Lowestoft Town 0-1 Hednesford Town - Report

A much improved attacking performance on Tuesday night enabled the Pitmen to take the lead three times but unfortunately Tamworth equalised each time for a share of the points.

Hednesford beat Lowestoft in a comfortable 2-0 win at Keys Park in October and were looking for another three points at Crown Meadow, the home of England's most easterly club. The Trawlerboys started the day 12 points and seven places behind the Pitmen.

The Pitmen got off to a flying start in a half of very few chances for either side, played on a hard pitch. As early as the second minute a corner ball was recycled into the Lowestoft area, allowing George Cater to produce a low finish into the corner of the net for his third goal in two games. From this point the game became a very tight, cagey affair with neither side going close to adding to the score, Lowestoft had one chance seeing a shot deflected behind, however the corner kick was wasted.

The second half continued as a scrappy encounter in the same vein of the opening forty-five, in marked contrast to the Pitmen's six-goal thriller last time out. The home side had very little to offer in attack and while they made it difficult for Hednesford to kill the game off, a goal from Lowestoft seemed to be highly unlikely. Hednesford right-back Lewis Hayden made a dangerous run into the home area seeing his shot go behind for a corner. Striker Riley O'Sullivan almost went one better when he made space for himself in the box and drew a fine save from Trawlerboys' keeper Luis Tibbles. A yellow card each for Lowestoft's Tai Fleming and late on for Hednesford's Reece Flanagan were notable on a generally quiet afternoon.

The Pitmen have made a habit of conceding late goals this season, but today their game management was more than enough to see the match out, collecting the three points and moving up to tenth place, on a day when the result was more important than producing an entertaining performance.

Lowestoft Town; Tibbles, Wells, Ruffles, Jarvis, Knights, Cole, Higgs, Fleming, Reed, McIntosh (Lane 78), Wilkinson (Harvey 60). Subs not used; Pollock, Burwood, Tann.

Hednesford Town; Basey, Hayden, Lycett, Portman (Ward 77), Ison, Flanagan, Ebbutt (Richards 86), Parker, O'Sullivan, Bennett, Cater. Subs not used; Brown-Jones, Rashad, O'Shaughnessy.