Hednesford Town boss Rob Smith declared himself happy with his sides performance but warned of more hard work to come after Evo Stik Northern Premier Division Hednesford Town emerged victorious 5-2 against AFC Wulfrunians at Castlecroft Road last night.

‘It was nice to see the new faces playing for us. Our attitude was right and we acquitted ourselves well, especially in the first half. We’ve looked at getting options up front all close season and we looked full of goals.’

After both teams found their rhythm early in the game on the lush playing surface, The Pitmen scored three quick goals with Sam Barnes opening the scoring on twenty-five minutes before Elliott Durrell doubled his teams lead on sixty-seconds later and Michael Lennon added a third on twenty-eight minutes.

The Pitmen were well in control when Dave MacPherson set up Lennon for his second and The Pitmen’s fourth on thirty-seven minutes but Wulfrunians rallied in the second half. The home side caused the away side problems with Nathan Rose-Laing tapping the ball in from close range on fifty-one minutes but then hit a weak penalty at Dan Crane five minutes later.

A plethora of substitutions meant the pace of the game slowed somewhat but Wulfrunians continued to battle hard in midfield and Andy Thompson pounced to score the home sides second with nine minutes to go.

The impressive substitute Sean O’Connor, making a successful return to Hednesford after over a decade away, set up MacPherson to make it five and his strong hold up play gave the opportunity to Aaron Rey to make it six but for a superb save by Chris Ryan.

The Pitmen will be pleased with their successful start to an important pre-season campaign and Wulfrunians will no doubt be encouraged by the tough test they gave to higher opposition, especially in the second half.

Hednesford Town
Crane, Disney, Brookes, Barnes (25), Bailey, Clarke, Hendrie, MacPherson, Lennon (28,37), Harvey, Durrell (26),

Subs
Rey, O’Connor, Hoffmann, Okyere-Brenyah