The Pitmen are brought swiftly back down to earth this evening as Needham Market claim the points on a bitterly cold night that leaves the visitors rock bottom of the league once more and still without an away win all season in the Southern Premier League Central

 

Having finally thrown off the shackles of their recent dreadful run of form with a 2-0 win over Stratford Town at the weekend, Manager Steve Burr elected to stick with the same XI that had started Saturday’s game as he looked for some much-needed and long-awaited consistency from his side, who could potentially move off the foot of the table if results went their way this evening

 

Hosts Needham Market sat in sixteenth position in the Southern Premier League Central table ahead of tonight’s play, having drawn 0-0 at Stourbridge at the weekend. Marketmen manager Kevin Horlock - the former Manchester City and Eire midfielder - made two changes to his personnel for their return to Bloomfields this evening as Tom Fitzgerald and Jamie McGrath came into the side ahead of Noah Collard and Luke Ingram respectively

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It was a freezing cold night in Suffolk, with the Pitmen having to make their second-longest trip of the season on one of the coldest nights of the year to date. In front of a meagre crowd, the hosts started briskly with Ross Crane making an early burst into the Hednesford penalty area down the left flank but saw his low driven shot blocked by Stoke City loanee Luke Redfern from eight yards out

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Christian Frimpong was to prove a tricky customer for the Pitmen all night long, winning a free-kick right on the edge of the Hednesford penalty area in the fifth minute after some neat skills drew the foul out of Luke Rowe. Patrick Brothers took the free-kick but could only strike his curling effort into the Hednesford wall

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Frimpong was involved again in the tenth minute as he picked up an overhit cross from Jake Dye and laid the ball off to Fitzgerald before taking the ball on once more don the right-hand byeline, curling his cross-cum-shot over the crossbar

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In the eighteenth minute of an uneventful game, Jacob Lay won the ball in midfield and played the ball out to Kyle Hammond on the right flank, who whipped in a deep cross into the penalty area that found Frimpong; the Ghanaian turned the ball goalwards from close-range as he beat the dawdling Rowe to the ball but was denied by a smothering save from Tiernan Brooks

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Midway through the first period, Hammond made another fine run down the right flank as he beat Adam Livingstone for pace and took the ball into the penalty area. His shot was blocked by Rowe and rebounded into the path of the incoming Frimpong, who turned past a challenge from Livingstone before seeing his shot take a nick on its way past the post

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From the resultant corner kick, a quick-one-two saw Lay whip the ball into the box as the Pitmen switched off momentarily, with McGrath's attempted flick-on at the near post eventually dropping back to him at an angle as the Pitmen struggled to clear their lines, His low driven shot was blocked by Livingstone before breaking to Brothers, whose overhead kick from twelve yards out drifted over the crossbar

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Frimpong seemed to be at the heart of everything positive for the Marketmen, forcing Brooks into another save shortly after the half-hour mark as a deep free-kick from the impressive Patrick Brothers came in from the right and dropped kindly to the former Braintree Town man, only for Brooks to make a smart save at his near post to save the midfielder's downward header from close-range

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Two minutes later, the hosts went even closer to breaking the deadlock as Hammond was allowed time and space to pick the ball up from deep before trying his luck from fully thirty yards out with a fiercely-struck left-footed effort that struck the outside of Brooks's left-hand post and out of play

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McGrath was unlucky not to get more purchase on a header three minutes later as a deep cross from the right from Hammond was glanced straight into the hands of Brooks by the striker from ten yards out as Lowe did enough to put him off

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The Pitmen had been utterly impotent thus far as an attacking force, offering next-to-nothing in the Needham Market third of the pitch so far. Leroy Lita - back on the scoresheet on Saturday - took the ball down the right for the visitors on thirty-nine minutes but saw his attempted shot from an angle charged down by skipper Kieran Morphew

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With a minute of the first half remaining, Hednesford's man of the match Brooks made yet another save as a cross from Dye on the left was flicked on by Kieran Morphew to McGrath, who turned the ball goalwards from close-range but saw his effort cleared off the line by Redfern before dropping into the grateful arms of Brooks at the second attempt

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The Pitmen had been solidly second-best throughout the first half against a bright and inventive Needham Market side that will probably be a little miffed at not holding the lead at the break against a Hednesford outfit that had looked utterly uninterested in mounting any forward movements

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The hosts started the second half well and hit the woodwork for the second time in the game just four minutes after the restart as Hammond was again afforded far too much time and space to lash another long-range shot at goal, seeing his twenty-five yard strike cannon back off the post and into the path of the incoming Brothers, whose follow-up shot was pushed away by Brooks for a Needham Market corner kick down to his right

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Brothers got more joy down the left for the Marketmen on fifty-two minutes as he outpaced Lewis Ison and looked to pull the ball back into the path of the incoming McGrath, only to find the gloves of Brooks instead at his near post

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Brooks was a little relieved to hear the whistle of referee Mr Quick three minutes later as a low cross from Brothers on the left was deflected into the path of McGrath by a touch from Lowe, who managed to nip in ahead of Brooks and win the ball but was pulled back for a foul on the stopper in the build-up to the chance

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The Pitmen made their first change of the evening on fifty-six minutes as veteran Lowe was replaced by Zac Hartley, forcing a reshuffle in defence with Ison moving across to centre-back to allow Hartley to slot in at right-back

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Three minutes later, Burr elected to make his second change in quick succession as the other veteran in the ranks Lita was taken off in favour of the younger legs of Burton Albion loanee Tom Hewlett

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Brooks continued to deny Needham Market the goal they desired, making another good save on sixty-four minutes as Lay was allowed to drift toward the penalty area after running past a couple of half-hearted challenges en route before shooting from eighteen yards out, forcing Brooks into a fine save down to his right to push the ball away

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Two minutes later, good play down the right from Needham Market saw Hammond lay the ball back into the path of Brothers, who attempted a curling effort from twenty-five yards out that just drifted over the crossbar with Brooks covering his post

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Needham Market made their first change of the evening on sixty-eight minutes as Ingram made a swift return to the side in place of the hard-running Frimpong

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The hosts finally got their noses in front with a deserved opening goal on seventy minutes; Crane picked the ball up on the right-hand side of the penalty area and was allowed to take the ball into the box before rifling a shot beyond Brooks via a slight touch of a Redfern and finding the right-hand corner of the goalkeeper's net

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Hammond was the first player to be booked by referee Mr Quick on seventy-four minutes as the full-back was shown a yellow card for a foul on Livingstone down the Hednesford left flank

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Needham Market's goal seemed to kill off any enthusiasm the Pitmen may have had in the closing fifteen minutes of the game, as the men in all white huffed and puffed their way through proceedings under the guidance of the increasingly agitated and forlorn Burr and Neil Tooth. Lita was caught offside as he made a rare foray into the Needham Market penalty area on seventy-eight minutes and gestured to his team-mates about moving the ball quicker into space in front of them for him to run onto

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Ison joined Hammond in the referee's notebook with nine minutes of the game remaining, with the Hednesford captain booked by Mr Quick for leaving his boot in on Crane with Needham Market looking to build another attack down the centre of the pitch

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Sixty seconds later, the Pitmen made their third and final change of the evening as the ineffective and quiet James McQuilkin was hauled off in place of recent signing Kemy Agustien

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A neat passage of play from the away side down the right on eighty-five minutes saw Hartley involved with a lung-busting run down the flank to overlap Stanley Obinna Anaebonam's run, only for his attempted cross to be cleared by the forceful boot of Daniel Morphew before Lita could react

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Crane was the final player of the evening to have his name taken by the referee as we moved into added time for a petty foul in midfield to stop the Pitmen from gathering up a head of steam

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Despite such an abject performance from the away side, they almost claimed a late, late point deep into added time as Agustien tried his luck with a crisp effort from just outside the Needham Market penalty area that was turned goalward by the boot of Lita, only to be denied a dramatic equaliser by Marcus Garnham's superb stop, turning the ball onto the crossbar and away from danger​

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It’s yet another away defeat for the Pitmen, one that sees them remain rooted to the foot of the table after this evening's round of games and matches starting to rapidly run out. Tamworth’s win over AFC Rushden & Diamonds had opened the door for the Pitmen to move off bottom, but Burr’s side showed little to no aptitude in tonight’s showing to do just that and take anything from a game that they rarely threatened in and always looked like they would concede in. They go again on Saturday with a much shorter trip, this time to mid-table Redditch United but their fragile confidence hangs in the balance once more after yet another setback on the road

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Needham Market: Garnham, Hammond ▆, Dye, Frimpong (Ingram 68), K. Morphew ©, D. Morphew, Lay, Fitzgerald, McGrath, Brothers, Crane ▆       Subs Unused: Chambers, Knights

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Hednesford Town: Brooks, Ison © ▆, Livingstone,  Rowe, Lowe (Hartley 56), Redfern, Obinna Anaebonam, Parker, Lita (Hewlett 59), Bennett, McQuilkin (Agustien 82)      Subs Unused: Clayton, Akinwe

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