> 14.9.2002

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Hednesford returned to goalscoring form this afternoon against out-of-sorts Havant & Waterlooville at Keys Park. The much-maligned Steve Piearce was the star of the show, grabbing his first Hednesford goals and also clocking up plenty of chances to have made it a hat-trick. There was one change to the Hinckley XI - the fit-again Stuart Lake returned to the line-up in place of Derek Rae in midfield

 The first half continued in the same vein as previous first halves this season at the Keys; a messy, disjointed affair with neither side pressing with intent

The Pitmen went closet on two occasions during the first period - firstly, forward Mark Jones stole in at the back post and struck the ball against the post from a Shaun Wray cross, followed by a header from Piearce that flew over, again from a Wray cross

At the other end, Mark Gayle made two fine stops to deny Havant striker James Taylor, both efforts within a minute of each other at the end of the first half

The second half was much more exciting, as is the feature at Keys Park these days. On fifty five minutes, the home side celebrated after Chris Brindley fired home a fine shot, only for the linesman to flag offside when there appeared to be no player in an offside position

 Piearce did make one count however, seven minutes later, gleefully headed home just after the the hour from a Wray cross to spark celebrations both on and off the pitch

 Better was to follow for the home side - they moved up a gear, pushing Havant back and catching them on the break. On sixty nine minutes, Hednesford increased their lead when Paul Ware latched on to a through ball before sending a delightful chip over the goalkeeper from twelve yards out

 With the Pitmen in full control, they pushed for a third, and got it through another breakaway thirteen minutes from time. Ware again darted through, and fired in a shot that the keeper Aaron Kerr well saved. the ball fell to Piearce, who needed three attempts before finally finding the net

The third goal completed a satisfying afternoon's work for the Pitmen, killing off any chance of Havant getting back into the game, and sending the Pitmen back up to second in the Dr. Martens Premier this afternoon  cds

Stafford Rangers (A)

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Airdrie

Jones

Wray

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Lake

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