The Pitmen move to the top of the Northern Premier League West table this afternoon after an exhilarating second-half display from the visitors saw them plunder six goals against the much-fancied Runcorn Linnets at the APEC Taxis Arena

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Keen to put Tuesday night's defeat against Kidsgrove Athletic behind them quickly, Hednesford manager Steve King made just the one change to his side for their visit up to Merseyside as Manny Duku was preferred to Dom McHale up front. Jake Jervis was serving the second of a two-match ban, although Jacob Gwilt's return from holiday saw the young utility player included among the substitutes

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Runcorn - tipped by many to do well this term after three successive years in the play-offs - had made a slow start to this season's campaign under new player/manager Antony Kay, drawing both of their league games so far as well as dropping out of the F.A. Cup to league newcomers Wythenshawe Town in midweek. Kay was forced into playing himself at the back due to injuries in the Linnets ranks, making four changes to his team for today's return to league duty as Peter Wylie came in for Sam Barratt at right-back, fit-again Luke Wall replaced Sam Carr, Eden Gumbs was preferred to Taylor Bowen up front and Ryan Brooke replaced Will Saxon

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After a couple of days of wild weather in the UK, the sun had come out for today's game as it shone down on the APEC Taxis Arena, although there was a notable gust blowing from left to right which was to benefit Runcorn in the first period. In the fourth minute, neat play from the hosts saw them switch the ball across the park and into the feet of manager Kay, who spotted the run of Brooke and played a good ball in behind the Hednesford defence, only for the wind to get hold of the pass and take it away from the veteran forward

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Linnets were forced into making an early change in defence as Wylie went down on the edge of this own penalty area under no pressure in the sixth minute, holding his leg and signalling to the bench that he would not be able to continue; Barratt made a swift return to action as he came on in Wylie's place

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Runcorn continued to have the better of the opening exchanges, with Dan Trickett-Smith's clearing header out of his own penalty area falling at the feet of Wall in the eighth minute; the playmaker drifted across the face of the Hednesford penalty area from the right before firing narrowly over the crossbar with a rising shot from twenty yards out

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Kay himself looked to get on the end of an inswinging Wall corner from the right in the twelfth minute, getting in ahead of Elliott Johnson at the near post but tamely heading wide as he failed to get enough purchase on the header

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A minute later, James Short's long, searching free-kick into the Hednesford penalty area from the left was met by the head of Brooke once more as he beat Rose to it but could only divert his effort wide of the post from a promising position

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The Pitmen simply hadn't got going in the game as yet and had been reliant on long, aimless punts forward for the likes of Rob Stevenson and Duku to chase down against the tall and authoritative Runcorn defenders. Their first sight at goal came in the seventeenth minute as a neat passing move from the Pitmen saw them break quickly down the left through Duku, whose ball into the feet of Trickett-Smith was cleverly back-heeled into the path of Stevenson and then on to Bearne, whose left-footed first-time effort lacked any power at all and was easily fielded by Runcorn keeper Bayleigh Passant

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Runcorn really should have taken the lead two minutes later as Adam Moseley linked up brilliantly with Wall on the edge of the Hednesford area with a neat one-two that played Moseley clean through on goal. However, with only Rose to beat, the youngster blazed his shot high over the bar from twelve yards out

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Wall was looking lively for the hosts on his return to action, giving the Hednesford defence the runaround with his movement and skill, ghosting in and out of various positions which made him hard to track. After picking the ball up on the left on twenty-three minutes, the former Widnes midfielder drove past Blaine Rowe and got to the byeline, standing up a cross to the far post that had a little too much on it for Brooke or Gumbs in the middle

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Brooke was involved once more for the Linnets on twenty-seven minutes as he attempted an audacious long-range effort at goal after spotting Rose off his line, only to see his effort get caught in the wind and sailed high over the crossbar

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A rare mistake from Johnson on thirty-two minutes almost handed possession to Runcorn inside the Hednesford penalty area after the Hednesford skipper had tried to play his way out of danger, relying on some timely defending from central defensive partner Roberts to rescue the situation with a block tackle on Brooke

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Rose was on hand to claim a header from Brooke on thirty-five minutes at his far post, picking up a bouncing ball with ease after the striker had got on the end of a deep cross from Barratt to nod downwards towards goal ahead of Kory Roberts

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A rare foray into the Runcorn third of the pitch from the Pitmen on thirty-six minutes saw Trickett-Smith's quickly-taken free-kick worked out to Duku on the left. The Dutchman did well to get goal side of Barratt and chipped a cross into the six-yard box, where Passant claimed the high ball ahead of Stevenson

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Sion Spence went closer than anyone in a white shirt had gone to scoring for the Pitmen on forty minutes, seizing upon a loose ball after Trickett-Smith's initial shot had been blocked by Jacques Welsh but drilling his low shot from just outside the penalty area wide of Passant's righthand post

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Runcorn deservedly ended the half in front as they grabbed the game's opening goal with virtually the last action of the half; Wall's angled drive at goal had been tipped around the post by Rose for a corner kick to the hosts, with Wall swinging the resultant flag kick into the box where some slack defending from the Pitmen once more gave Gumbs all the time in the world to head past Rose from close-range. Too easy for the striker and yet another worrying indication of their Pitmen's lacklustre nature at set-pieces this season, having conceded four of their five league goals so far this term from dead-ball situations

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You couldn't really argue with the scoreline at half-time - Runcorn had played much the better of the football, winning the key battles in midfield against an off-key Hednesford trio of Trickett-Smith, Omar Holness and Spence and creating several good openings in the process. Compare this to the Pitmen, who had been very lacklustre in all areas of the pitch; error-prone in defence, lacking strength in midfield and creating very little up front. As the players emerged from the dressing room for the start of the second half there would have been no indication of what fireworks were to come in the second period...

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The away side looked to make a more positive start to the second half, with Stevenson making an early dart into the Runcorn penalty area on forty-seven minutes as Trickett-Smith looked to play him in, only for an earlier offside flag against the striker to halt his progress

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Brooke picked up Runcorn's only booking of the afternoon on fifty minutes, rightly earning himself a yellow card from referee Mr O'Regan after a mistimed challenge on Spence inside the Hednesford half

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Runcorn looked to double their advantage two minutes later as Wall created some more magic on the left with a run past Rowe and a delightful cross into the box that found Moseley, who couldn't get a clean enough hit on the ball and could only divert the ball straight into Rose's hands from six yards out

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The Pitmen got themselves back onto a level footing in the game with an equaliser on fifty-five minutes; Duku was to be the architect as he picked up Bearne's cross-field pass out on the left and got the better of Barratt with some neat footwork, pulling the ball back from the byeline and into the path of Stevenson, who had the simple task of slotting home from close-range for his second goal of the week

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Duku's physicality was starting to upset the Runcorn ranks, with the big striker chasing down a long ball forward from Roberts with Harvey Washington before colliding with both the home defender and Passant, who made a real meal of the whole event and stayed down after failing to make contact with the ball. This event seemed to affect the stopper from hereon in as Passant's distribution, kicking and general decision-making seemed to go to pot

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The Pitmen completed the turnaround just before the hour mark as​ another long ball forward from the back caused chaos for the Runcorn defenders. Johnson's long punt into the Linnets half was headed straight up into the air by skipper Short, allowing Trickett-Smith to take advantage of some momentary confusion in the hosts' ranks to loop a header over the stranded Passant and find the back of the net for his first-ever Hednesford goal

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Incredibly, the Pitmen put clear daylight between themselves and Runcorn with a killer third goal on sixty-two minutes; Duku's quick feet in midfield played Bearne into acres of space down the right. The winger found Duku once more with a pull-back into the penalty area, with Duku striking a low shot at goal from eighteen yards out that was parried away by Passant. However, Kay made a complete hash of his clearance and allowed Duku to make the block, with Spence gleefully picking up the rebound and slotting home from twelve yards out

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On sixty-four minutes, the home side made their second change of the afternoon as goalscorer Gumbs was brought off and replaced by Bowen as the main striking threat in a game that was fast getting away from them

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The Pitmen were now rampant, putting any doubts about them in the first half to bed as they continued to attack in waves. Trickett-Smith followed Brooke into the Mr O'Regan's book midway through the second half as he picked up a yellow card for a foul on Jaden Jones

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On sixty-eight minutes, Holness was given time and space to control the ball after Trickett-Smith's corner had been headed out as far as the Jamaican, only for his long-range effort to sail high and wide of the target

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It got even better for the away side as chief tormenter Duku earned his side a penalty kick on seventy-three minutes after Roberts had sent the striker away with another angled pass out of defence, allowing Duku to run at Washington and draw a late challenge on him from the former Crewe Alexandra youngster. Duku elected to take the resultant kick himself and confidently fired into the roof of the net from twelve yards out to make it 4-1 with his third goal of the campaign thus far

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Passant nearly added to his side's defensive horror show on seventy-six minutes as he came out of his goal to try and clear the ball away from Duku but could only slice the ball into the path of Stevenson, whose deft lob back over the goalkeeper from twenty yards out looked goalbound until Short managed to get back and clear the danger

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Bearne's game was brought to an end by the Pitmen on seventy-eight minutes as the winger was brought off and replaced by Zidan Sutherland, who slotted into the right flank position

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More midfield substitutions followed for the away side a minute later with them now in complete control of the game; the returning Gwilt on in place of Holness and Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen on for goalscorer Trickett-Smith

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Sutherland's introduction was to have an immediate effect as the substitute grabbed the Pitmen's fifth goal of the afternoon with his first touch of the ball barely sixty seconds later. Taylor's ball forward drifted over the head of the unsighted Short, who left acres of room in behind him to allow Sutherland to lash the ball past a horribly exposed Passant from fifteen yards out

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On eighty-two minutes, Dan Sparkes was given his no-standard late run out down the left flank as he came on in place of the industrious Spence, who had once again delivered in the second half with a superb box-to-box display

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Runcorn did reduce the deficit with a goal back on eighty-six minutes as Taylor's miscued clearance was picked up by Bowen, whose clever reverse pass into the feet of fellow substitute Barratt on the right-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area played the right-back into space where he was able to fire beyond Rose and into the far corner of the net with a well-struck angled effort

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Player/coach Matthew Barnes-Homer could be afforded a late run-out by the Pitmen before play restarted, with the 39-year-old striker replacing Stevenson up front in what was his first league outing of the season

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With the game now heading into added time, the Pitmen put a gloss finish on a dominant second-half display with a sixth goal of the afternoon; Sparkes whipped in a corner kick from the right that was glanced goalwards by Roberts at the near post, beating Passant but coming back off the woodwork. Fortunately for the visitors, the ball dropped kindly to Sutherland, who was on hand to turn into the empty net from a matter of inches out

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Sparkes went agonisingly close to making it seven for Pitmen deep in added time as a free-kick to the left of the Runcorn penalty was taken by the former Braintree Town man, who curled his effort over and beyond the Linnets wall before clattering the top of the crossbar

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It had been an incredible turnaround from the Pitmen, who celebrated with the large and rowdy away following at the final whistle after a ruthless second-half display in front of goal. Questions will still persist around the poor first-half display as King's side still looks for more consistency at both ends of the pitch as the season progresses, but you can't argue with the quality of the second-half performance. King will be looking for a quickfire six points come Monday evening as they return to Keys Park to face near-neighbours Chasetown at Keys Park in what is expected to be a huge Bank Holiday Monday clash

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Runcorn Linnets: Passant, Wylie (Barratt 6), Short ©, Welsh, Washington, Kay, Moseley, Jones, Brooke ▆, Gumbs (Bowen 64), Wall      Subs Unused: Hooper, Elverstone

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Hednesford Town: Rose, Rowe, Taylor, Roberts, Johnson ©, Holness (Gwilt 79), Trickett-Smith ▆ (Alamu-Tajudeen 79), Spence (Sparkes 82), Stevenson (Barnes-Homer 86), Duku, Bearne (Sutherland 78)     Subs Unused: None

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