> 7.4.2003

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Hednesford picked up another useful point in their fight against relegation against another high-flying club in the shape of Crawley. Player/manager Chris Brindley was again missing from the side, electing to watch his charges from the bench; so it was the same XI that surprisingly beat Chippenham on Saturday

 The Pitmen started strongly, and felt that they should have earned a penalty for their efforts on twenty minutes when captain Steve Piearce was hauled back by Glen Matten - the referee ignored Hednesford pleas for a penalty and waved play on

 The Pitmen were enjoying good periods of possession throughout the first half and limited Crawley to a couple of long range efforts, the best being one from Danny Hockton, who fired just wide from just outside the area on the half hour

Nigel Brake looked to push Crawley forward, and his twenty five yard drive was well saved by Michael Bingham, down by his near post a minute later

Going forward, the Pitmen were less convincing, with new boy Luke Corbett getting on the end of a looping ball from Stewart Airdrie on thirty three minutes, but his shot only found the Heath Hayes terrace behind the goal

 Into the second half then, and it was left to skipper Piearce to miss a great chance just a minute into the restart, pulling his shot just wide after good work from Stuart Lake and David Moss

 Crawley keeper Andy Little had to be alert on sixty three minutes to deny Piearce, after good work again by Moss put Hednesford's top scorer in on goal

 It was destined not to be Piearce's night, as on seventy minutes, he again fired wide, this time after being teed up by a combination of David Berks and Corbett

 Corbett looked jaded after his super show against Chippenham and was replaced soon after by Graham Lancashire, adding more firepower up front as the Pitmen went in search of a winner

 The only real time Michael Bingham was called into action in the second half was on seventy five minutes, getting into a good position to field a shot from Ellis Hooper, whose hopeful shot failed to really stretch the former Blackburn man

 Brake could have clinched it for the away side on eighty three minutes, but fired wide with the goal at his mercy, much to Hednesford's relief

Piearce's late, late effort sailed over the bar, ending a frustrating ninety minutes for the club's top scorer

 So a useful point for Hednesford - it could well have been three had Piearce had a luckier night in front of goal cds

Weymouth (H) 

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