Hednesford finally brought an end to their long losing run this afternoon as they battled back from a goal down to claim a point against mid-table Runcorn Linnets at Keys Park

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A morale-boosting 5-1 win over Uttoxeter Town in the uncompetitive Staffordshire Senior Cup in midweek gave the Pitmen something to cling onto ahead of today's return home, having extended their winless run to five games last weekend with the 1-0 defeat at Mossley. Player/manager Danny Glover had moved to bring back striker Demetri Brown from AFC Wulfrunians and had allowed Jack Sang to move in the opposite direction on loan. Brown's lack of match fitness meant that he started on the bench as Glover made three changes to his starting XI; Max Dixon, Wembanvuanda Star Mayemba and Joe Morley all came back into the side ahead of Michael Williams, Jez Abbey and Reinaldo Forbes

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Tenth-placed Runcorn arrived at Keys Park after a 1-0 win over Stalybridge Celtic last weekend, with Bill Paynter's side having only played six league games so far due to their recent F.A. Cup exploits. The former Port Vale striker - well known to Glover and his father Dean with the pair being at Vale Park at the same time as Paynter in the mid-00s - made two changes of his own as Harry Hagan and Lewis Doyle came in for Sean O'Mahony and Anthony Kay

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It was an unseasonably beautiful October afternoon, with warm sunshine bathing the Keys Park pitch for the whole ninety minutes. Another astounding crowd of 730 - with Runcorn well-represented amongst those numbers - saw the visitors start well, passing the ball around with intent in the opening five minutes as they looked to carve out an early opening against a notoriously leaky Hednesford defence. In the second minute, a corner kick floated in from the right and was cleared as far as Ryan Brooke, whose twenty-five-yard effort was turned away by home debutant Ryan Brown. The rebound dropped to Will Saxon, who was crowded out as he tried to turn the ball home

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The hosts were content to play the ball long up to the likes of Glover and Mayemba, with the Congolese striker doing well to hold off the attentions of no fewer than three Runcorn players in the fifth minute as he turned on the edge of the penalty area before seeing his shot blocked by Hagan

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Morley had been selected to take this afternoon's set-pieces for the Pitmen and swung in a corner kick from the right on eight minutes towards the far post. Skipper Sam Griffiths looked to get his head on the ball but was denied by a headed clearance from Joel Lynch

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Morley was involved once more for the hosts three minutes later as he made a jinking run down the left flank, cutting inside as he beat Eden Gumbs and whipped in a fine cross that was claimed by Runcorn goalkeeper Bayleigh Passant ahead of the incoming Mayemba

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Another powerful run from Mayemba on fifteen minutes saw the lanky striker produce some close-control trickery to skip past Lynch and play the ball out to Morely once more on the left; his chipped cross into the penalty area was cleared as far as Glover, whose weak low effort from just outside the box skipped well wide of Passant's right-hand post

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Runcorn were handed a good opportunity to test Brown on eighteen minutes after Jack Kelly had brought Adam Moseley down twenty-five yards from goal. Jacques Welsh struck the resultant free-kick straight into the Hednesford wall, which was diverted away for a corner to the visitors

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More direct play from the Pitmen on twenty-one minutes saw Dixon and Mayemba involved as they created space for Glover to run into, only for the experienced striker to shank his twenty-yard effort high over the crossbar

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Young stopper Brown - at fault for Mossley's winning goal on his debut last weekend - was looking more confident in between the posts this afternoon as he confidently dealt with a Runcorn corner kick midway through the first period, coming off his line to catch an inswinging cross from the right ahead of Brooke

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At the other end, Passant made his first meaningful contribution to the game on twenty-eight minutes as the away side struggled to clear their lines, allowing the ball to fall to Joe Thompson - the midfielder's low shot from the edge of the penalty area looked to be heading for the corner of the net until the former Tranmere Rovers stopper turned the ball away from goal with a sprawling save

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A good ball into the box from a Saxon corner kick shortly after the half-hour mark was met by the head of Welsh, whose looping effort ended up dipping over the top of Brown's crossbar and into the roof of the net as Sutton made life difficult for the veteran to get a clean purchase on the ball

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There was a lengthy break in play on thirty-five minutes as an injury to Kelly saw the left-back receive treatment from Adam Paget before the game could restart with a Hednesford free-kick inside their own half

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Two minutes later, Dixon really should have given the Pitmen the lead as another long, searching ball forward, this time following a good piece of link-up play between Tom Thorley and Glover, played Dixon in on goal down the right-hand side of the penalty area. However, much like the chance handed to him at Mossley last week, Dixon elected to take a touch too many and allowed Passant to get enough on his chipped effort and turn it behind for a corner kick

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Successive corner kicks followed as Morley's initial effort was put behind for another flag kick, with the youngster's second ball in met by the head of Dixon, whose effort lacked power or direction and drifted wide of the far post

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Mayemba picked up the first booking of the game on forty-one minutes as the striker was penalised by referee Mr Billingham for a mis-timed challenge on Lynch

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It had been a fairly even contest so far, with both sides not really expressing themselves in the final third of the pitch. The Pitmen had, once again, looked a little out of ideas when in good positions up front but had at least looked a lot more solid in defence with Sutton, Griffiths and Lucas Yeomans all putting in good shifts against the Runcorn front line

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Sutton followed Mayemba into Mr Billingham's notebook shortly after the second half had kicked off as the veteran centre-back was booked for a foul on Doyle to stop the former Accrington Stanley man from breaking into the box

 

The Pitmen looked to make a strong start to the second half, winning two corners in succession before Kelly and Morley linked up well down the left on fifty-one minutes to get to the byeline, only for Morley's low cross to be hacked away at the near post by Hagan for another corner kick

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Runcorn missed a glorious chance to take the lead two minutes later as the visitors worked the ball well down the right, with Sam Barratt whipping in the ball to the far post where Brooke somehow headed the ball the wrong side of the woodwork with the goal gaping. A poor miss from such an experienced striker

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The Pitmen were the first side to roll the dice on fifty-six minutes as the hard-running Mayemba was taken off in place of Demetri Brown as the hosts looked to a more aggressive approach up top

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Ryan Brown made a superb save to deny Brooke just before the hour mark as he got enough on the ball to tip the striker's firmly-struck shot away for a Runcorn corner kick

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A minute later, Demetri Brown thought he had made an immediate impact on his return to Keys Park as more good play down the left saw Kelly whip the ball into the six-yard box, where the substitute did brilliantly to guide the ball beyond the reach of Passant with a superb looping header beyond the reach of the stopper. However, his joy was short-lived as the assistant on the main stand side flagged the striker as offside before the cross had come in. On second viewing, it looked as though Brown was behind Hagan when he met the ball, prompting the Keys Park crowd to let Mr Billingham and his officials what they thought of the highly contentious decision

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Runcorn's first change of the afternoon came on sixty-two minutes as forward Ryan Gibson - who had returned to the club from Halton Sports this week - came on for his second Linnets debut in place of Lynch

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Midway through the second half, Yeomans and Dixon linked up well down the right and crossed towards Demetri Brown, with Glover picking up the clearance on the edge of the penalty area but saw his return shot charged down by Kay

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The Pitmen continued to press in what was their best spell of the game so far, with Morley making an enterprising run down the left that saw him drift past two challenges and into the penalty area. The former Chasetown man took a tumble under a challenge from Barratt but any pleas for a penalty kick were waved away by Mr Billingham

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Another attacking change followed for the hosts on sixty-eight minutes as flying winger Forbes came on in place of the tiring Dixon on the right flank to play as an inverted winger with his left foot

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Somewhat against the current run of play, Runcorn grabbed the opening goal of the afternoon in somewhat fortuitous circumstances on seventy-two minutes; a fanciful long-range effort from Doyle twenty yards from goal lacked power until it took a wicked deflection off the boot of Griffiths, looping the ball up and towards goal. Ryan Brown did brilliantly to tip the ball away from goal and onto the crossbar, only to watch helplessly as Moseley was on hand to turn the loose ball into the empty net on the rebound at the far post

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Roared on by the Heath Hayes terrace, the Pitmen pressed once more as they went in search of an immediate equaliser and found one through Glover just four minutes later. Neat approach play down the right saw Yeomans and Forbes involved before Demetri Brown's clever backheel found Glover in space, with the former Rushall man striking an unstoppable first-time shot beyond the reach of Passant from fifteen yards out. The under-pressure gaffer ran across to the Wimblebury Terrace to let some of his more vocal detractors know his thoughts on the strike

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With their tails up, the Pitmen went close to turning the game on its head inside sixty seconds as a Morley corner kick found Forbes on the edge of the box, with the winger's low shot at goal claimed low by Passant to his left-hand side

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With eleven minutes remaining, Glover was once again on the end of a move from right to left from the hosts but got his laces underneath his twenty-yard effort and lifted it over the crossbar

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Kelly - who had been nursing a knock for several games - came off worst in a challenge with Moseley on eighty-two minutes, leaving the full-back in a heap holding his leg. After another bout of treatment, Kelly was forced to limp off and was replaced by Williams at left-back

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Ryan Brown was called into action once more to protect the Pitmen's point on eighty-four minutes as Saxon found time and space to strike a shot at goal from the edge of the penalty area, with the on-loan stopper doing well to push the ball away from goal. The rebound fell to Brooke, who was wasteful again with a wild follow-up shot that sailed harmlessly over the crossbar from ten yards out

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Both sides looked keen to try and take the points, although you got the sense that they were also fairly happy to preserve the point apiece as neither side really committed men forward for set-pieces in the final minutes of the game. Demetri Brown went agonisingly close to giving the Pitmen the points on eighty-eight minutes as he made a bustling run into the box to take Thorley's pass into the area and drove in a low shot that was turned around the post by Passant, diving to his right to deny the substitute what looked like a certain goal

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With the game drifting towards ninety minutes, Williams picked up a booking just moments after coming on as he pulled Gibson to the ground on the left and was shown a yellow card for the challenge by Mr Billingham

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There was still to be late drama deep into added time, although nothing on the scale of the Pitmen's last home game against Hanley Town, as the Pitmen ended the game with ten men for the third time in their opening ten league games; with Runcorn setting up a free-kick on the right flank, Williams and Brooke had a coming together in the Hednesford penalty area, with Williams appearing to raise his arm on the striker as the pair jostled for space. The assistant on the Wimblebury side spotted the infringement and informed Mr Billingham, who promptly sent the veteran off. He also booked Brooke for his part in the scuffle and Glover for taking his protests a little too far

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A point apiece then, and using one of the great footballing clinches, neither side really deserved to take all three points over the ninety minutes. The Pitmen looked far more assured at the back and came through with no glaring individual errors that had cost them in recent games, whilst the introduction of the burly Demetri Brown had given them far more presence up front after another largely toothless first hour of play. A double header of away games to Merseyside are next up for Glover's team as they travel to Vauxhall Motors next weekend, followed by a similar-length journey to City of Liverpool in a fortnight. Points in the bag are now becoming crucial if the Pitmen are to move away from the bottom two and away from the danger zone in the next few weeks

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Hednesford Town: R. Brown, Yeomans, Kelly (Williams 83 ▆▆), Thorley, Sutton, Griffiths ©, Morley, Thompson, Glover ▆, Mayemba ▆ (D. Brown 56), Dixon (Forbes 69)      Subs Unused: Abbey, Richards

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Runcorn Linnets: Passant, Barratt, Gumbs, Welsh, Hagan, Wylie, Saxon, Lynch (Gibson 61), Brooke ▆, Doyle, Moseley       Subs Unused: Short, Roberts, Perry

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