Stockton Town hearts were broken after a very late turnaround from Hednesford Town.
Words by Elle-Mai Keightley
Photo by Harry Cook
Stockton Town 1-2 Hednesford Town | 17th January 2026
Stockton Town took on league-leaders Hednesford Town at the MAP Group UK Stadium. Despite taking lead through Tom Coulthard in the second-half, goals in the 85th and 98th minute saw the visitors take all three points back to Staffordshire.
Stockton started strong and steady, creating an early chance inside the box that was blocked by Ollie Harrison.
Jake Petitjean then had a shot blocked, finding Amar Purewal, whose driven effort was safely captured by the goalkeeper, Tony Breeden.
Moments later, Harrison was there again to block Ryan Barrett’s shot.
Adam Nicholson delivered a great cross which Purewal could only head straight into the gloves of Tony Breeden.
Purewal remained a constant threat, his efforts testing the keeper again with another strike, once again swiftly met by Breeden.
Both sides continued to play with confidence before an incident between Montel Gibson and Adam Nicholson resulted in Gibson being shown a controversial yellow card, and the sides went into the break goalless.
Half-time: Stockton Town 0-0 Hednesford Town
A thrilling second half then got underway, with Nathan Harker called into action early, performing an impressive double save to deny Omari Sterling-James’ free kick and Max Sheaf’s following ball.
Ryan Barrett then stood as the lone defender in the box, cutting out a dangerous cross from the right-wing.
It wasn’t long after when the Anchors took the lead, as Petitjean’s free kick travelled deep into the area and was finished beautifully by Tom Coulthard, who fired past Breeden in loads of space.
Michael Sweet was played through on the wing, but Breeden made another fine stop to push it wide.
Five minutes from the end, the visitors found an equaliser when a corner was well saved by Harker, but his defence were unable to deal with the following danger, with Montel Gibson eventually tapping home the leveller on the line.
Deep into stoppage time, following a spell of Hednesford pressure, the referee spotted a subtle handball inside the Stockton box, which Akheem Rose casually slotted home to secure the victory.
Full-time: Stockton Town 1-2 Hednesford Town
Stockton look to bounce back next week with a trip to Guiseley.
