Hednesford Town 2, Bradford Park Avenue 0

Hednesford climbed to the Conference North summit with a hard-earned win over Bradford Park Avenue.

The home side broke the deadlock in the ninth minute with a deflected effort. Jamie Osborne was on the end of a sweeping counter-attack and, after the final ball was missed by an Avenue defender, the strike beat keeper John Lamb after clipping another of his back-line.

The visitors were under the cosh in those early stages but they did weather that pressure to get into the game.

The closest Avenue came to scoring in the first half was when Jordan Deacey spotted Danny Crane off his line but the experienced stopper managed to gather the midfielder’s dipping shot.

Hednesford ended the half with a flurry and had three attempts just before the break.

Avenue enjoyed a spell on top at the beginning of the second period but failed to produce the all-important equaliser, despite carving out some good openings.

The home side made them pay for that when Ben Bailey netted a sumptuous second goal for the new leaders 13 minutes from time.

The loss leaves Avenue, who would have leapfrogged neighbours Guiseley with a win, in tenth place.

Tonight also saw Brighouse Town suffering heartbreak in the FA Vase as they were knocked out in a third-round replay at Whickham.

The north-east outfit, who took the tie back home following a 3-3 extra-time draw at Brighouse last Tuesday, won 1-0 thank to a penultimate-minute strike by Ross Peareth.

Liversedge’s home game against Heanor Town in the Toolstation Northern Counties East League Premier Division kicked off half an hour late because the Derbyshire club encountered travel delays. But the visitors were not affected and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners.

Ryan Tinsley opened the scoring and Kieran Debrouwen, Nathan Benger and Greg Simmons added second-half strikes.

The only crumb of comfort for Sedge was a Gibril Bojang penalty that briefly restored parity at the beginning of the second half.

Albion Sports will be in action in the same division tomorrow night when they head to Staveley. Kulwinder Sandhu’s men could go third with a win against their hosts, who are languishing in 19th place.