Express & Star

Birmingham Snr Cup QF - Hednesford 4 Burton Albion 1 - Report

Hednesford Town cruised past an experienced side from Championship outfit Burton Albion to reach the semi-finals of the Birmingham Senior Cup.

Published

Burton’s quality showed during the opening stages when the Pitmen struggled to get a foot on the ball.

But after 20 minutes, Hednesford began to grow in stature and carve out some half-chances.

Burton still seemed the most likely to break the deadlock with Luke Varney threatening on the right and Beardsley dangerous upfront.

In the 40th minute, Jordan Graham advanced on the right into the Burton area, sending his shot past Jack Livesey for the Pitmen to take an unexpected lead.

Two minutes later, Joey Butlin’s looping header from a James Lawrie corner found the back of the net to double the lead.

Chris Beardsley put the ball in the net for Burton, but was flagged offside by the assistant referee.

The second half had a lively start with chances at either end. The decisive moment came in the 59th minute when an inswinging corner was headed on by Butlin at the near post and found the net.

The Pitmen began to dominate the game with Jordan Graham in inspired form and further goals seemed likely.

It was however Burton who scored next in the 89th minute when Varney’s low shot beat James Wren.

In added time though, Danny Glover found space on the right-hand side and finished smartly to make the final score 4-1 on a memorable night at Keys Park.

Pitmen: Wren, Mendez-Jones, Campion (Fitzpatrick) Bailey, Gatter, King (Glover), Law, Thorley, Butlin (Harris), Lawrie, Graham. Subs not used: Oji, Walsh.

n Chasetown’s Evo-Stik South clash with Cleethorpes Town was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at the Scholars Ground, while Rushall Olympic’s Evo-Stik Premier trip to Matlock Town went the same way.