Hednesford Town boss, Rob Smith, has reserved high praise indeed for the hordes of Pitmen supporters who made the 240 mile round trip to league-leaders North Ferriby United and were a major factor in their team’s outstanding fight back.

The Keys Park outfit, six points behind The Villagers before kick-off, rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 down to score two goals in the final six minutes, inflicting a first home defeat of the season and North Ferriby’s first reverse in sixteen matches after being roared on by outstanding support from the terraces throughout the match.

‘I cannot praise the supporters enough. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen our away support in so many numbers. I went there with Telford once and there were not as many as on Saturday. If the supporters did not realise how much the players love the support they surely do now!’

While praising the performance of the vociferous Hednesford faithful Smith reserved some credit for his players who continue to show superb character in playing until the very last minute and now lurk just three points off top with two games in hand.

‘I’m pleased that we turned up and put in a performance on the day that I knew we were capable of. North Ferriby are the best team we have played away all season and it was a fantastic game of football.

‘The lads just have a never say die spirit and even when I want to try and shut up shop, they still pile forward.’

That attitude from the players and the support of their fans will be put to the test in The Pitmen’s next league match when FC United of Manchester come calling this Saturday, themselves not too short of noise from the stands.

Hednesford have failed to beat The Red Rebels in five attempts but it is safe to say that if The Pitmen win their tenth game in twelve matches and break their hoodoo, Keys Park will once again be a very noisy place to be.