Hebburn Town boss takes positives from Hednesford Town defeat

Daniel Moore has insisted Hebburn Town deserved a point from their opening day defeat against Hednesford Town.

The visitors arrived at the newly named Trustmark Group Stadium looking to live up to their tag as one of the sides tipped for promotion into the National League North despite only claiming promotion into step three last season. Hebburn’s main aim will be to improve on what was a disappointing second half to their first year in the Northern Premier League’s top tier and that has led Moore to add several new faces to his ranks during the summer.

He handed debuts to Harrison Bond, Gary Martin, Jack Foalle, Joe Oliver and Ethan Wood after they joined the club over the last two months as they looked to make an impact on their competitive debuts for the Hornets. However, it was the visitors that edged a tight and nervy contest as former South Shields man Dominic McHale latched on to a Daniel Trickett-Smith cross and fired what would be the only goal of the game five minutes into the second half.

Reflecting on the defeat, Hornets boss Moore said: “I thought without the ball we were very good, it was a very tight game and they’re the favourites for a reason. They were good without the ball, I don’t think either team deserved to win the game and I didn’t think we deserved to lose it. Overall, it was a pleasing performance against the team that are odds-on favourites to win the league and I thought chances, half-chances, we had the better of them.

“We’ve been undone by a mistake in the middle of the pitch from a set-piece which is unfortunate - but we won’t dwell on that. Overall, I thought we gave a really good solid first game of the season performance and there were some really good positives to take from it. I thought it had nil-nil written all over it. I don’t think either keeper has had lots to do, they’ve scored, Harrison hasn’t had a shot to save and their keeper hasn’t had a lot to do.”

The Hornets will now turn their attention towards consecutive away days as they visit Guiseley on Tuesday night before travelling to Lancaster City on Saturday afternoon.

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