Edwards coy about league leaders

Hednesford boss Dean Edwards believes his players are inexperienced at handling the pressure of being at the top of the table.

The Pitmen followed their first defeat in nine games last week with a 3-3 draw at home to Kendal, meaning their lead at the top of the Northern League Premier Division has been eroded to three points.

Second placed Guiseley could now overhaul them, if they win their two games in hand, so Edwards is reserving judgement as to whether the side can deal with the strain.

He said: "We will have to wait and see. If they have any weaknesses it is their inexperience. A lot of the lads have not been in this position before and I can tell them from my experience, everyone is there to shoot you down

"When you are at the top of the league and you lose a game it is going to be scrutinised."

If the Pitmen begin to stumble after Christmas, Edwards will have no qualms about replacing the players who made such a storming start to their league campaign this season.

He said: "I have only been in this job six months and I didn't come here to get promotion straight away, I came here to build a team, a squad and a decent football club.

"I will see how they react to the situation and if they are not up there they will be gone. I will bring in players who will push us forward."

Edwards knows they are at the top to be shot down by the host of clubs in the chasing pack and has urged his players to maintain their standards.

He said "Most teams at the top of the league at Christmas blow up at some point. Every game becomes a cup final and everyone wants to kick you off the park.

"Our players have to raise their game an extra ten or 20 per cent, to make sure they are better than the other team."

Despite their mini dip, the Pitmen are still on course to reach their points target for the half way mark of the season.

He said: "We set a target of 45 points for the half way stage, which is still two games away. If we win our next two games then we will have 46 points so we are still on track.

The Pitmen do have a distraction from league duty on Tuesday, when they travel to Hyde United in the Birmingham Senior Cup third round.

Edwards knows they continued success in cup competitions will put an added strain on their slender squad.

He said: "We are in a lot of cups so if we get to the final of all competitions, we will end up playing about 70 games and that is with a squad of 15 or 16 players.

"The next few matches will really test our resolve as a football club. The more successful we are the more game we will play and the more suspensions and injuries we will get."