen started to find their feet, both literally and in terms of the game as their passes started to stick and they stretched the Leigh defence down both flanks. Bagshaw's run on eleven minutes saw him drift past two challenges and pull the ball back into the path of Owen, whose weak shot from the edge of the penalty area failed to test veteran goalkeeper David Felgate

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The Pitmen's best chance of the opening spell came in the fifteenth minute as Micky Norbury's flick-on from a Jake Sedgemore pass found strike partner Neil Davis, who scuffed his shot wide of goal with only Felgate to beat from fifteen yards out

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Swan headed over the crossbar for Leigh three minutes later as he rose highest at the far post to meet Steve Jones's recycled corner kick but put the ball behind as Bradley put him under pressure

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Good play from Bagshaw once more on twenty minutes saw the former Barnsley man leave Dave German for dead down the right with some superb wing play, shimmying his way down the touchline and crossing for Norbury, who stretched to reach the ball but could only glance the ball well, well wide of goal from ten yards out

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Midway through the first half, a foul on Sedgemore from the experienced Andy Farrell handed the Pitmen a free-kick to the right-hand side of the Leigh penalty area; Sedgemore took the resultant kick himself and floated the ball into the box, where Felgate managed to get a fingertip on the ball to turn it behind for a corner kick ahead of Norbury

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Davis was denied a great chance for the hosts three minutes later as he raced onto Bagshaw's fine through ball but was pulled back by a late offside flag against him on the Wimblebury side of the ground for moving a little too early

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Sixty seconds later, a great run from Tom Griffiths saw the youngster drive into the penalty area from the left, taking a heavy final touch as he looked to shoot and saw the ball whipped away from him by Swan

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The Pitmen finally made their dominance pay with the game's opening goal just after the half-hour mark; Bagshaw's inswinging corner was met by Norbury, whose goalbound header was instinctively saved by Felgate on his line. The ball spooned up and into the path of the incoming Davis, who pounced in a crowded six-yard box to turn the ball home at the second attempt - it was the Pitmen's top scorer's first goal since November

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Sedgemore forced Felgate into another save on thirty-four minutes as he drove a low shot in at goal from twenty-five yards out that was tipped around the post by the former Bolton Wanderers stopper for yet another Hednesford corner kick

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Two minutes later, Owen won the ball from a dawdling Farrell and sent Bagshaw away once more down the right. The winger worked the ball onto his left foot and looked to cross for Davis, who just could not get a touch at the far post as the ball drifted away from his grasp

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With five minutes of the first half remaining, Gayle made a rare contribution to the game as the fielded a bobbling long-range shot from Black with ease at his near post after neat build-up play from the visitors involving Jones and Ridings to work the ball out to the striker on the right

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On forty-three minutes, skipper Lee Colkin exchanged passes with Griffiths and found Owen, who had space twenty-five yards from goal. Rather than play Davis in on goal, Owen elected to shoot from range and sliced his shot well wide of Felgate's right-hand post

 

It had been a dominant showing from the lowly Pitmen, who had been good value for their lead at the break and probably should have been more than just a goal ahead on the balance of play. Pointon made the unusual decision to send his side back out five minutes before the game restarted, with the Hednesford players undertaking a rigorous warm-up routine under Colin Lambert's supervision before the second half kicked off

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This seemed the benefit the hosts after the restart as they continued to dominate the game for large spells; Norbury headed over the crossbar once more on fifty minutes as he met Pointon's free-kick with a firm header from eight yards out that sailed over the woodwork

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Three minutes later, Colkin's quickly-taken free-kick down the left found Owen in acres of space thirty yards from goal, with the former Northwich man striking a low, bobbling shot at goal that was easily saved by Felgate

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Leigh were once more limited to half chances on the counter-attack and long-range efforts, with Ridings failing to test Gayle with a wayward strike on fifty-seven minutes after he had found a pocket of space twenty-five yards from goal

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Goodwin was the first player shown a yellow card by referee Mr Lewis on the hour mark as the midfielder was cautioned for a mistimed challenge on Jones in front of the two benches

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Felgate had to ensure that a miscued effort from Davis ended up on top of his net on sixty-three minutes as the striker's scuffed shot took a wicked deflection off the heel of substitute Trees and looped up towards goal, forcing the veteran into a tip over the bar

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A minute later, Sedgemore won the ball from Farrell and played the ever-willing Bagshaw into space down the right flank. He danced past German and crossed for Norbury, whose sidefooted effort flashed inches wide of the near post as Trees put him under pressure

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Despite the Pitmen dominating the game, Leigh dragged themselves back into the game with an equaliser against the run of play on sixty-nine minutes. The hosts struggled to clear their lines from a Black cross, with the ball eventually dropping to Kielty twelve yards out. The former Southport man took a touch before drilling the ball beyond the reach of Gayle to make it 1-1

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German was Leigh's first player to receive a yellow card just a minute later as he failed to keep pace with Bagshaw down the Hednesford right and brought the Pitmen's man of the match down to stop him from making further gains. Goodwin took the resultant free-kick and floated it to the far post, where Bradley could only head tamely behind

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Mr Lewis gave Bradley a dressing-down with fifteen minutes remaining as the veteran defender pulled Monk back by his shirt to stop the forward from entering the penalty area, receiving only a ticking off rather than a yellow card for the foul

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Leigh had been buoyed by their equaliser and were looking the more likely to take the points late on against a more hesitant and error-prone Hednesford defence. On seventy-eight minutes, Ridings exchanged passes with Kielty and played Black through on goal, only for a late offside flag to deny the former Chorley man a shot at goal against the advancing Gayle

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An ambitious lob from Jones had Gayle frantically scrambling backwards on eighty-one minutes as the striker brought down Farrell's pass and attempted a chip over the head of the goalkeeper from twenty yards out, only to see his effort dip narrowly over the crossbar

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Two minutes later, Colkin joined Goodwin in the referee's notebook as he gave away a free-kick in a dangerous position after fouling Ridings just outside the penalty area. Jones touched the resultant free-kick into the path of Kielty, whose low shot was deflected just wide of goal by Pointon for a Leigh corner kick

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A quick break from the Pitmen with five minutes remaining saw Bagshaw take the ball deep into the Leigh half and pull it back to Davis, whose first-time effort was blocked by Trees

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With the game seemingly drifting towards a draw, Leigh grabbed a winning goal with three minutes of the game remaining as Black was given far too much time and space down the left flank to cross for Jones, who turned the ball unchallenged past Gayle from close range. The striker carried his celebrations a little too far and was booked for taking his shirt off in the interim

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In the first minute of added time, the Pitmen desperately looked to level matters once more as a quick passing move from left to right found Bagshaw in space, whose pull-back to Owen saw the midfielder strike the base of the post with his low shot that beat Felgate to his right but not the woodwork

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There were muted boos around Keys Park at full time as the Pitmen were condemned to yet another home defeat and have now failed to win on their home turf since September 16th. They have yet another chance to end this miserable record on Monday night when they face high-flying Yeovil Town at Keys Park

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Hednesford Town: Gayle, Goodwin ▆, Bradley, Colkin © ▆, Griffiths, Haran, Owen, Sedgemore, Davis, Norbury (Russell 83), Bagshaw      Subs Unused: Bonsall, Lake, Pointon, Ford

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Leigh RMI: Felgate, Spooner, German ▆ (Harris 71), Swan (Trees 54), Farrell, Durkin, Ridings, Kielty, Jones ▆, Monk, Black      Subs Unused: Matthews, Critchley, Murphy

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