Hednesford Town fell to defeat in their last pre-season fixture of the summer thanks to a late penalty from Chasetown which saw them gain victory in a game that will be quickly forgotten by all in attendance.
The Pitmen were without Nathan Fox and Tom Hill for the fixture, but had four trialists taking their place in the matchday squad.
Rob Smith’s side were almost forced into a change after just 30 seconds when Charlie Gatter was bundled into the advertising hoardings but after some treatment he was back into the action.
It was the visitors who started on the front foot though and Reece King saw a header pushed away in the third minute before Gatter saw a shot blocked.
The best chance of the opening exchanges came in the 26th minute when a ball forward was flicked into the path of Charley Edge but he fired wide.
Although the home side had plenty of possession, Josef Bursik had little to do in the Pitmen goal other than to claim a couple of corners.
Hednesford did have the ball in the back of the net in the 32nd minute but Matt Dodd’s effort was ruled out for offside.
Bursik was called into action in the 36th minute before Dan Cockerline saw a header saved right on the stroke of halftime.
HT: 0-0
The Pitmen made five substitutions at halftime and this disrupted the flow of the second half for Hednesford as they struggled to gain any kind of foothold in the game.
Chasetown did force a couple of corners, which were dealt with, while King saw another header saved in the 65th minute.
A minute later Mikey Nelson was through on goal but his lobbed effort was easily dealt with before the home side began to press with consecutive corners coming to nothing.
Josh Craddock fired an effort well over the bar in the 87th minute and just when that looked like being the last of the action, the home side were awarded a penalty when Bursik took down a Chasetown man.
Jack Langston stepped up for the home side to fire the spot kick into the corner and give his side the victory.
Hednesford Town: Bursik, Curley, Griffiths, Gatter, Galinski, Fitzpatrick, Dodd, King, Cockerline, Trialist A, Edge
Subs: Craddock, Trialist B, Trialist C, Nelson, Mendez-Jones, Hollis, Veiga
