Matt Dodd strikes to net the derby day spoils for Hednesford Town

Dodd settled this Evo-Stik Premier contest when he netted the only goal of the game on 61 minutes, taking the ball cleverly past Rangers goalkeeper Adam Whitehouse and putting it in the net after skipper Tom Thorley had done the groundwork with some good work in midfield.

And Hednesford manager Neil Tooth is hoping the hard-fought victory will be the springboard for his side to kick-start their season.

“I don’t think it was ever going to be high on quality being a local derby,” said Tooth.

“But the second half we worked hard, weren’t really the aggressors, we let Stafford come at us but took our chance when it came, which was the game plan.

“We wanted four points from the weekend and I felt we were unlucky to get only one against Lancaster on Saturday.

“So to come here and win was an excellent result and hopefully we can go on from here and get a run going.”

Stafford’s best chance came in only the third minute when an Izak Reid free-kick was headed goalwards by Richard Batchelor but Hednesford goalkeeper James Wren produced a spectacular save.

Thorley should have opened the scoring for the Pitmen on 33 minutes. James Lawrie delivered a cross from the left but the Hednesford skipper failed to get his head to the ball.

Batchelor, who was probably the one bright spot for Stafford, did something similar early in the second half after a cross from Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson.

And he also forced Wren into a good save on 57 minutes with a shot from an angle. Stafford manager Neil Kitching was disappointed it wasn’t his side that managed to produce a bit of quality in a game low on chances, and with his players reaction to going behind.

“The game shows we have a lot of hard work to do,” said Kitching.

“We have had a good start to the season but I was disappointed with the way we played, whether it was the lack of quality, tired legs after Saturday, the heat – possibly all of them – but we didn’t do enough to get a result.

“We have to get it right in front of the home fans. We have done OK away but teams come here and play through the middle, so we may have to change the system to give Dan Westwood more support. He has proved he can score goals but we need to provide the service.”

Teams:

Stafford: Whitehouse; Davis (Geohaghon 82); Brown; Morris; Bailey; Reid (L); Reid (I); Briscoe (Langston 72); Westwood; Fortnam-Tomlinson (Perry 65); Batchelor. Subs not used: Sherratt; Caswell.

Hednesford: Wren; Wright; Melbourne; Taylor; Hutton; Oji; Dodd; Thorley; Rodgers (Glover 72); Lawrie; Green (Bailey 82). Subs not used: Palmer; Veiga.

Attendance: 1,226.