Proper Football: Hednesford miss their chance to go top

Saturday 1 February 2014

Hednesford miss their chance to go top

Skrill North

Hednesford Town v Altrincham

The weather is doing its' best to deny us Proper Footy followers our weekly feed. With only one game surviving in each of MFA & WMRL, the choice of games was somewhat limited to say the least. Not for those clubs the super-duper pitches with a squillion miles of drainage pipes beneath. No, their option is to miss games because of crap weather and then cram in 3 or 4 games a week at seasons' end. Rant over, that feels better.

This was 2nd against 6th with the home side having the added bonus of going top of the table should they win - North Ferriby Utd being on FA Trophy duty. Good football was basically out of the question given the conditions - a glue-pot of a pitch and a cold swirling wind. The visitors seemed to adapt better with their passing game while their hosts seemed content to feed their strikers over the top which for the most part was ably dealt with by the Alty defence.

Half-time ; Hednesford Town 0 Altrincham 0

Come the second half and Hednesfords' whole game-plan changed. Gone was the ball over the top to be replaced by a pressing game which confined the visitors in their own half for most of the rest of the game. Hednesford were relentless ; try as they might, the visitors could not get near the hosts' goal. That is until the 75th minute when a free-kick a metre outside the area was awarded the visitors - which from where I was standing looked like a penalty. A great chance to score was duly despatched over the bar.

By this time the weather had turned distinctly awful, the wind having picked up and the rain having got a lot heavier(there's no doubt about it, our weather is s**t). Just at the point I was about to give in to the weather and leave, up popped Kris Taylor to volley Town into the lead in the 86th minute. Hednesford were heading to the top ! Or they would have been had not Shaun Densmore equalised for Altrincham in the 3rd minute of injury time.

A good whole-hearted effort from all concerned given the horrible conditions and it's as you were position-wise with Town second on goal-difference and Altrincham still in 6th .

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