The Pitmen's poor start to the new season continues this afternoon as they are dumped into the bottom three of the Southern Premier League Central; table after another low-quality ninety minutes against fellow slow starters Stratford

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Tuesday night's meagre goalless draw against Stourbridge had left the Pitmen still without a win so far this season, sitting in seventeenth place in the table going into today's game. Manager Keenen Meakin-Richards made one change to his team from the one that had started against the Glassboys on midweek as Josh Webb was rewarded for his bright second-half cameo with a return to the side in place of the out-of-sorts Lewis Hayden

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Twentieth-placed Stratford had also failed to record a win so far this campaign, having lost two and drawn one of their first three games. Manager Dean Holdsworth made three changes to his side from the one that had drawn 2-2 at local rivals Redditch United in midweek as former Hednesford man Josh Endall replaced Patrick Zito at left-back and Jamie Molyneux came in for his first start on the wing as he was preferred to former Tamworth man Dexter Walters. The final, and notable, change came up front as former Aberdeen and Salford City striker Adam Rooney - signed the previous day - made an immediate debut in place of Curvin Ellis

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It was another beautifully warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, although temperatures were a good ten degrees cooler than last week's sweltering conditions at Mickleover, making it a little more bearable for both players and spectators. The visitors settled into their regular passing game quickly, stroking the ball around the pitch with Todd Parker at the heart of all of their early moves forwards

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An early Parker corner kick in the fourth minute was aimed at the head of skipper Lewis Ison, who was just beaten to the ball by Stratford's lanky goalkeeper Liam O'Brien, who claimed the ball off the head of the centre-back

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Will Dawes - a thorn in the Hednesford side in last season's encounter at Knights Lane - made a superb run through the centre of the park in the sixth minute as he drifted past two challenges before being clattered by Sam Wilding twenty yards from goal. Former Hednesford man Ashley Sammons - scorer of the winning goal for the Bards in last season's corresponding fixture - clipped the ball into the box as he aimed for Rooney, but the cross had a little too much on it and drifted harmlessly wide of goal

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Kyle Bennett won the Pitmen another corner kick two minutes later as he took the ball down the right and committed Endall into a block to stop him from crossing towards Leroy Lita. The former Telford man took the resultant flag kick but disappointingly clipped his cross straight into the arms of the unchallenged O'Brien. This has become an annoying feature of the Pitmen's early form as the quality of service into the box has been severely lacking from both Parker and Bennet from corner kicks

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Riley O'Sullivan was relishing his battle with Jack Turner down the Hednesford right, making a good run past the defender to get on the end of Parker's slide-rule pass in the eleventh minute but saw his pull-back towards Lita cleared by the familiar figure of ex-Hednesford defender Paul McCone, who was once again proving to be an immovable object in the Bards' defence

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O'Sullivan and Harvey Portman combined down the left in the fifteenth minute to work the ball into the feet of Luke Rowe, who dithered on the ball as play started to open up in front of him and allowed Sammons to pick his pocket twenty yards from goal before he could shoot

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More corner kicks came and went for the visitors, with Bennett playing an overly-clever short corner to Webb in the twentieth minute that was hacked clear by the home side as both Hednesford players did not seem to be on the same wavelength

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Midway through the first period, Stratford had the game's best chance thus far as Molyneux's pace and trickery down the right saw the former Halesowen Town man get past Portman and send over a low cross to the far post, where Rooney was within a matter of inches away from turning the ball home inside the six-yard box but couldn't quite apply the finish from close-range

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The Pitmen felt that they had a legitimate call for a penalty kick two minutes later as Lita's quick turn just inside the box saw him sent sprawling under a challenge from James O'Neill. Despite the veteran's pleas, referee Mr Allsopp was unmoved and awarded Stratford a goal kick. McCone felt that Lita had gone down a little too easily and the pair exchanged words on the incident before the goal kick could be taken

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The Bards grabbed what was to prove to be the game's only goal of the afternoon on the half-hour mark as patient build-up play from the hosts saw Josh Hawker's pass feed Rooney, who showed all of his experience to hold the ball up on the edge of the penalty area, turning past Nathan Cameron and playing the ball out to Molyneux on the right flank. He skipped past Portman and delivered a low cross into the six-yard box, where Sammons arrived to drive the ball into the roof of the net via a touch from Ison on the line

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Back came the Pitmen, who won two free-kicks in quick succession as they quickly looked to get themselves back on level terms. Bennett's ball into the box from the right flank on thirty-three minutes was met by the head of O'Sullivan, whose looping ball back into the danger zone was cleared by the excellent O'Neill before Ison could react and turn the ball home

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Three minutes later, O'Sullivan won another corner kick down the left as his attempted cross was blocked by Turner. Parker's deep, wind-assisted cross to the far post was headed upwards by Cameron but was claimed by O'Brien with relative ease

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Dawes created himself a half-chance on thirty-eight minutes as a quick break down the left saw the talented attacker make a driving run into the Hednesford third of the pitch before firing over the crossbar from twenty yards out with a rising shot

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With five minutes of the half remaining, Parker exchanged passes with Portman before looking to play Lita in on goal, only for the giant, lanky leg of McCone to come to Stratford's rescue as he blocked the passage through to goal for the 37-year-old

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Dawes was the first player to be shown a yellow card on forty-two minutes as he was penalised by Mr Allsopp for a foul on Webb down the right-hand side of the pitch which prompted an angry reaction from the increasingly desperate Hednesford bench

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It had been yet another limp and uninspiring half from the Pitmen, who will have had over 70% of the possession but had created very little with it and had once again allowed the opposition to strike first to leave them chasing the game in the second period, much as they had done at Mickleover last weekend

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The Pitmen pressed the hosts with an early bout of possession at the start of the second half, with O'Brien forced into an early save on forty-nine minutes as O'Sullivan's run and shot from fifteen yards out was parried away by the stopper down to his left to hand the Pitmen a corner kick

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Stratford were content to keep bodies behind the ball and soak up any limited attacks from the Pitmen as the visitors once again came across a side who were solid and rigid in the formation and had very little in the way of nous or inspiration to break them down. Bennett made a drifting run across the face of the Stratford penalty area on fifty-four minutes but elected to look for a pass to O'Sullivan, rather than shoot at goal with play opening up in front of him

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Neat play involving Parker and Webb saw the Pitmen work the ball down the right on fifty-eight minutes, with Webb's low cross diverted behind for a corner kick by O'Neill at his near post to deny Lita a sniff at goal

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Lita's frustrating afternoon against one of his former clubs ended just after the hour mark as the veteran was taken off in favour of Cameron Ebbutt in a move that saw O'Sullivan moved up front as the lone front man

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Ebbutt was straight into the action as he played his part in a three-man move that saw the Pitmen work the ball across the pitch from left to right through him, Parker and Rowe to Webb, whose through ball towards O'Sullivan was cut out by McCone once more

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Sam Wilding somehow escaped punishment midway through the half as he brought Dawes down thirty yards from the Hednesford goal, with Mr Allsopp somehow failing to spot the foul and allowed play to continue, despite the protests of the Stratford bench

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Rooney was having a good game for the hosts, using his experience to good effect to give the Hednesford defence the runaround. On seventy-one minutes, he brought down a Sammons pass on his chest and played Dawes into space down the left; his low cross into the box was aimed at the incoming Molyneux, but Ison was having none of it and hacked the danger clear

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Two minutes later, youth team graduate Numair Rashad was handed his full debut for the club as he came on in place of Wilding to add his presence to the shot-shy Hednesford attack on the right

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Parker was the latest player in white to waste a good chance to shoot at goal with fifteen minutes remaining as his run from the centre circle saw play open up in front of him, with the youngster electing instead to take a touch and play the ball out to Ebbutt on the left when the shot was very much on

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It was left to Rowe to finally try his luck from range on seventy-eight minutes as the ball was laid back to the former Redditch man by O'Sullivan, with his rising shot easily saved by O'Brien in the centre of his goal. It was, at least, a shot on target for the toothless visitors, who were once again showing very little aptitude in the final third of the pitch for the fourth game in succession

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With eleven minutes of the game remaining, the Pitmen made a like-for-like switch at left-back as the inconsistent Portman was replaced by fellow teenager Harry Manton for the remainder of the game

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Sammons tested the reflexes of Lewis Gwilliams for the first time in the afternoon on eighty-one minutes after Dawes had won a free-kick just outside the Hednesford penalty area; the midfield schemer curled his shot beyond the Hednesford wall and forced the stopper into a save low down to his right, with Ison doing well to block a follow-up shot from Rooney and turn the rebound behind for a corner kick to the Bards

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This was to be Dawes' final involvement in the game as he was replaced by former Cheltenham Town youngster Felix Miles for the final eight minutes of the game on eighty-two minutes 

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Ebbutt went close for the Pitmen with five minutes remaining as his run and shot from just outside the Stratford penalty area saw his effort whistle just over the crossbar, although O'Brien's confident demeanour suggested that he had it covered

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Molyneux could have settled the game as a contest three minutes later as another good run from the man in his second spell with the club saw him drift past Manton and strike a crisp effort from eighteen yards out that just cleared Gwilliams' crossbar

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Endall took one for the team on eighty-nine minutes as he halted the run of Ebbutt with a crude late challenge down the Hednesford right, earning him a yellow card for a poor tackle on the substitute

 

Bennett lashed a late shot just over the crossbar in the second minute of added time after good work from Parker had set the experienced forward up just outside the Stratford box

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A second defeat of the season leaves the Pitmen floundering in twentieth position in the early standings as Stratford leapfrog them in the table courtesy of their first win of the campaign. The lack of goals - and chances in creating them - is starting to concern everyone of a Hednesford persuasion, with all four league games taking a similar theme of Hednesford struggling to make it count in the final third of the pitch against strong, well-organised back lines. Bedford Town - slaughtered 8-1 at home by Tamworth today - make their first trip to Hednesford since April 2011 next weekend looking for a response to this afternoon's mauling at the hands of the much-fancied Lambs

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Stratford Town: O'Brien, Turner, Endall ▆, Sammons, McCone, O'Neill, Molyneux, Hawker, Rooney, Grocott ©, Dawes ▆ (Milnes 82)       Subs Unused: Lafferty, Monaghan, Zito, Sanderson-Ellis

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Hednesford Town: Gwilliams, Webb, Portman (Manton 79), Cameron, Ison ©, Wilding (Rashad 73), Rowe, Parker, Lita (Ebbutt 62), Bennett, O'Sullivan      Subs Unused: Riley, Williams

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