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In front of a gate of 2,744 a furious and heated first half produced five goals and two
sendings off in 20 minutes.
Stevenage scored in the 13th minute with a looping Crawshaw header. Hednesford equalised
four minutes later with Gary Fitzpatrick shooting first to be blocked by keeper Gallagher
but making no mistake with the rebound. It was only two minutes later that Stevenage again
took the lead when their influential midfielder Soloman scored with a volley.
A further 13 minutes elapsed before the Pitmen again equalised when Joe O'Connor broke
clear and lifted Paul Carty's high ball forward over keeper Gallagher but in the very next
minute Stevenage were awarded a penalty when Catlin was bowled over in the penalty area
and Barrowcliffe made no mistake from the spot to restore Stevenage's lead.
Just two minutes later the crowd could not believe it when virtually every player on the
pitch became involved in a bad tempered brawl. Carty ran the width of the pitch to take
part and was given the red card for his stupidity together with Hooper from Stevenage.
The second half seemed very tame compared to the first and the halftime scoreline remained
for the rest of the game.
Kidderminster surged back to the top of the GM Conference with a blistering display
that slaughtered a pathetic Hednesford who seemed to have forgotten how to play as a team.
The Express & Star reporter said "If this had been a boxing match the referee
would have declared it a no contest after 35 minutes with Hednesford hanging onto the
ropes unable to defend themselves" and that is what it looked like.
Kidderminster's Lee Hughes gleefully pounced onto Steve Essex's poor header to round
keeper Scott Cooksey after 10 minutes of play. From that moment it was all downhill for
Hednesford. Hednesford's defence was all over the place as Paul Davies added the second
then Martin Weir made it three when he found himself unmarked in the six yard box and
nodded home a Davies flick from Hohn Deakin's corner.
Hednesford manager John Baldwin, out of sheer desperation, substituted Lambert and Collins
with Street and Mason but it was a futile gesture as Casey's volley flew past Cooksey.
Even though Keith Russell managed to find the net after a neat one two with Joe O'Connor,
if you were a Hednesford supporter you had to smile at the hopeless performance of the
Hednesford players. Baldwin was gesturing desperately and shouting at the players only to
have a shout from the stand of "It isn't all their fault, you picked the b*****
team".
As half time thankfully arived, Baldwin was first to march quickly into the changing room.
A few minutes later the Hednesford team were back on the pitch. I don't know if it was
because Baldwin had ordered them back or they had returned to escape his raging.
After the break Kidderminster were making sure that they gave nothing away and though they
were far superior to a disheartened Hednesford side there were to be no further goals.
Hednesford : Cooksey, Carty, Russell, Simpson, Essex, Comyn, Collins, Lambert, Lake, Fitzpatrick, O'Connor. Subs : Mason, Street, Devine.
Kidderminster : Barber, Willetts, Prindiville, Weir, Deakin, Yates, Webb, Casey, Hughes, Olney, Davies. Subs : Cartwright, McCue, Dearlove.
Copyright � 1997 Dennis Dixon
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