Ashley Sammons thunderbolt gives Stratford Town victory over Hednesford Town

A STUNNING long-range drive from Ashley Sammons was enough to give Stratford Town a 1-0 victory over Hednesford Town on Tuesday night, a result that extended their unbeaten run to six games.

Known for scoring the spectacular, Sammons once again added another thunderbolt to his collection of amazing goals, with his 25-yard rocket 17 minutes from time enough to settle this closely-fought Southern Premier Central contest.

In truth, the goal certainly came out of the blue as the Bards had struggled to get a stranglehold of proceedings. That said, though, Tim Flowers’ men defended superbly and Liam O’Brien also pulled off a number of fine saves throughout to keep the Pitmen at bay. And the goal itself seem to spur the home side on and show what they're capable of.

Stratford have now won two and drawn four of their last six outings, with Tuesday's precious three-point haul moving them up to tenth in the table and 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

Flowers made two changes to the team which drew 3-3 with Biggleswade Town last time out, with Ross Oulton and Jack Turner coming in for the benched Michael O’Regan and James Fry.

The Bards shaded the opening quarter of an hour and their first few chances came as a result of hesitancy in the Hednesford defence. With barely a minute on the clock a poor back pass was almost gathered by Leroy Lita, but goalkeeper Joe O’Shaugnessy did just enough to get to the ball first.

Lita was again at the centre of the action in the tenth minute, diverting Will Grocott’s miscued effort into the hands of O’Shaugnessy, who then had to save again from the former Reading and Bristol City striker five minutes later after failing to keep two hands on Will Dawes’ cross from the right.

It certainly took a while for the visitors to settle into the game, but as time wore on they began to enjoy more of the possession and find little pockets of space in the centre in the park. This in turn was allowing the wingers to get in behind on both flanks. And in the 31st minute it was down the left-hand side where the opening goal almost came from.

George Cater found himself in acres of space after Dan Vann slipped whilst trying to make a tackle and after surging into the box, his pull-back to the edge of the area was met by Reece Flanagan and his pile-driver was expertly parried away by the strong right hand of O’Brien.

The Pitmen continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession as half-time approached, but they struggled to find a way past a resolute Stratford defence. The hosts certainly struggled to carve out many chances up the other end, with Lita often cutting a lonely figure up top.

However, Stratford did end the first half with a flurry of chances, with Lita's cross from the left just missing the head of Lewis Wilson while Dan Lafferty – who came on for the injured Oulton in the 41st minute – fired high and wide moments later as both sides went into the break on level terms.

The Bards came out the blocks fastest in the second half but they failed to trouble O’Shaugnessy in between the Hednesford sticks. The visitors slowly started to settle into their stride as time passed by and once again O’Brien was called into action on the hour mark to keep the scores level.

Carter Lycett found himself in some space on the edge of the area and his stinging left-footed volley was expertly parried away by O’Brien, who had to contend with the ball swerving at the very last minute. Just moments later the visitors missed a huge chance to go ahead when a bouncing ball fell kindly to Andre Landell, but he could only skew his effort wide with the goal at his mercy.

The Bards, though, looked much better than they did in the first half and with 20 minutes to go only a last-ditch block prevented Sammons from scoring inside the area.

However, three minutes later the Bards faithful were off their seats. Sammons has the ability to score the wondergoal and his stunning 25-yard drive flew past the despairing O’Shaugnessy, smacked off the inside of the post and nestling into the net on the opposite side.

Feeling hard done by, Hednesford pushed hard for an equaliser and O’Brien did well in stoppage time to deny the clean through Cater from salvaging a point, rushing off his line to somehow push the ball away as the No. 10 attempted to go around him.

STRATFORD: O’Brien, Vann, Bushaj, Oulton (Lafferty 41), Turner, Williams, Wilson (James 61), Sammons, Lita, Grocott, Dawes. Unused subs: Fry, O’Regan, Beresford.

HEDNESFORD: O’Shaugnessy, Atkinson, Lycett, Portman, Ludford-Ison (Endall 80), Flanagan, Tilt (Hayden 56), Parker, Landell, Bennett (O’Sullivan 70), Cater. Unused subs: Ebbutt, Williams.

ATTENDANCE: 303