Hednesford Town suffered a late defeat to relegation threatened Corby Town, despite having come from behind twice.
The Pitmen made the worst possible start to the game as they went behind in just the third minute as a ball into the visitors’ box was misjudged, leaving Stefan Moore with a simple chance to fire home past goalkeeper Dan Crane.
Despite this poor start, Paul Casey’s side grew in confidence as the minutes progressed, with Jamie Sheldon seeing a shot saved before a succession of corners were forced, all to no avail.
Hednesford goalkeeper Crane kept his side just one behind in the 14th minute as he denied former Pitmen player Phil Trainer before Tom Thorley saw a goalbound shot turned behind six minutes later.
The visitors were able to draw themselves level in the 26th minute when Iwan Cartwright latched onto a loose ball on the right-hand side and his cross picked out Vinny Mukendi who powered home a header from six yards.
All the hard work was undone just seven minutes later though when a long ball down the left-hand side wasn’t dealt with and Moore nipped in to lob the ball over Crane and into the net.
Hednesford missed a big chance on the stroke of halftime to level the scores again when Spencer Weir-Daley picked out Sheldon but he skewed his effort over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
HT: 2-1
The Pitmen didn’t have long to wait in the second half until they were level though when Remeao Hutton played a ball into the box which was superbly fired home first time by Tom Thorley from 12 yards out.
Casey’s side were now on top and pushed forward in search of a goal that would give them the lead for the first time – with Sheldon seeing another shot blocked in the 52nd minute.
After a period of pressure from the Pitmen the action reverted to the other end of the field but Crane wasn’t really tested with a free header in the 54th minute before making another comfortable save nine minutes later.
With 15 minutes to go Hednesford added a third striker to the pitch as they looked to go on and claim all three points, however with 85 minutes on the clock the Pitmen were caught out from a corner. The initial ball into the box was nodded back across goal to Aaron Brown who headed home unchallenged.
Despite there being four minutes of added time the Pitmen couldn’t force one last chance as they failed to build on the victory over Rushall Olympic the weekend before.
Corby Town: Grant, Smith, Wildin, Kennedy, Brown, Lee, Bell, Milnes (Tank 90+2), Moore (Leslie 64), Trainer, Crawford (Osei-Bonsu 75)
Subs not used: Anton, Bell
Hednesford Town: Crane, Haynes, Hutton, McNaught, Caines, Preston, Thorley, Cartwright (Fitzpatrick 70), Mukendi, Sheldon (Clarke 75), Weir-Daley (Glover 56)
Subs not used: Ransome, Brenan
Attendance: 441
Entertainment Rating: Three Stars
Star Man: Tom Thorley
