Avro 1 Hednesford Town 1 - Report
In his second game in charge new manager Harry Harris and his Hednesford team made the club’s first ever visit to Avro FC.
Avro currently sit in 9th place in the Northern Premier League West Division with 17 points from 11 games. Trafford’s 2-1 win over Nantwich on Tuesday night saw Hednesford return to the bottom of the league, two points behind Trafford and four adrift of City of Liverpool in 18th place.
The first half was a fairly even battle that created no clear cut chances. The Pitmen did well with possession of the ball and showed hunger to win it back. Avro tested the Pitmen defence with plenty of long balls into the visitor's area which were mostly dealt with by Sam Griffiths and Ritchie Sutton. For the home side Matty Crothers and Bebeto Gomes combined well down the right hand side and caused some threat in that area. The most significant point of the first half was the 41st minute dismissal of lone Pitmen striker Demetri Brown for a second yellow card offence, already booked for not retreating at a free kick, Brown committed a high tackle and was sent back to the dressing room.
The Pitmen put together a good second half plan and looked the better of the the two sides for much of the period. Despite the numerical advantage Avro were unable to break down the Pitmen backing and looked vulnerable to the lively breaks of the visitors orchestrated by midfielders Tom Thorley and James McQuilkin. The breakthrough came for the Pitmen in the 72nd minute when Joe Thompson picked off a loose defensive pass, he rounded Grant Shenton in goal for Avro, and still with three men to beat managed to get his shot away to give Hednesford the lead. The advantage only lasted four minutes as the industrious James Dwyer went down the right and cut into the byline, his shot from an acute angle went in off the underside of the bar to equalise the score. The Pitmen had to defend a late barrage of attacks and corners but held strong to gain a point that looked unlikely at half time. There was an ugly end to the game when Avro substitute Ben Wharton saw a straight red card after he clattered into Pitmen keeper Ryan Brown.
Avro FC; Shenton, Crothers, Wallwork,Dwyer, Smalley, Ebhote, Cottrell, Rother (Kershaw 77), Potts, Ellis (Bello 22), Gomes (Wharton 68) . Subs not used; Anderton, Sloan
Hednesford Town; R Brown, Yeomans, Mendez-Jones (Armitage 19), Thorley, Griffiths, Sutton, Forbes (Thompson 34), McQuilkin, D Brown, Martin, Morley (Abbey 79). Subs not used; Gwilt, Sang
