An eventful opening spell saw a Jai Verma shot saved by Mathew Wonnacott, before Northwich broke and forced a save from Kieran Boucher in goal for the Pitmen. Wonnacott’s afternoon ended in the 4th minute when he handled outside the area and was shown a straight red card. Mat Woolley took over between the sticks for Northwich, with his first job being to pick out Verma‘s deflected freekick from the back of the net as the visitors took an early lead in the 6th minute. Stand-in keeper Woolley made an excellent save from Jake Jervis in the 13th minute as the Pitmen looked to build on their advantage. Following the early action the game quickly descended into a rather scrappy encounter, the Pitmen defended a series of corners without too much difficulty although they were unsuccessful in their efforts in finding a second goal before half time.

Hednesford started the second half promisingly, firstly Eden Bailey was narrowly offside from a flick on from Jervis. James McQuilkin volleyed over from a dangerous throw in taken by Blaine Rowe. Bailey had another chance just before the hour mark, seeing his shot deflected behind by a defender for a corner. Woolley continued to do well in goal for Northwich making saves from Verma and then Danny Edwards as the ten men kept the deficit to just the single goal.  The Pitmen went close when Edward’s freekick into the area was headed narrowly wide by Josh Endall. Jervis saw a shot tipped away by the keeper, before Woolley dealt with a Verma cross. Northwich looked like they had claimed an unlikely draw when Endall sliced a cross into his own net, however the Pitmen were saved by a linesman’s flag indicating an offside decision. This proved to be the last significant piece of action as the Pitmen claimed all three points.