The Edge of Reality

The first home League game of the season proved to be a reality check for Kings, who having arguably been the better side in each of their five away games, came up against a powerful Hednesford Town, whose workmanlike performance was good enough to take the points in a dour match at the newly named Orbital Fasteners Stadium. The earliest chance fell to Kings when a Charlie Ruff through ball was latched onto by a superb turn by Mitchell Weiss, but Daniel Platt was swiftly off his line to block the shot and when they tried a different tactic, Roddy Collins’ twenty-five yarder was just high of the bar. Town answered with bustling centre forward Kieran Wells heading just wide, but the award of a penalty in the seventeenth minute for a clumsy challenge by Lloyd Doyley on Reece King gave them the chance of an early lead. Wells went for power on the spot kick, but Melvin Minter made a superb save and the ball was scrambled away. Eager to atone, the striker put a toe poke just wide on the half hour mark, but it was Kings, anxious to exploit the lifeline, who finished the half strongly, with efforts by Collins and Ruff just wide. Kings in general and their young attacking midfield trio in particular, with an average age of 20, had had the better of a half against a side whose minimum height requirement seemed to be well in excess of six foot, but the second half was only five minutes old when the Pitmen struck the blow that was to put them on the path to victory, when their physical presence finally told with Tom Elliott forcing the ball home from a goalmouth melee. Kings laboured hard, but were now making little headway against a physically imposing side and it was no surprise when Town went further ahead, breaking from a corner, switching the ball from right to left and finishing cleanly through Kieran Wells. A flowing move between Mitchell Weiss and Max Hercules almost gave Charlie Ruff an opening, while an offside Harry Crawford had the ball in the net after an Eoin McKeown shot cannoned off Platt and into his path. These were merely interludes however, as the visitors demonstrated why they have the best defensive record in the division and they comfortably saw out the last minutes of a game that left Kings with plenty to ponder on after the brakes were put on their bright start to the season.

By Roy Mitchard