Hednesford Town 1 Worcester Raiders 0 - Report

It looked as though their plucky Hellenic League Premier visitors had done enough to earn a draw but moments after having skipper Jordan Murphy sent off five minutes from time, Raiders substitute Sam Whitton headed a Dom McHale effort into his own net.

Manager Steve King said: “We should have killed the game in the first five minutes when we had two chances and we should have had two penalties in the first half.

“Credit to Worcester as they gave everything, put everyone behind the ball and were difficult to break down so respect to them.

“We were thinking it was going to a replay which was not what you wanted but in the end we have come through.”

The Pitmen dominated the chances throughout but were unable to find a way through a solid Raiders defence and a keeper in sparkling form.

They should have taken the lead inside the first minute but Rob Stevenson was denied by the legs of shotstopper Charlie Emery with the home side shouting for a penalty following a foul on Zidan Sutherland.

More chances followed with defender Kory Roberts putting the ball over from close range and the tireless Abdulrasaq Alamu-Tajudeen was also denied by Emery who pulled off another excellent stop to deny Stevenson with McHale then having his follow-up cleared off the line.

It was a similar tale in the second half with Dan Trickett-Smith having a shot pushed over the bar by the Raiders keeper and substitute Jake Jervis having a header cleared off the line by Dan Noke.

With five minutes to go, Murphy saw red for his challenge on Hednesford’s Jack Bearne and three minutes later the Pitmen finally made the breakthrough when McHale’s ball into the area was headed into his own net by Whitton.