A hat trick from Michael Lennon and a man of the match performance by Elliott Durrell ensured Hednesford Town made easy work of reaching the second round of the Staffordshire Senior Cup on a wet night at Keys Park against Stone Dominoes.

Rob Smith fielded a strong team following his teams FA Cup victory on Saturday with Sean O’Connor making a welcome return from injury and at no point did The Pitmen look seriously threatened by the North West Counties Football League team.

The home side could have been two goals up before Lennon scrambled in his opening goal on twenty minutes from close range and Hednesford continued to dominate with Stone keeper Philip Bruce making a string of superb saves including one from a rasping low John Disney shot.

The away side equalised against the run of play on thirty-four minutes as Hussein Nashar showed Sam Barnes a clean set of heels and finished confidently past debutant Sam Hornby but Hednesford restored their lead three minutes later through another close range Lennon finish.

Bruce made another outstanding block from Lennon before Jamey Osborne curled a sumptuous third into the corner on the hour mark.

Lennon secured his hat trick with a flicked header from a quality Durrell inswinging free-kick on seventy minutes and Rico Taylor made a lively cameo from the bench but his tricky work down the wing unluckily failed to bring a fifth goal The Pitmen deserved.

Hednesford Town
Hornby, Disney (Melbourne 73), Campion (c), Barnes, Bailey, Watkis, Osborne (60), Durrell, O’Connor (Rey 58), Lennon (20, 37, 70), Woolfe (Taylor 67)

Subs Not Used
Francis, Harvey

Stone Dominoes
Bruce, Beech, Fulker, Kerrigan, Marren (c), Counter, Ball (Spence 73), Hadley (Allen 76), Johns, Nashar (34) (Williscroft 79), Laraso

Bookings – Spence

Entertainment Rating – 4 Stars
Star Man – Elliott Durrell
Attendance – 92