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Well, it was
never going to last forever.... Hednesford's fantastic winning run in
the league came to a crashing halt this afternoon as poor discipline is
punished by struggling Stocksbridge Park Steels
Coming off a
successful week's work at Keys Park, with two wins in four days, manager
Rob Smith made only one change for the trip to South Yorkshire; Chris
Shaw was brought back into the side at left back, with Ben Jevons
switching places with him and moving to the bench
A misty,
miserable afternoon greeted the players at kick off, with constant fine
drizzle falling intermittently during the game. The weather reflected
the opening exchanges, as neither side offered much in the way of
exciting, attacking football
Darren
Campion offered a glimpse of an opening on eleven minutes, picking the
ball up twenty five yards out and lashing the ball towards goal.
However, the rising shot was too high to worry former Hednesford keeper
Ben Scott, now custodian for Steels
Two minutes
later, Elliott Durrell fancied his luck from range too, but his venomous
shot flew a couple of yards wide of the post
The home
side's best opportunities seemed to be limited to set-pieces, as they
forced three corners in a row on sixteen minutes. The closest they came
to opening the scoring was a Kevin Davies header from Matt Outram's
corner kick that flew high over the crossbar
Scott was
called into action on midway through the half, making a comfortable save
low down to hold Campion's free kick from twenty yards out
Mark Danks
threatened in spectacular style on twenty seven minutes, getting on the
end of Shaw's cross and volleying towards goal. His effort beat Scott -
but also the far post by a matter of inches
The
Pitmen could have been pretty satisfied with their opening half hour's
work, and were probably confident of going on to win the game. However,
a moment of madness from keeper Dan Crane on thirty three minutes was
ultimately to cost the Pitmen all three points. Jack Muldoon's run down
the left for Stocksbridge saw him get the better of Pedro Monteiro,
leaving him clear to make a run in on goal. Crane had made an early move
out of his area to block the shot, and managed to get a part of his body
to Muldoon's shot right on the edge of his box. The referee deemed that
Crane had used his arm to block the shot just outside the area, and
promptly sent the Hednesford number one off
With no
substitute goalkeeper present for the Pitmen, skipper Campion donned the
pink keeper's jersey and handed the captaincy to Jay Denny. The irony
was that this was to lead to the Pitmen's best spell of the game, as
they pushed forward in search of an opener
A succession
of corners from the away side saw both Monteiro and Cheyenne Dunkley get
headers in, but both were dealt with by a resolute Steels defence. They
were also alert to deny Chris Clements as he tried his luck with a long
range free kick
Having got to
half time on level terms, the Pitmen regrouped at the break, and
continued to make light of the situation just after half time as they
protected stand-in keeper Campion. However, a contentious offside
decision handed Stocksbridge the crucial opener on fifty four minutes.
Outram's cross found Muldoon, who laid the ball in turn into the path of
Brian Cusworth, who appeared to be in an offside position. He fired past
Campion at his near post, despite calls from the Hednesford defence for
the offside flag to be raised
From hereon
in, it was all about damage limitation, as the Pitmen reverted to a more
defensive formation. The more physical combination of Marvin Robinson
and Nick Wellecomme were introduced in favour of the ineffective Danks
and Gary Hay, as the Pitmen looked for a more competitive out-ball
It failed to
work, however, as Stocksbridge moved further in front on the hour mark.
Muldoon's cross-shot was well saved by Campion, but his save fell kindly
into the path of Cusworth, who bundled the ball into the net from close
range
The Pitmen
were up against it from this point on, not helped by a whistle-happy
referee who pulled both sides up for niggly things. Clements looked to
get the Pitmen back into the game on seventy two minutes with a rasping
drive from a good twenty five yards out that whistled just over the
crossbar
Lewis
Suckling, called up to the first team ranks this week after an
impressive showing for the youth team, was given his first team debut
with ten minutes remaining, as he replaced the tiring Durrell
Robinson, who
had offered little since his introduction, added o the Pitmen's woes -
and their disciplinary issues - with a verbal blast at the referee with
three minutes remaining, prompting another red card for the already
beaten Pitmen
The final
minutes saw Stocksbridge take full advantage of the lack of numbers in
the Pitmen's side and grab a further two late goals to seal all three
points. With a minute to go, Muldoon got the goal his efforts deserved,
as he turned and fired past Campion from inside the area after a cross
from Richard Stirrup
A minute
later, the rout was completed, as Campion did well to save Andy Ring's
shot, but again the ball fell kindly to a Stocksbridge player, as Mark
Ward tapped home the rebound
A hugely disappointing
afternoon for the Pitmen, and with suspensions mounting up in the next
three weeks, it will be interesting to see how messrs Smith and Chambers
deal with the emerging issues. Bringing in a goalkeeper will
obviously be a priority, as well as looking to put out a competitive
forward line with two strikers now suspended. Over to you, guys
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