> 20.10.2007

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Beleaguered Hednesford got a boost this afternoon, moving into the second qualifying round of the F.A. Trophy, thus beating local rivals Willenhall Town, and partly atoning for two poor performances in the previous week. New signing Wayne Dyer came straight into the side at the expense of the injured Steve Palmer, with Dominic Heath also coming back into the side for Lee Whittington and Linden Dovey replacing Alan Nagington. once again, the bench was filled with a number of youth team players, as injuries continued to pile up for the visitors

The Pitmen started brightly, with Ross Dyer immediately into the action, ghosting past the Willenhall defence before chipping the ball goalwards, but his effort cleared the crossbar

Willenhall keeper Steve Jackson had to be on hand to deny three Hednesford players in less than two minutes; Dyer's effort was turned away for a corner, which led to a shot from Ashley Woolliscroft that he was well positioned for. He had to deny Dyer again from a low shot that was on target just a moment later

However, as we have seen on a number of occasions this term, the Pitmen can have all the play and concede the opener due to their own inabilities in defence. A failure to clear their lines saw the ball drop to former Pitman Mark Briggs, who fired a superb long range effort past Rene Gilmartin to give the hosts the lead

Back came the Pitmen, and is was new boy Wayne Dyer who almost got the Pitmen on level terms, but his effort following a corner kick was cleared off the line. The ball hit the post from the clearance, and dropped favourably to a Willenhall player

Willenhall enjoyed a strong finish to the first half, with John Williams firing wide, followed by fellow striker Craig Gregg's run and shot. The half ended with yet another Hednesford player threatening to haunt them when Danny Harvey headed wide from a Briggs free kick. The Pitmen were on the ropes and wobbling at the break

Williams had a great chance to score ten minutes after the restart, but missed his chance by blazing over, despite being left unmarked at a corner

Finally, the Pitmen sparked into life, and it took an absolute beauty from Mario Pedro to get them into gear. Wayne Dyer's ball across to the Portuguese winger was met with a first time volley that flashed past Jackson and into the net for one of the goals of the season so far. Game on

The Pitmen dominated possession from this point in, determined not to settle for a replay in midweek. Dovey could have scored a header, but put it wide of goal

Willenhall had their sights on finishing the game on the day as well, and Briggs drove another long range shot over the bar as they looked to counter attack

It took another moment of Mario magic to put the Pitmen in front with twenty minutes left. His pace and movement was too much for the Willenhall defence, as he danced past two challenges before firing past Jackson from an angle to give the away side the crucial advantage

Gordon Simms almost gifted Willenhall an equaliser as the game entered the final ten minutes, gifting the ball to Todd Perry, but the Northern Irishman got back to clear the ball from under his own crossbar as Willenhall pressed. Indeed, they came within the width of the crossbar of scoring with two minutes left. Tyrone Barnett, on as a substitute, hit the bar after an acrobatic effort from Harvey had set him up

However, the Pitmen tied up the game in added time, when Dovey got his first goal for the Pitmen, cutting in from the wing and firing past Jackson to seal Hednesford's passage to the second qualifying round  cds

Stamford (H) 

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