Three goals in the last nineteen minutes from the hosts earns them local bragging rights with victory over local rivals Stafford Rangers on this misty Boxing Day afternoon

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A quick turnaround of games saw Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren shuffle his pack once more, making four changes to the side that had started Saturday's poor performance and defeat at Vauxhall Motors; in came Joel Taylor, Simeon Maye, Dom McHale and Dan Sparkes as Josh Endall, Omar Holness, Sion Spence and Jack Bearne all missed out

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Struggling Rangers were also on the end of defeat at the weekend, losing 3-1 at home to Stalybridge Celtic to leave them mired in the bottom four ahead of their trip across Cannock Chase today. Manager Dale Belford also made changes to his side, bringing in Ben O'Hanlon, Andy Burns and Ashley Fallon ahead of the suspended Scott Wara, ineligible Hednesford loanee Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen and Sam Fitzgerald. There were a large number of ex-Hednesford men in the Rangers ranks, with O'Hanlon, Callum King-Harmes, James McQuilkin and Mike McGrath all starting and Joe Morley, Callum Coyle and Reinaldo Fornes all amongst the away side's substitutes

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It had been a heavily misty Boxing Day across the country, with a blanket of thick fog engulfing Keys Park ahead of kick-off that made visibility tricky on both sides. Both sides took a little time to get to grips with the conditions, with Jake Jervis looking to burst through the Rangers' defence in the seventh minute as he got on the end of a McHale through ball but was adjudged to have been in an offside position in front of O'Neill by the assistant on the main stand side

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A minute later, new signing Jamie Morgan came together with King-Harmes in the Stafford six-yard box as the pair challenged for a deep Sparkes cross. However, referee Mr Biggin felt that Morgan had instigated the clash originally and handed the visitors a free-kick instead

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Jervis was causing the Stafford defence all sorts of issues early on with his willingness to play on the shoulder of the last man and chase down through balls from the likes of McHale and Dan Trickett-Smith. In the eleventh minute, he got goal side of McGrath once more as Ryan Brown's long punt forward was lost in the fog by the veteran and dropped at the feet of the former Blues man, only for his shot to end up in the side netting from a tight angle to the left of goalkeeper Cam Belford's goal

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Maye isn't known for his goalscoring exploits and proved as such two minutes later as a half-hearted clearance from O'Hanlon fell to the midfielder on the edge of the penalty area - his low strike at goal lacked power and direction, however, and dribbled harmlessly wide of Belford's right-hand post

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McHale was in a typically swashbuckling mood, leading O'Hanlon a merry dance with his skill and earning the Pitmen a free-kick to the right of the Stafford penalty area on sixteen minutes after drawing a foul out of the ex-Hednesford left-back. Trickett-Smith and Sparkes discussed the resultant free-kick at length before the left-back clipped the ball over the crossbar with a dipping, curling effort at goal

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Stafford had offered the square route of nothing in the first quarter of the game as an attacking force, struggling to find any joy against Elliott Johnson and Ollie Harrison so far. Brown did well to come off his line and deal with an inswinging Burgess corner from the right as McGrath and O'Neill lurked with intent at the far post

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Sixty seconds later, Stafford went close to breaking the deadlock as McQuilkin and Kaiman Anderson linked up to play Ashely Fallon into space, whose first-time shot at goal flashed just wide of Brown's left-hand post

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Anderson forced brown into a good save on twenty-three minutes as he got goal side of Harrison for the first time in the afternoon and drove in a shot at goal that the young Hednesford stopper did well to push behind for a corner down to his right

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The Pitmen's porous defensive nature at set-pieces - ruthlessly exposed by Vauxhall Motors on Saturday - was in full evidence once more ​from Burgess's resultant corner kick from the left was floated into the box and headed away by Johnson as far as O'Hanlon, who controlled the ball well and drove in a shot that was going well, well wide until it inexplicably hit the unknowing John Atherton, who diverted it into the corner of the net

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The Pitmen looked to strike back with another long punt over the top from Harrison on twenty-six minutes that was aimed at the run of Jervis, but again the big striker was pulled back for a tight offside flag against him as he came across the pitch and from behind O'Neill

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McHale's dancing feet on twenty-eight minutes saw him drift inside of two Stafford challenges just inside the Rangers half, with the Magic Man electing to shoot from an impossible range rather than play Sparkes into space on the left, firing well wide of goal from thirty yards out

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Rangers were struck with a blow in bizarre circumstances on the half-hour mark as manager Dale Belford was shown a straight red card by Mr Biggin after he had wandered out of his technical area and onto the pitch, which in today's rules is a sending-off offence despite Belford's pleas otherwise

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Ex-Hednesford midfielder McQuilkin - in severe danger of suffering a third successive relegation in his distinguished career - picked up the game's first booking of the afternoon on thirty-two minutes as Mr Biggin cautioned him for deliberately delaying a Hednesford free-kick just inside the Stafford half by taking the ball with him on purpose

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Cam Belford almost gifted McHale a great chance to equalise for the Pitmen on thirty-six minutes as Taylor's ball forward dropped at the feet of the stopper just outside his penalty area - McHale took full advantage of some dithering from the stopper and managed to block his attempted clearance, with the ball looping up into the air and eventually dropping back to McHale, who could only head the ball wide of goal as Belford appeared to impede him. To the amazement of the Hednesford supporters, players and bench, a free-kick was given to Stafford for the altercation

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Brown also very nearly made a costly error from a Burgess corner kick three minutes later as he slipped at the worst possible moment looking to claim a bouncing ball but managed to recover in time before Atherton could turn the loose ball home inside the six-yard box

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With four minutes of the first half remaining, Trickett-Smith should have done better with a great chance presented to him after Taylor's cross had been headed into his path by O'Neill, only for the playmaker to drag his shot from ten yards out wide of Belford's right-hand post

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More good goalkeeping from Belford in the final minute of normal time saw him deny the excellent Jervis with a save down to his left, diverting the striker's angled shot away from goal with his left leg after the Pitmen had broken down the right through Morgan and Doyle-Charles, with the latter's low cross eventually finding Jervis at the far post via a touch from Trickett-Smith

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Despite it looking as though the hosts would be coming in at the break chasing the game, Trickett-Smith popped up with a timely equaliser as we entered four added minutes; Harrison's long ball forward was flicked on by Jervis and into the path of the midfielder, who got goal side of O'Neill before steadying himself and cleverly chipping the ball over the head of the onrushing Belford and into the net from an angle. It was reminiscent of Trickett-Smith's goal against City of Liverpool last month and takes him into double figures for the season already
 

Trickett-Smith's goal had most certainly papered over the gaping cracks in the Pitmen's first-half performance as they had rarely threatened and had once again looked culpable from set-pieces at the back. Rangers, you felt, would be happy to take a point at this juncture with their patched-up defence, despite holding the lead for twenty minutes

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Within eighty seconds of the restart, Jervis forced Belford into another good save down to his left after being sent clear of the Stafford defence by McHale's fine pass down the left, cutting inside and attempting to put the ball beyond the stopper and into the far corner of the net

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The misty conditions appeared to worsen momentarily at this point, as for the first time in the afternoon the opposite end of the ground was completely obscured by the fog. However, it partially lifted within moments and the supporters could go back to squinting at the game and just being able to make out the players

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Striker Anderson followed McQuilkin into Mr Biggin's book ten minutes after the restart as the former Leamington man was shown a yellow card for a foul on Doyle-Charles

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Hurren had seen enough from his misfiring side and made his first tactical change of the afternoon on fifty-seven minutes as the tricky Bearne came on down the left flank in place of Sparkes

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Maye picked up the Pitmen's first booking of the afternoon a minute later as he brought down Anderson to the right-hand side of the Hednesford box, earning a yellow card for his mis-timed tackle. Burgess once again assumed responsibility for the kick and took full advantage of more desperately poor marking from the Pitmen to pick out O'Neill at the far post, with the former AFC Telford United defender having all the time in the world to head home unmarked at the far post

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Two minutes later, Taylor was booked by Mr Biggin for a petulant moment as the left-back kicked the ball away in front of the match official after the award of a Stafford free-kick

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In reaction to falling behind once more, Hurren made a further attacking change to his side on sixty-four minutes as top scorer Manny Duku came on to add his presence to the attack as he replaced Maye, who was starting to run out of steam after a good hour's return to action after a long spell out injured

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Dutchman Duku went close to making an immediate impact with his first involvement three minutes later as he latched onto a long punt out of defence from Johnson, racing away from McGrath and O'Neill but being denied by a fine smothering save from Belford, who diverted the striker's low shot away from goal with his left leg

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The in-form Jervis has been one of the main beneficiaries of Hurren's appointment, with the big striker making it four goals in his last seven games as he got the hosts back on level terms in seventy-one minutes; McHale was the architect as he switched wings momentarily to pop up on the left, picking up Taylor's pass in acres of room and sending over a fine cross that Jervis volleyed home past Belford from six yards out. Game on

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With the game now sharply in their favour, the Pitmen turned the game on its head and took the lead for the first time in the afternoon through another one of their in-form performers McHale; Duku turned creator for the playmaker as he flicked on a quickly-taken Doyle-Charles free-kick to put McHale up against O'Hanlon. The former Stourbridge and Hednesford full-back allowed McHale to get in behind him before he shimmied past O'Neill and fired home with a powerful low shot beyond the reach of Belford from ten yards out. It was McHale's fourth goal in five games and sent the majority of the 2,500-plus crowd wild

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In reaction, Rangers made their first substitution of the afternoon before the game could restart as midfield man Fitzgerald came on in place of former Shifnal man Fallon
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With ten minutes remaining, McHale's race was run as Hurren gave him a well-earned rest and brought Jamaican International midfielder Omar Holness on in his place

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Burgess had been Stafford's main catalyst of everything positive all afternoon long and went close to grabbing an equaliser with nine minutes remaining as he pounced on a half-cleared ball fifteen yards from goal but drove his first-time effort wide of Brown's left-hand pos​t

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A minute later, Rangers also made a midfield change as ex-Hednesford loanee Coyle came on to play on the right flank as he replaced King-Harmes, who also had a brief spell at Keys Park in 2021-2022

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The conditions appeared to be worsening again with the minutes ticking by and you did get the feeling that had the game not been in its final moments then there may have been a decision to be made by Mr Biggin and his officials as to whether to continue; games at Mickleover, Bradford (Park Avenue), Emley and Avro had all succumbed to the weather as the afternoon had worn on

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With four minutes remaining, the home side looked to protect their slender lead and add to their defensive ranks as Endall came on in place of Trickett-Smith in a move that saw the Pitmen move to three centre-backs for the remainder of the game. At the same time, Forbes was given a late run-out against his former club as he replaced O'Neill

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A nervy period of added time was eased considerably in the second minute of five added minutes as the Pitmen were awarded a penalty kick; Jervis took advantage of a momentary slip by 39-year-old McGrath just outside the Stafford penalty area and made his way into the penalty area, playing the ball across to Duku; the substitute took the ball around the dive of Belford but was brought down by the stopper as he looked to slot the ball into the empty net. Mr Biggin immediately pointed to the spot, allowing Duku to place the ball down and dispatch a confident penalty beyond the reach of Belford and into the top corner of the net

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An excellent result for the Pitmen - if not a good performance -  beating their old rivals for the first time since January 2018 and moving them up to eighth place in the table, just three points off the play-off places once more. Defeat for Rangers leaves them mired in the bottom three and five points from safety going into the New Year. Hurren will want to build on this win with a similar result at Chasetown on New Year's Day, although the shocking defending for both Stafford goals in addition to the terrible defending for both Vauxhall Motors goals at the weekend will be a real cause for concern for the management team going into a the Chasetown game, particularly with the kind of aggressive performers the Scholars can call upon from set-pieces

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Hednesford Town: Brown, Morgan, Taylor ▆, Doyle-Charles, Harrison, Johnson ©, Trickett-Smith (Endall 86), Maye ▆ (Duku 64), Jervis, McHale (Holness 90), Spence, Sparkes (Bearne 57)     Sub Unused: Gwilt

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Stafford Rangers: Belford, King-Harmes (Coyle 81), O'Hanlon, McQuilkin ▆, McGrath ©, Burns, Fallon (Fitzgerald 74), Burgess, O'Neill (Forbes 86), Anderson ▆, Atherton      Subs Unused: Sayer, Morley

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