1,148

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Chris Hussey

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L W W W D D W W W D

 

Bootle (A) 22.2.25

The division's two in-form sides battle out an entertaining goalless draw at Keys Park this afternoon, with the hosts not quite having enough to break through a well-organised and determined Widnes back line

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Three wins in succession for the Pitmen brought them into today's game in excellent form, remaining unbeaten in their last eight league games. Manager Gavin Hurren was able to welcome back club captain Elliott Johnson and Chris Hussey after the experienced pair had missed the past few games through injury. The two left-sided defenders came straight back into the sides as the only two changes of personnel to the one that had started Saturday's 1-0 win at Hanley Town as Johnson replaced Joel Taylor at left-back and Hussey came into the centre of defence ahead of Kory Roberts

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League leaders Widnes had seen their own long unbeaten run ended somewhat surprisingly last weekend with a 2-0 defeat at home to Atherton Collieries, although the Vikings remained five points clear at the top of the table after defeats for Vauxhall Motors and Congleton Town behind them. Manager Michael Ellison made four changes to his side for their trip down to South Staffordshire as new loan signing from Chorley Sam Bird, James Cooper, Kingsley Williams and Dominic McGiveron all came into the side ahead of Jack Walls, Ben Rydel, Harry McGee and Jack McGowan​​​​​

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The recent spell of wet weather had left the Keys Park pitch heavy and dug up in certain places, whilst other parts were left a little threadbare. In front of another 1,000-plus crowd, the Pitmen look to make their typically strong start to proceedings as Jack Bearne so plenty of the ball down the left early on. Indeed, the winger felt that he had a legitimate call for a penalty kick earlier on as he made his way into the penalty area of the left wing before taking a tumble under a challenge from Williams. However, referee Mr Lambert was unimpressed with the Hednesford number seven's appeals and the game continued

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Dom McHale looked to get the Pitmen going with one of his typically swashbuckling runs in the eighth minute, gliding past two challenges as he cut in from the right but saw his left-footed effort blocked by Louis Isherwood

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Hussey's delivery from set-pieces has been a huge positive since the 36-year-old joined the club a few weeks ago, with another tremendous delivery from the defender on eleven minutes skimming the head of Harrison and falling just beyond the head of the incoming Johnson at the far post before being cleared

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More good approach play from the home side on fourteen minutes so McHale exchanged prices with Jamie Morgan, sending the right back into space down the flank. Morgan looked to pick out the run of Rose in the middle but saw his cross into the box cut out by Widnes skipper Ste Irwin

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On eighteen minutes, yet another fine delivery from Hussey at a corner saw the defender send over an outswinging ball into the box that was met by the head of Ollie Harrison, whose downward header into the path of home debutant Ahkeem Rose - his first-time shot from eight yards out was blocked on the line by Matty Rain and cleared by the visiting defence

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A quick break from the home side on the counter attack two minutes later saw McHale play a wonderful cross-field ball behind the Widnes defence and into the path of the marauding Bearne on the far side of the pitch; the winger took the ball into the penalty area and looked to pick his spot with a shot across the face of goal, only to scuff his effort into the ground and send it well wide of goalkeeper Mark Halstead's left-hand post via a nick off Isherwood's boot. Mr Lambert incensed the home supporters by awarding a goal-kick when the ball had clearly come off the boot of the Widnes defender

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Need to approach play down the right from the Pitman created a great chance for McHale four minutes later as Morgan's ball forward was cleverly flicked on by Dan Trickett-Smith into the path of McHale, who danced past Rain before unleashing a left-footed effort from the edge of the penalty area that was brilliantly turned away by Halstead down to his right, diving full length to push the ball away and deny McHale a certain goal

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Just sixty seconds later, Hussey tested Halstead once more from a free-kick as the defender tried his luck from fully twenty-five yards out with a clever curling effort from range that had the Widnes goalkeeper scrambling across his goal to his left to push the ball behind for a corner kick

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Midfield general Irwin picked up the game's first yellow card of the afternoon shortly before the half-hour mark, as the Widnes captain was penalised by Mr Lambert for a foul on Trickett Smith. Hussey's resultant free-kick was stood up to the far post, where Isherwood and Halstead did enough to scramble the ball away from the looming presence of last week's goalscorer Harrison

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Bearne was once again at the centre of the action for the hosts on thirty-four minutes, making another jinking run down the left as he skipped past Bird with some neat footwork before rolling the ball into the path of Rose, who was to be denied a clear shot at goal by some smart and very timely defending from Isherwood

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Halstead had to be alert for Widnes once more four minutes later, making another excellent side down to his left to deny Trickett-Smith after the playmaker had been set up on the edge of the penalty area by McHale and had struck a low shot goal from twenty yards out

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Isherwood followed Irwin into the referee's notebook on forty minutes, as the defender was rightly shown a yellow card by Mr Lambert for a foul on Morgan down the Hednesford right. Hussey again assumed responsibility from the free kick and once again forced Halstead into another good save as his free-kick was pushed around the post by the stopper for a corner kick

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Widnes had to wait until the last minute of the first half to register anything approaching a shot on target as Sharif Deans finally found some space on the edge of the Hednesford penalty area, shooting from range with an effort that took a huge deflection off Hussey and dropped into the hands of Tony Breeden

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Deep into four added minutes at the end of the first half, McHale had the game's best opportunity to open the scoring as he ran onto a wonderfully threaded through ball from Bearne down the left, getting goal side of the Widnes defence before shooting from a tight angle and seeing his effort come back off the outside of Halstead's right-hand post

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It had been a dominant first-half performance from the hosts, who had peppered the Widnes goal throughout the first forty-five minutes but had found the league leaders in resolute form, standing firm at everything the Pitmen could throw at them throughout to further underline their credentials as would-be league winners

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Halstead continued to frustrate the home side early on in the second half, coming off his line to claim an inswinging Hussey corner kick ahead of Harrison at the far post after McHale had danced past three challenges to win the flag kick out on the right

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More brilliant wing play from Bearne on fifty-two minutes saw the former Liverpool winger skip past youngster Bird once more as he took the ball into acres of space down the flank, steadying himself and looked to pick out Rose in the middle but delayed his cross a split-second too long and allowed Bird to recover and make the block tackle and clear

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A minute later, Widnes broke quickly down the right with McGiveron playing Steele into space; the prolific forward looked to return the ball to his strike partner in the middle but scuffed his cross into the ground, confusing both McGiveron and Hussey, who slipped at the crucial moment and was relieved to see the ball drift well wide of Breeden's far post

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The Keys Park crowd were left frustrated once more on fifty-five minutes as Mr Lambert blew for a supposed foul on Halstead by Harrison as the pair looked to challenge for another inswinging Hussey corner kick from the right. On closer inspection, it appeared that Harrison made little to no contact with the goalkeeper, who made the most of the contact to earn his side a free kick and relieve the incessant pressure on his side's goal

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Shortly before the hour mark, the Pitmen made their first change of the afternoon with a tactical tweak up front as Nathan Blissett came on to add his considerable height to proceedings, replacing Rose

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Trickett-Smith was the latest player in the white shirt to test Halstead on sixty-two minutes, making a run in behind the Widnes defence to get onto the end of Harrison's flick-on and attempt cheeky chip back across goal from an angle that Halstead claimed at his near post. It transpired that Trickett-Smith would have been flagged offside anyway as he had made a move into the box a little too early for the assistant's liking

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Sixty seconds later, a quick break from Widnes once more as Steele was played goal side of Hussey for the first time in the afternoon by Deans, with the visitors' fourteen-goal top scorer firing in a low shot at goal from fifteen yards out that Breeden did brilliantly to turn away down low to his right. The Pitmen countered once more through McHale, who was guilty of making a rash and poor decision after jinking his way past three players and electing to shoot from an absurd angle, rather than play the unmarked Bearne in on the opposite side of the penalty area

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On sixty-six minutes, Ellison made his first change of the afternoon for Widnes as striker McGiveron made way for the more defensive-minded former Wigan Athletic midfield man McGee​​​​

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Hurren rolled the dice once more for the hosts on seventy-one minutes as he again made a bold attacking change with the introduction of the fit-again Jake Jervis in place of Bearne, adding more height and power to the forward line in the process

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Blissett went oh-so-close to giving the Pitmen the lead on seventy-four minutes after another period of intense pressure in and around the Widnes penalty area saw Johnson pick up the loose ball out on the left and sent over a wonderfully flighted cross-field pass into the six-yard box that was met by the diving header of the Hednesford substitute, whose angled effort was tipped over the bar by Halstead at his near post

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It had been very much one-way traffic in the second half, much in the same way as the first in many respects but still, the Pitmen struggled to find a breakthrough. Jervis and Johnson linked up well down the left on seventy-seven minutes, with the Hednesford skipper again playing another superb angled pass across the pitch to find Morgan, whose run and cross to Blissett was smuggled clear by Rydel as he battled with the striker for the loose ball on the penalty spot

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With nine minutes remaining, there was a substitution apiece for each side as the Pitmen elected to bring on Taylor in place of Maye to play down the left flank, whilst Widnes took off their top scorer Steele and brought on McGowan

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Trickett-Smith should have done better from eighteen yards out with five minutes of play remaining after McHale's brilliant through ball played Jervis into space down the right. The striker's low pull-back found Trickett-Smith in acres of space, but rather than take a touch the playmaker blazed his first-time effort high over the crossbar

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Widnes made their final change of the game before play could restart as former City of Liverpool man Rydel came on to replace Williams in a straight swap of the pair in midfield

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Zidan Sutherland was given a late run-out by Hurren one eighty-nine minutes, with the striker looking to grab a late winner as he came on in place of the tiring and out-of-sorts McHale

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Roared on by the crowd at the confirmation of seven added minutes, the Pitmen camped inside the Widnes third of the pitch in added time as they desperately looked to force home their advantage later on in much the same way as they had done in their last home game against Witton Albion. A golden opportunity did present itself to Taylor in the fourth added minute as Morgan's long throw from the right was flicked on by Harrison to Blissett, who hooked the ball back across the face of goal from the byeline, forcing Halstead into a brilliant fingertip save that not only denied Sutherland from close-range but did enough to divert the ball away from the incoming Taylor at the far post for what would surely have been a tap-in for the former Chester man​​

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You can argue that a point apiece was probably a fair reflection of the game over ninety minutes, with the hosts just not quite having enough to break down a very well-organised and stoic Widnes side that were happy to take the point home with them, particularly with more good news filtering in from elsewhere of defeats again for Vauxhall Motors and Congleton Town that extends their lead at the top of the table. The Pitmen remain in fourth place in the table but also gain a point on the sides above them, although today may be viewed as something of a lost opportunity to really get themselves back into a potential title race. With no midweek game this week, the Pitmen now look forward to a trip to Merseyside next Saturday when they face in-form Bootle to round the month off

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Hednesford Town: Breeden, Morgan, Johnson ©, Maye (Taylor 81), Harrison, Hussey, Bearne (Jervis 71), Doyle-Charles, Rose (Blissett 59), McHale (Sutherland 89), Trickett-Smith    Sub Unused: Brown

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Widnes: Halstead, Bird, Rain, Cooper, Byrne, Isherwood ▆, Irwin © ▆, Williams (Rydel 85), Steele (McGowan 81), McGiveron (McGee 66), Deans     Subs Unused: Holland-Wilkinson, Peterson

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