City of Liverpool 2 Hednesford Town 1 - Report

The Pitmen headed out on their travels again, this time to Merseyside and once again this season this was the first time that the two teams have met. The game was of great importance to both sides as midweek results plunged Hednesford to the bottom of the table and City of Liverpool into 18th spot with just two points separating them. The Pitmen gave debuts to both midweek signings defender Brett Lloyd and the returning midfielder James McQulikin.

Due to the Merseyside derby, the game kicked off at 3.15pm with the first half chance falling to the home side after five minutes when Jawad Jebrin went to ground inside the Hednesford area, however the referee was unimpressed and a goal kick was awarded. Although the Pitmen had the lion's share of possession in the opening quarter of an hour they did not create any clear cut chances, and were punished in the 19th minute when Josh Quarless moved the ball effectively on the edge of the area setting up Kenny Strickland to score with City of Liverpool's first meaningful attack. Purps' skipper Danny Mitchley went close two minutes later heading over the bar from close range. Hednesford found an equaliser in the 33rd minute at the third time of asking, Danny Glover and Star Mayemba both saw shots charged down before Demetri Brown slotted to level the score. A freekick from Quarless was acrobatically tipped over the bar by Ryan Brown as the game approached the half time break.

A lively start to the second half saw Mayemba felled in the area, although the claims for a penalty were waved away by the referee, moments later Mayemba robbed the full back Jack Hont and blazed a shot over the crossbar. Brown was on hand again to make another excellent save from Hont's towering header from a City of Liverpool corner, before Mayemba forced a save from Calvin Hare at the other end. The Pitmen defence failed to deal with a long ball through the middle of the park, allowing Jebrin to lay the ball off to Quarless who finished with a low shot in the 58th minute. Mitchley went close to stretching the home side's lead in the 64th minute, latching onto another long ball down the middle before dragging his shot wide of the post. Mitchley was guilty of being wasteful in front of goal again when he fired over from Callum Schorah's squared ball. City of Liverpool controlled the game after going ahead for the second time and the Pitmen struggled to create any meaningful hopes of an equaliser, as the home side saw out the game condemning the Pitmen to another loss that sees them remain rooted at the bottom of the table.

City of Liverpool; Hare, Simpson, Hont, Rooney, Grogan, Strickland, Schorah, Allen, Mitchley(C) (Wills 88), Quarless, Jebrim (Bahula 76). Subs not used; Sonko, Noren, Jones

Hednesford Town; R Brown, Mendez-Jones, Lloyd, Thorley, Sutton, Griffiths(C), McQuilkin (Forbes 79), Thompson, Glover, D Brown (Nelson 69), Mayemaba. Subs not used; Abbey, Gwilt, Richards.