Hednesford Town 2
Nantwich Town 0
League (NPL Premier Division)

Match Report

UniBond Football League. Premier Division
Tuesday 19th August.2008
HEDNESFORD TOWN 2 (Louis Brisco 6, Ross Dyer 34)
NANTWICH TOWN
0
Hednesford: Brock. Platt. Maguire. Gomes. Harvey. Marshall. Briggs (Connolly 60).
Briscoe. Barnett. Dyer. Draper. Substitutes: Junior. Stamps. Durrell. Morris. Connolly.
Nantwich: Jones. Taylor. Tickle. Tinson. O’Loughlin. Parkinson ©. Carter.
Blackhurst. Gibson (Beasley 76). Lennon (Walker 74). Heler (Shotton 55).
Substitutes: Smith. Shotton. Walker. Hawthorne. Beasley.
Referee: Mr P.J Grove
Attendance: 468
The ‘Dabbers’ were without Dave Whittaker and Alan Naggington (both due to
injury) whilst Mark Beeston was unavailable for our opening game of the
season at Keys Park.
Nantwich opened brightly and in the 2nd minute carved out a great opportunity
from deep on the Hednesford left when Peter Heler turned his marker before
delivering a perfect cross to the unmarked Darren Tinson who was unlucky
not to beat the flying Brock with a bullet header from 10 yards. Two corners
within a minute provided us with opportunities to test the ‘Pitmen’ and from the
2nd flag kick Robin Gibson delivered a powerful drive from outside the box that
drifted wide of the right hand post.
However, defensive errors gifted Hednesford a 6th minute lead after Briscoe
was allowed to make a run from the left hand edge of our box resulting in the
ex- Port Vale forward firing unimpeded across the diving body of Lee Jones
into the far corner of the net.
Meanwhile, the game switched ends with regularity, neither side carving out a
clear cut chance, that was until the 28th minute when Michael Lennon was
unlucky not to profit from a defensive tangle inside the Hednesford 6 yard box,
but his close range shot deflected off a defender to safety whilst a minute
later, Robin Gibson tested Brock with a fearsome long range shot that the
‘keeper did well to hold on his line.
But, the ‘Dabbers’ were undone yet again, this time in the 34th minute when, in
an almost carbon copy of the opening goal, Briscoe’s strike partner Ross Dyer
was allowed to encroach from the left hand edge of our box to shoot past
‘Jonah’ to give the home side a 2 – 0 lead.
In the time leading up to the break Brock was again on hand to deny Michael
Lennon whilst almost on the stroke of half time, ‘ Lenny struck from inside the
6 yard box but the shot was charged down by a defender and hooked up field
to safety.
When the second half got underway it was the ‘Dabbers’ who again looked
the more threatening in the early stages. A long throw-in from deep by Glyn
Blackhurst sailed over everyone before dropping toward the unmarked
Michael Lennon at the far post, but the pace of the ball beat our man who
would have stood a good chance of turning the ball in had he been able to
control the ball.
Hednesford, playing in a more defensive role in the second half, were finding
it difficult to create anything of note against the determined ‘Dabbers’ but on
the whole ‘The Pitmen’ were fractionally sharper than the ‘Dabbers’ and
closed down attacks quickly.
In the 55th minute Liam Shotton replaced Peter Heler and the immediate effect
was to push the home side deeper in defence. Two late corners gave ‘The
Dabbers’ further opportunities but unfortunately were wasted, allowing
Hednesford to break out and place us on the back foot. ‘Jonah’ then produced
a great close range stop from Dyer, albeit at the expense of a corner, and
from the flag kick Dave Tickle hooked off the line whilst Lee Jones again
came to the rescue when he blocked a goal bound looking shot that came
from inside a sea of bodies around the 6 yard box.
Dave Walker and Adam Beasley replaced Robin Gibson and Michael Lennon
around the final quarter hour mark, ‘Beazo’ immediately making an impact
when his free kick from just outside the box beat the wall and ‘keeper before
drifting narrowly wide of the left hand post. Ashley Carter won a late, late
corner with an angled strike from deep that Brock was forced to turn around
the post and within seconds of the final whistle a Hednesford defender
headed off the line as our lads completed their last charge in their opening
game since promotion.
Steve Davis was predictably disappointed with the defeat but said:- “ A
couple of errors have cost us but I have to be honest and say, I thought we
were the better side overall. I cannot fault the performance and we were very
unlucky not to have taken something from the game. Hednesford look a
decent side but Pete and I have told the lads we must go to Worksop on
Saturday taking all the positives from this game and put them into practice”. If
they do that, then there is no reason why we can’t return with a point at the
very least”.

Match report written by Phil Johnson