The Pitmen's second pre-season friendly of the week at Keys Park sees them dominate the ninety minutes and secure a comfortable and impressive win over Welsh Premier League side Newtown

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Having taken the positives of Tuesday night's narrow defeat to a good Wolves U21 side, Steve King shuffled thre pack once more as he was able to bring two of his recent star signings into the fold for today's game; former Walsall defender Kory Roberts came in at centre-back, whilst vastly experienced striker Manny Duku replaced the rested Rob Stevenson up front. Winger Jack Bearne - signed overnight after a spell at Greenock Morton - was preferred to Zidan Sutherland on the flank whilst Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen was brought in ahead of Jacob Gwilt in midfield. After a triallist had played much of Tuesday night's game between the sticks, another triallist was given a chance to impress in today's game. There was still no sign of Dom McHale, Josh Endall or Dan Sparkes in the squad for various reasons such as injury or other commitments

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Newtown made their way down the A5 off the back of an unbeaten pre-season programme so far, including an exciting 5-5 draw against local rivals Shrewsbury Town earlier in the month. Manager Scott Ruscoe had been busy in the build-up to today's game with the signing of former Hednesford full-back Ryan Pryce from Shifnal Town, making it two ex-Pitmen in the Reds squad with Callum Roberts also lining up against his former club. There were notable omissions in the Newtown ranks, with former Wolves man Zeli Ismail and ex-Rushall Olympic marksman Aaron Williams both not named in Ruscoe's squad

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In front of another notably strong home crowd, the Pitmen made a flying start to the game with a great chance for midfielder Sion Spence in just the third minute of the match; Blaine Rowe and Alamu-Tajiudeen linked up down the right to allow the right-back to cross, with the experienced Shane Sutton only able to divert his clearance into the path of the former Gloucester City man, whose half-volley at goal from twelve yards out was brilliantly parried away by Newtown stopper Alex Swindell

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The hosts continued to press early on, with Jake Jervis winning a header against Sutton two minutes later and finding Duku unmarked twenty yards from goal. The former Maidstone man wanted a little too much time to assess his options, however, and saw his low-driven effort blocked as he looked to drive a shot in at goal

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Joel Taylor had been highly impressive on Tuesday night with a busy, energetic performance down the left for the Pitmen, making another fine run down the flank in the eighth minute and sending over a superb teasing cross to the far post that drifted inches wide of the woodwork

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Newtown were content to play on the counter-attack through the pacy Hannock Boekye, playing some neat one-and-two-touch passes through midfield and looking to exploit the space in behind the attacking full-backs of Rowe and Taylor. Former Telford man Jason Oswell looked to feed Lock with a slide-rule pass down the left on twelve minutes, only for the assistant on the main stand side to raise the flag against the former Shrewsbury youngster as he bore down on the Hednesford penalty area

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The best chance of the game so far fell to Newtown's Ollie Sharp on sixteen minutes as Boekye broke clear down the left once more and got the better of Rowe as he took the ball along the byeline before pulling it back to the midfielder, whose first-time shot from six yards out beat the triallist goalkeeper but not Elliott Johnson, who brilliantly cleared the ball off the line for the hosts

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This seemed to shake the Pitmen back into action, with Bearne going close to opening the scoring on nineteen minutes; Taylor picked the pocket of a dawdling Pryce and took the ball into the Newtown third of the pitch before laying the ball off to Spence. The Welshman's angled ball into the box was met by Bearne's first-time effort, only to get his laces underneath the ball and volley high over the crossbar from eight yards out

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Two minutes later, a free-kick from Bearne on the right was only cleared as far as Jervis, whose chipped ball back across the face of the goal was headed wide at the far post by Duku

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Swindell was called upon to make another good stop for the visitors on twenty-six minutes after a patient piece of build-up play from the hosts saw Kory Roberts roll the ball into the feet of Alamu-Tajudeen, whose turn and snap-shot from twenty-five yards out was parried away for a corner kick by the Newtown stopper down to his left

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Duku - scorer of a superb goal at Worcester Raiders a couple of weeks previously - was still feeling his way into the game, flashing a shot across the face of goal shortly before the half-hour mark after making a darting run into the box down the right to receive a Spence pass

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Spence - having another very under-appreciated game in the centre of midfield as he controlled the tempo and rhythm of the Hednesford transitions - also went close for the Pitmen two minutes later as he drilled a long-range effort inches wide of Swindell's left-hand post after the play had opened up in front of him

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Another superb move from the Pitmen opened Newtown up once more on thirty-five minutes as Kory Roberts and Alamu-Tajiudeen linked up to send Bearne away down the right once more. The former Liverpool man left Callum Roberts for dead with his trickery before forcing Swindell into another parry away at his near post

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Duku felt a little short-changed by referee Mr Warner two minutes later as Callum Roberts appeared to push him to the ground as the pair challenged for a deep Jervis cross at the far post. Despite the Dutchman's protests, the game continued

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Rowe was the latest man in white to test Swindell on thirty-nine minutes as another move down the right saw the right-back play a one-two with Bearne as he burst into the box, firing in a drive from a tight angle that Swindell pushed away at his near post

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Two minutes later, Bearne's inswinging free-kick from the right was diverted towards his own net by Pryce, forcing his goalkeeper Swindell into swift corrective action to push the ball away from danger

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A very impressive, but slightly frustrating, first half for the hosts was brought alive by Duku two minutes before the break as he gave the home side the lead in spectacular style. Kory Roberts hustled and harried the Newtown defence into several hurried passes out of defence down the right, eventually winning the ball back on the edge of the box and laying it off to the striker, who executed a superb first-time effort with no backlift that arrowed into the bottom corner of the net before Swindell could even have a chance to see the ball

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In added time, the Pitmen felt that they again had a legitimate shout for a penalty as Jervis was pole-axed by Pryce as the pair came together inside the box. Despite the defender going nowhere near the ball and seemingly aiming towards the striker, Mr Warner was once again unmoved before he called time on the first half

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It had been yet another shining example of the quality of this Hednesford side and their potential to make a real mark on the Northern Premier League West this term, having dominated play, possession and chances throughout the first half. The likes of Spence, Kory Roberts and Alamu-Tajudeen had really impressed with their willingness to chase the ball down, work hard for the team and play quality football when required. the triallist goalkeeper - who had had very little to do in truth - was replaced at half-time by the Pitmen in favour of regular stopper Ryan Brown

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Within three minutes of the restart, King and his bench were up on their feet after another crunching challenge on Rowe from Sharp right in front of the benches had the Hednesford officials looking for retribution from the match officials, something that once again was not forthcoming

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Duku's quick feet saw him take the ball away from Pryce down the left on fifty-three minutes, skipping past the right-back before Sutton rescued the situation by putting the cross behind for a corner kick

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Another flowing move from the Pitmen two minutes later saw Alamu-Tajudeen's pass acrobatically flicked on by Jervis into the path of Bearne down the right; the winger teased his way to the byeline and crossed for Duku, who unselfishly laid the ball off to Jervis after some neat close control. The big man turned well and drove in a low shot from sixteen yards out that dribbled inches wide of Swindell's left-hand post

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A rare foray into Hednesford territory from Newtown on the hour mark saw Callum Roberts pick the ball up on the left and slip the ball through to Ben Guest, whose angled shot was deflected up and over the crossbar for a Newtown corner kick

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Four minutes later, another neat move from the visitors saw Lock and Callum Roberts link up to set up Sharp, whose rising effort from twenty-five yards out was watched over the crossbar by Brown

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The Pitmen's second substitution of the afternoon came on sixty-nine minutes as Gwilt was given more minutes in the tank by King as the midfielder replaced the excellent Alamu-Tajudeen

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This was followed shortly afterwards by a third change of the afternoon by the hosts with Duku was afforded warm applause by the home crowd as he was replaced by Sutherland

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An aggressive late challenge on Spence by Jo Jo Harries incensed the Keys Park crowd on seventy-four minutes, leaving the midfielder in a heap in the centre circle after a high and late challenge from the midfielder. Despite the Pitmen's complaints, Mr Warner once again chose to keep his cards in his pocket and turned a blind eye to another poor, aggressive Newtown challenge

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Swindell was back in action to deny the Pitmen on eighty-one minutes as a corner kick from Bearne out on the left was played into the box and onto the head of Kory Roberts, whose goalbound header from six yards out was scrambled away by the stopper at his far post

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Spence was continuing to feel the after-effects of the earlier challenge and was eventually forced off later in the game as the Pitmen chose not to exacerbate the injury further, bringing on player/coach Matthew Barnes-Homer for the remaining minutes in his place

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The Pitmen wrapped up a confident and well-earned win on eighty-nine minutes with another flowing move; Taylor won the ball in defence before playing a delightful ball down the line to Sutherland, who teased his way inside Pryce before unleashing a low drive at goal from the edge of the penalty area. Swindell did well to push the shot away but could do nothing to stop the incoming Jervis from tapping home the rebound into the empty net from four yards out

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With only a week to go until the return of competitive football, the Pitmen appear to be in rude health in almost every area of the pitch; a strong, organised defence, committed, mobile and authoritative midfielders and an array of attacking talent that is likely to spawn goals aplenty this term if it all knits together as all of the signs suggest it will. A Wrexham XI travel to Keys Park on Tuesday night as the Pitmen wrap up their pre-season programme before they take a short trip to Racing Club Warwick in the Extra Preliminary Round of this season's F.A. Cup on Saturday

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Hednesford Town: Triallist (Brown 45), Rowe, Taylor, K. Roberts, Johnson ©, Spence (Barnes-Homer 87), Bearne, Holness, Duku (Sutherland 72), Jervis, Alamu-Tajudeen (Gwilt 69)    Subs Unused: None

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Newtown: Swindell, Pryce, C. Roberts, Sutton ©, Smith, Harries, Sharp, Guest, Boekye, Oswell, Lock       Subs: Downs, Nazaru, A. Roberts, Hollinshead, Clark, Smith

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