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Jake Jervis

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W W W

 

Worcester Raiders (H) 17.8.24

The Pitmen make it back-to-back league wins at the start of the new campaign as they produce a professional, controlled performance to ease past Nantwich Town at a rainy Swansway Stadium this evening

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Saturday's 3-2 win over Vauxhall Motors was perhaps a little less comfortable than Steve King's side should have made it with a couple of lax moments in defence at set-pieces. King made three changes to his side for their trip up to Cheshire this evening as Jake Jervis returned to the side in place of Dom McHale, Omar Holness made his first start for the club as he came in for the injured Simeon Maye in midfield and Dan Trickett-Smith was also handed a full debut as he was preferred to Zidan Sutherland

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Nantwich - tipped by many to do well this season after a summer of impressive captures - had started the season with two defeats, having been knocked out of the F.A. Cup by Sheffield FC and losing to 2-0 at Bootle on the opening day of the Northern Premier League West season on Saturday. Manager Paul Carden elected to make one change to his Dabbers side for their first home game of the new league season as recent signing Eddie Servuts came into the side ahead of fellow summer capture Tom Reilly

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The unseasonal rain that had rolled in over the afternoon showed no signs of abating with the 3G surface at the Swansway Stadium having a slick film to the surface ahead of kick-off. The visitors came flying out of the blocks from the off as Joel Taylor picked up a second-minute pass from Holness and drove at the Nantwich defence before being hauled down by James Melhando. Trickett-Smith's resultant free-kick from out wide of the left was cleared as far as Jack Bearne, who picked up the loose ball and drove in a low shot from eighteen yards out that Ben Garratt in the Nantwich goal gathered down to his right

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Two minutes later, Bearne was to be the main beneficiary of some awful defending from the hosts as he opened the scoring with his first-ever goal for the club; a long, hopeful punt forwards from Roberts sailed over the heads of Jervis, Kelvin Mellor and Cole Lonsdale, with Bearne alert to the pass as he nipped in behind the Dabbers defence to take the ball past the onrushing Garratt and turn it into the empty net from close range

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Back came the home side, who went close to an immediate response in the eighth minute as a deep corner kick from Lonsdale was met at the far post by a downward header from the well-built Courtney Meppen-Walters, who was somehow denied an equaliser by the presence of Jack Rose and a header off the line by Blaine Rowe as the Hednesford goal lead something of a charmed life

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Referee Mr Vieira - the same person that had officiated this fixture last season back in April and had an erratic afternoon back then - was back to his inconsistent best once more in the tenth minute as he booked Nantwich's Kai Evans for a poor challenge on Rowe right in front of the benches, although it took the assistant on the main stand side to step in and advise the referee to take this stance

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A superb cross-field pass from Evans a minute later looked to play Servuts in behind the Hednesford defence, only for the assistant on the far side of the ground to eventually raise his flag against the former Widnes man for a marginal offside call as he raced into the penalty area

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An injury to Rose in the twelfth minute saw the game held up momentarily as sports therapist Dan Brayson attended to the goalkeeper, who had gone down holding the back of his leg. Fortunately for the Pitmen, Rose was able to get back to his feet and continue

 

Rose kept his side in the lead in the sixteenth minute of the game as a piece of sloppy play from the Pitmen saw Bearne give the ball away cheaply to Twedley, whose ball across via Byron Harrison to Evans saw the winger drive in an angled effort that Rose parried away to his left for a corner to Nantwich

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Manny Duku - looking to make it three goals in three games for the Pitmen - went close to adding to his season's tally on twenty minutes as Trickett-Smith's clever low corner into the box was spotted by the striker, who looked to turn on the ball quickly and shoot but could only fire straight at Garratt from twelve yards out

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It was Duku that picked up the Pitmen's first yellow card of a competitive evening midway through the first half, with the Ditchman receiving a caution from Mr Vieira for leaving his boot in on Meppen-Walters as the pair challenged for a high ball

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Jervis was next to test the reflexes of the experienced Garratt on twenty-six minutes as more neat build-up play from the Pitmen saw Trickett-Smith send Taylor away down the left, with his neat pass into the feet of Jervis turned goalwards by the striker which forced Garratt into another save down low at his near post

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On the half-hour mark, Rose did well to rise above everyone inside his six-yard box and palm away a Lonsdale corner kick as Meppen-Walters and skipper Troy Bourne looked to turn the ball home

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Taylor has been nothing short of sensational for the Pitmen this season, showing pace, athleticism and most importantly, an excellent eye for a tackle at left back. The former Chesterfield man brilliantly denied the lanky Harrison a shot at goal on thirty-five minutes as he got goal side of the striker and blocked his goalbound shot from the corner of the penalty area, turning it behind for a corner kick

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More bizarre refereeing from Mr Vieira was to follow on forty minutes after Duku was sent clear by Trickett-Smith but denied by a last-ditch tackle from Joel Conolly; the ball ended up at the feet of Sion Spence on the left, who appeared to be upended by the back-tracking Servuts but was denied a fairly obvious free-kick as the hapless match official awarded Nantwich the kick instead. For what, we shall never know

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The Pitmen were good value for their lead at half-time, scoring early and playing some neat and controlled possession football on a poor surface that was all the worse for the rain on top of it. Concerns remained about the slightly porous nature of the defence from set-pieces, but Nantwich had been limited to only two decent efforts all half by a Hednesford side that had enjoyed the lion's share of possession

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King seemed to have addressed this at the break as the Pitmen took a real stranglehold of the game in the second half, showing an excellent grasp of game management as their experienced higher-level players stood up to be counted

 

The excellent Holness - playing wonderfully well in the holding midfield role - had the second half's first effort at goal on fifty-two minutes as the away side worked the ball in from the left through Jervis and Spence to the Jamaican International, whose wicked long-range effort looked to be heading for the roof of the net until Garratt intervened with a brilliant save to his left

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Duku was still struggling to find his rhythm for the Pitmen this evening and wasted another great chance to extend his goalscoring run on fifty-four minutes; Nantwich struggled to clear a corner kick, with Holness playing a lofted ball back into the box that the superb Jervis flicked on into the path of Duku behind him. With the goal gaping, Duku elected to control the ball rather than shoot, resulting in him skewing his shot wide of the far post when it seemed easier to just rifle the ball home first time

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A long, raking ball forward from Meppen-Walters on fifty-six minutes picked out the figure of Harrison once more as he leapt above Johsnon to flick a header towards goal, forcing Rose into a scrambled save down by his left-hand post to concede a corner kick

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On the hour mark, Hednessford made their first change of a wet evening as the out-of-sorts Duku was taken off and replaced by the NPLW's top scorer last term, Rob Stevenson, making his Hednesford debut after missing both the Racing Club Warwick and Vauxhall Motors games

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Holness had another go from long range for the visitors midway through the  second period as Trickett-Smith's corner kick was cleared as far as the midfielder, who brought the ball down and attempted a dipping shot at goal from fully thirty yards out that sailed over Garratt's crossbar

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Another deep corner from Trickett-Smith on sixty-nine minutes was met by the head of Stevenson at the far post, but the experienced striker could only glance his effort wide of the far post as put under pressure by Mellor

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Taylor was booked by Mr Vieira on seventy-three minutes with yet another strange call, showing the left-back a yellow card presumably for taking too long at a throw-in despite only just receiving the ball from his team-mate

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The Pitmen finally put some daylight between themselves and their hosts on seventy-seven minutes with a deserved second goal of the night; Bearne turned provider on this occasion as he darted into the penalty area out on the right, turning Lonsdale inside and out before taking a tumble under the left-back's challenge. Bearne did well to initially get back to his feet long enough to play the ball back to Stevenson before being clattered by a crude block challenge from Meppen-Walters. With the men in white screaming at Mr Vieira for a spot-kick for either offence against Bearne, Spence picked up Stevenson's reverse pass and brilliantly curled an unstoppable effort over the head of Garratt and into the far corner of the net. A superb strike from the Welshman and another player grabbing his first goal for the club

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Before play could continue, the under-pressure Carden made his only change of the evening for the men in green as Harrison was brought off and replaced by Callum Saunders up front

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The Pitmen looked to close down the game and avoid a repeat of Saturday's late show from Vauxhall Motors by bringing on the vastly experienced Dan Sparkes on eighty-one minutes as the former Braintree Town man replaced​ the hard-working Bearne, who had been kicked, pushed, pulled and shoved all evening long by an aggressive Nantwich back line but still had a goal and an assist to his name

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The one blot on an otherwise flawless display from the Pitmen came with five minutes remaining as they were reduced to ten men after man of the match Jervis was shown a straight red card by Mr Vieira, who indicated that the striker had said something to the assistant on the main stand side that was deemed foul and abusive

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King looked to add an extra layer of protection to his side after Jervis's red card and brought on the pacy and willing running of Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen in place of the superb Holness on eighty-seven minutes

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Sparkes and fellow substitute Stevenson combined to create an opening for the ex-Leek Town man in added time as Sparkes won the ball back on the left and fed Stevenson into acres of space just outside the penalty area. With play opening up in front of him, Stevenson rifled in a low shot from twenty-five yards out that skipped just wide of Garratt's left-hand post

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Deep into added time, Meppen-Walters - now playing as an auxiliary striker for the hosts - picked up a loose ball on the edge of the Hednesford box after a knock-down by Saunders but saw his effort blocked by Roberts and cleared by the Pitmen

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​It had been a thoroughly enjoyable evening's entertainment for the drenched Hednesford supporters, who had once again travelled in sizeable numbers to swell to near-500 gate and support their team in terrible conditions. A 100% record so far sees King's team move up to third in the early standings, with his side looking to make it four wins in a bounce in all competitions on Saturday when they play host to Hellenic Premier League outfit Worcester Raiders in the preliminary round of the F.A. Cup

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Nantwich Town: Garratt, Melhado ▆ , Lonsdale ▆, Bourne ©, Meppen-Walters, Mellor, Connolly ▆, Tweedley, Harrison (Saunders 78), Servuts, Evans ▆       Subs Unused: Kennedy, Merner, Moran, Reilly

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Hednesford Town: Rose, Rowe, Taylor ▆, Roberts, Johnson ©, Holness (Alamu-Tajudeen 87), Bearne (Sparkes 81), Spence, Duku ▆ (Stevenson 60), Jervis ▆ (85), Trickett-Smith     Subs Unused: Sutherland, McHale

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