The Pitmen inch themselves a little closer to the top two this afternoon as they extend their unbeaten league run to twelve games with victory over play-off chasing Stalybridge Celtic at Keys Park

​

Hednesford manager Gavin Hurren was forced into a significant change to his side ahead of today's game, as the influential Dan Trickett-Smith was ruled out due to a knock and was replaced by Niall Watson. With just a few minutes before kick-off, the hosts were forced into a further change of personnel as Joel Taylor pulled up in the warm-up and was replaced by Kory Roberts at the back

​

Stalybridge sat just outside the play-off places in sixth position ahead of today's clash, having beaten Kidsgrove Athletic 1-0 at Bower Fold last weekend. Manager Jon Macken made two changes to his Blues side from the one that had started against Kidsgrove as Courtney Meppen-Walters and Max Leonard came in for Jack Tinning and Benni Smales-Braithwaite​​​​​

​

The Pitmen's recent strong start to games continued once more with another early goal for the hosts through Ahkeem Rose in the sixth minute; Blissett was the architect with a towering header to flick on a ball from Jamie Morgan into the path of Rose, who shook off the attentions of Sean Tse to steady himself before confidently poking the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Charlie Monks and into the empty net from ten yards out. As he ran away to celebrate, Rose appeared to feel his right hamstring and required a bout of treatment before gingerly returning to the pitch after the restart

​

There appeared to be an immediate shift in the Pitmen's whole approach to the game as they dropped ten yards back to protect their early lead, instead aiming at Blissett at every opportunity to hold the ball up and bring the likes of Dom McHale and Rose into the game. Blissett's flick-on for McHale in the eighth minute found the playmaker out on the right, with McHale stepping past two challenges before taking a touch too many and allowing Tse to clear the ball on the edge of the penalty area

​

Stalybridge responded through the busy Jack Irlam in the twelfth minute, winning a free-kick to the right-hand side of the Hednesford penalty area after being brought down by Elliott Johnson. Skipper Liam Tongue took the resultant free-kick but tamely curled his effort over the wall and into the hands of Tony Breeden

​​​​

Rose's earlier hamstring issue was to eventually catch up with him in the fifteenth minute, as another run down the left saw the forward pull up once more. Despite Jack Bearne having been warmed up for the past few minutes, it was Zidan Sutherland that stepped off the bench to replaced Rose up front, handing the popular striker over seventy-five minutes of action to stake his claim for a first-team spot

​

McHale - without a goal in the past nine games since his strike against Nantwich Town in January - looked to create something from nothing out on the right as he drifted past Kyle Brownhill and Meppen-Walters but fired high and wide of goal with a wild left-footed effort, when a pass to the unmarked Watson may have been a better idea

​

The game descended into something of a non-event for the next fifteen minutes of play, with Stalybridge seeing plenty of the ball but failing to break through the strong and organised Hednesford defence. On eighteen minutes, a good run from Jordan Butterworth down the right saw the full-back slip the ball through to Lewis Rawsthorn, who had made a positive move in behind former Radcliffe team-mate Morgan to the byeline. However, the excellent Roberts snuffed out any threat offered by the striker as he jockeyed him away from danger and blocked the young loanee's route to goal with a strong challenge

​

Sutherland was struggling to get involved in the game, making several good runs into space down the right for the hosts but feeding off scraps as the Pitmen elected to maintain their conservative attacking approach. McHale's pass sent him away down the flank on twenty-four minutes, with the substitute dribbling past Brownhill before a heavy second touch saw him over-run the ball and allow Monks to claim at his feet

​

Good hold-up play from Blissett three minutes later saw the big striker control the ball well with his back to goal, holding off Meppen-Walters before a clever reverse pass sent Morgan on his way down the right flank; however, Morgan's cross was far too high gor anyone to get on the end of and drifted across the face of goal and away from danger

​

Shortly after the half hour mark, Hussey whipped in a dangerous corner kick from the right-hand side that somehow flew past everybody inside the Stalybridge six-yard box and ended up out to play on the far side; how nobody a white shirt managed to get their head on a delightful inswinging ball is anyone's guess​

​

Sutherland continued to frustrate, needlessly drifting into an offside position on thirty-six minutes as he latched onto McHale's pass a couple of yards outside the penalty area as the Stalybridge defence were caught ball-watching momentarily

​

Four minutes later, Stalybridge were once again left frustrated by some excellent defending from Hussey, who came across his box to take the ball away from Irlam, turning one way then the other to buy himself time and space before bursting forwards, past the Celtic midfield man and into acres of space in midfield to pick out Joe Doyle-Charles. A superb piece of play from the veteran defender, further underlying his undoubted quality at step four

​

With a couple of minutes of the first half remaining, Stalybridge created a half-chance for Charlie Doyle as a neat passing move involving Rawsthorn and Tongue set up the midfielder, whose scuffed first-time shot from the edge of the box bobbled well wide of Breeden's right-hand post

​

A minute later, Irlam was also presented with a half chance for the visitors as he got on the end of a cross from Brownhill and looked to lob Breeden with the first-time effort from sixteen yards out, only to lift his effort timely over the crossbar

​​

The Pitmen could be pleased with another solid, authoritative half of football, nicking an early lead yet again and giving their visitors little to no opportunities to get back in the game with another stoic defensive display from the likes of Hussey, Roberts and Breeden

​

Stalybridge, perhaps unsurprisingly, looked to press a little higher up the pitch at the start of the second half as they searched for a way back into the game. Two minutes after the restart, a deep free kick from Butterworth on the Stalybridge right was played into the far post, where the giant figure of Meppen-Walters met the ball but headed over the crossbar for a goal kick

​

Maye - not known for his goal return over the years - got himself into a goalscoring position on fifty-four minutes as he made a late run into the Stakybridge box down the right to get on the end of Johnson's raking cross-field ball, but dwelled on his shot too long and allowed Brownhill to block his effort with an outstretched leg

​

Another deep ball in from Johnson, this time onto the head of Blissett four minutes later, saw the ball loop over the heads of all of the players running into the six-yard box before Butterworth hacked the ball away from danger

​​

Shortly before the hour mark, Doyle picked up the game's first booking from referee Mr Walker as the experienced midfielder was shown a yellow card for a foul on McHale

​

Before play could restart with a Hussey free-kick, the Pitmen made their second change of the afternoon as Bearne finally made it onto the pitch and replaced Watson. Hussey's ball in was cleared as far as McHale, who turned the ball onto his favourite left boot but could only shoot straight into the midriff of Monks with a rising effort from eighteen yards out

​

Midway through the second half, Stalybridge made a double attacking change as Joe Duckworth replaced Leonard and Smales-Braithwaite came on for Irlam

​

With the Pitmen being handed regular free-kicks for niggly infringements involving Stalybridge players, one of the visiting bench spoke a little too far out of turn for Mr Walker's liking on sixty-nine minutes, with the referee brandishing a yellow card in the general direction of the Stalybridge bench for dissent

​

Despite offering next to nothing as an attacking force so far in the second half, veteran midfielder Tongue did give Breeden cause for concern momentarily on seventy minutes as his half-volley from fully twenty-five yards out dipped just over the experienced goalkeeper's crossbar after the Hednesford defence stood off the former Guiseley and Mossley man momentarily

​

Neat play on the counter from the Pitmen saw Simeon Maye send McHale away down the right on seventy-three minutes with a lofted pass out of defence, sending the midfielder away down the right once more. McHale once again looked to take on the whole Stalybridge defence on his own, drifting past three tackles before holding onto the ball too long and allowing a tackle to come in from Tse when a pass to the unmarked Bearne was perhaps a better option

​

Johnson - another without a goal to his name in recent weeks - went close to ending his drought for the hosts four minutes later, seizing up on a partially cleared corner from Bearne and drilling in a shot from just inside the Stalybridge penalty area that cleared the crossbar by a matter of inches

​

Blissett - slowly increasing his fitness with every passing game - finally grabbed the goal that his efforts deserved with a crucial second goal for the Pitmen on seventy-six minutes; Bearne created the chance as he picked up the ball on the left hand corner of the box and clipped a right-footed ball into the near post, where Blissett was on hand to nip in ahead of Meppen-Walters and toe-poke the ball home before he or Monks could get to the ball. It was the big man's second goal in a week and third in just four starts since his return to Keys Park

​

With the game now won, you suspected, the Pitmen could afford to give game time to the returning Jacob Gwilt with ten minutes to go as he replaced Doyle-Charles in the centre of midfield

​

A minute later, Macken made another double change to his Stalybridge side as former Witton Albion man Elliot Rokka came on in place of Rawsthorn and Jordan Burton replaced Newell

​

Breeden was not giving up yet another clean sheet easily, however, and denied Stalybridge a way back into the game on eight-three minutes with an acrobatic save to his left-hand side, accrobatically plucking Rokka's rising shot from the edge of the penalty area out of the air and deny the substitute an immediate goal

​

Another satisfying win for the Pitmen, who were again low on flair and excitement in the final third at times but still chalked up a comprehensive three points against a Stalybridge side that had struggled to create anything of note. Vauxhall Motors' 2-2 draw with Stafford Rangers brings the Pitmen within a point of second place with eight games remaining, although a shot at the title now looks highly unlikely with Widnes recording a 3-2 win over Chasetown to keep the gap at nine points. The final of the three successive home games in a row sees Newcastle Town make the short trip across the county next Saturday, having relegated City of Liverpool today with a 2-0 win at the Lyme Valley Stadium

​​

Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Roberts, Maye, Johnson ©, Hussey, Rose (Sutherland 15), Doyle-Charles (Gwilt 80), Blissett, McHale, Watson (Bearne 58)     Sub Unused: Brown

​

Stalybridge Celtic: Monks, Butterworth, Brownhill, Meppen-Walters, Tse, Doyle ▆, Newell (Burton 81), Tongue ©, Rawsthorn (Rokka 81), Irlam (Smales-Braithwaite 65), Leonard (Duckworth 65)       Sub Unused: Anuniru

​​​​​​​​