Pitmen's prowess impresses Smith

Ecstatic Hednesford Town manager Rob Smith has heaped praise on his team after The Pitmen thrashed Worksop Town 4-0 on Saturday to cut the deficit at the top of the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League's Premier Division to four points, writes Chris Brewerton.

The Keys Park outfit were humbled by the same scoreline when the Tigers visited the Midlands in September but this time around Hednesford's fluid attacking play and team application dominated the home side to leave Smith looking up the table.

With league leaders North Ferriby forced to take a week off after their game at Whitby Town fell victim to the inclement weather, Hednesford, with two games in hand, now have The Villagers firmly in their sights going into this weekend's clash again Matlock Town at Keys Park.

An impressed Smith, pictured, believes his side are up to the challenge after their display at Sandy Lane. He said: "I thought the way the players applied themselves was tremendous. Once we got a foothold in the game after ten minutes, we totally dominated and the pleasing thing was that after half time we never gave them a sniff of getting back into it."

A goal each from Elliott Durrell and Nathan Woolfe in the first half, another from Durrell and a late fourth by Aaron Rey in the second proved The Pitmen's superiority and paid The Tigers back for the result earlier in the campaign but Smith was also keen to stress the result had nothing to do with revenge, just a superb team performance.

He insisted: "Revenge wasn't what the day was all about, it was about beating a very good team on their own patch, and it was very pleasing to see everyone perform so well."

* With the ice and snow putting paid to Tuesday's Birmingham Senior Cup Quarter Final with Alvechurch and temperatures not expected to rise much above freezing for the rest of the week, Pitmen supporters are advised to keep an eye on www.hednesfordtownfc.com, the club's Twitter feed and Facebook account for updates on the Matlock fixture.