Super Sub Dyer Silences The Doubters As Pitmen Leave It Late

Second half substitute Ross Dyer hit a dramatic eighty-fifth minute winner to give Hednesford Town a second victory against top level opposition in three days and put his recent run of poor form well and truly behind him.

Brackley sat in second place at the start of the day but Bernie McNally’s men held no fear going into the game after their outstanding result on Thursday night against league leaders Farnborough.

In a tactically intruiging first half Brackley looked content to sit back, soak up any pressure exerted on them by the away side and rely on left winger Tom Winters to create. It was Winters who created Brackley’s best chance on seventeen minutes when his cross found Ben Mackey to flick just over the bar.

Tyrone Barnett looked most likely to break the deadlock for The Pitmen as he dived onto an Elliott Durrell corner at the back post but failed to direct his header on target. Durrell looked to build upon his superb hat-trick in his last game with a speculative twenty-five yard drive which fizzed over the bar twenty minutes in.

With seven minutes to go before the half time break Ben Bailey looped a long ball forward and found Barnett, the striker turned on a six pence and fired a left foot half volley which flew inches over the cross bar.

Brackley took a foothold in the second period and on sixty-eight minutes Winters counter attacked with real pace, turned Decio Gomes inside out but scuffed into the side netting under pressure.

Mackey finished weakly straight at Stuart Brock on seventy-four minutes and the usually reliable keeper very nearly let Brackley take the lead when a relatively easy save saw him let the ball slip through his grasp and bounce just wide from a Ollie Burgess shot.

The Pitmen looked to have weathered the Brackley storm as the clock ticked into the last ten minutes and should have taken the lead when Josh Craddock found space in the area. His shot looked to have beaten the goalkeeper but Zak Martin somehow managed to divert the ball over the bar and in the process prevent his side taking the lead.

Martin would no doubt have been the happiest man in the ground when Durrell sent Dyer through the offside trap and the former captain shrugged off the challenge of Jamie Kearns to coolly finish into the far corner for a vital three points.

Hednesford Town have proved over the last two matches that o their day they are more than a match for any team in the Zamaretto League and a steely consistency is the only attribute that needs to be instilled into McNally’s squad. A job the manager will no doubt look to get started with an away trip to Leamington on Tuesday night (9^th March) before his side welcome Hemel Hempstead to Keys Park next Saturday (13^th March).

Brackley Town

Harrison, Travis, Gould, Kearns (Joyce 87), Willmott, Green, Story, Magunda, Rawle (O. Burgess 46), Mackey, Winters,

Subs Not Used

Langdon, C. Burgess, Morris

Hednesford Town

Brock, Platt, Martin, Bailey, Francis, Decio, Durrell, Craddock, Barnett, Proffitt (Dyer 46, (85)), Dunkley,

Subs Not Used

Flynn,

Bookings

Kearns, Craddock, Dyer,

Attendance - 241

Star Man – Liam Francis

Words by Chris Brewerton