Hednesford Town return to Keys Park today for the first time since 22nd January when they welcome the visit of Stratford Town. The Pitmen’s last home game in the league was their best performance of the season at Keys Park as high flying Peterborough Sports were comfortably seen off 3-0. Since then a mixture of bad weather and a run of away games has meant no first team action on a Saturday at Keys Park for well over a month and it is now almost three months since the Pitmen lost a league game at home.

It was only ten days ago that these two teams met at Stratford Town’s stadium and “The Bards” took the three points from a very tight game that was settled by former Pitman Ashley Sammons’ delicious long range strike with just under 20 minutes left of play, so a quick return gives the Pitmen the chance to avenge that defeat and continue their good run of form at home. Stratford have only played one game since we last played them and they were soundly beaten 4-1 by Needham Market last Saturday. The two teams are locked on 37 points each in 12th and 13th in the table although the Pitmen have got two games in hand. With the play-offs looking out of sight for both clubs, this game could still have a big say in which team finishes the highest in the table come the end of the season.

The Pitmen have made a few changes since the two teams last met with the departures of Josh Endall and Tom Armitage (loan) and the arrivals of Luke Ward and Cain Smith.

Hednesford have now lost the last two league games and with the defeat at Stratford still fresh in their minds and the home faithful looking forward to a return of football to Keys Park it’s all set up to be a cracking encounter this afternoon.