Pitmen pressure to push on

Hednesford Town boss Rob Smith says his players are desperate to return to Evo-Stik Northern Premier League action on Saturday and take on Grantham Town at Keys Park, writes Chris Brewerton.

The Pitmen saw Tuesday's clash with AFC Fylde postponed after a blanket of snow covered the Keys Park pitch for a third time in almost as many weeks, leaving Smith's players frustrated at being unable to play following last week's 2-2 draw with Ashton United.

Smith said: "I know the players were keen to get back out on the pitch and get going again and I had a few of them on to me showing how disappointed they were but we will just get on with it. The pitch was unplayable so there was nothing we could do."

The Ashton United draw saw Hednesford fall six points behind league-leaders North Ferriby United and the Fylde fixture was one of their two games in hand. Smith is confident his team can cope with any potential fixture pile-up and insists his team just want to get down to business to fight for the title.

"I’m not too worried regarding our fixture list," he said. "We have the squad to cope with two games a week until the end of the season and the players know we are in a title race and that, as long we stay in the leading pack, anything can happen."