Hednesford Town hopeful a "sleeping giant has awoken" after play-off success

Hednesford beat Congleton Town 2-0 at Key Parks in front of a record attendance of 4,701 courtesy of goals from Jake Jervis and Jack Bearne. 

Assistant Vaughan has helped mastermind the Pitmen's play-off success under manager Gavin Hurren and is confident that this will only be the beginning of good times for the football club. 

He said: "We anticipated it was going to be a bumper crowd. It came as no surprise that the Hednesford fans turned out in record numbers because they've been fantastic since we've come in. 

"This is why we do it, to give back to the fans, and let's hope the good times carry on.

"They've backed us when we had difficult moments at the start. We knew we had to hit the ground running so it was needs must to get results and performances needed to be put to one side so we could catch up and get into the play-offs. 

"Me and Gavin knew how good Hednesford can be. If you can really ignite that fire, it's a massive football club in non-league. 

"It's a sleeping giant really and we hope we've woken that up." 

Hednesford collected seven wins from their final nine games to qualify for the play-offs before booking their spot in the final with a 3-1 home win over Vauxhall Motors. 

And Vaughan has hailed the mentality of the players to thrive under pressure, which he feels will be crucial strength over the coming years.

"This is what we look out when we recruit. If you're going to play at Hednesford then you're going to have to play under pressure," he continued.

"We're always going to be a team where we're expected to win and we're expected to win as a management group. You've got to thrive off that pressure. 

"So for the lads that are going to be here moving forward, that won't be the last pressure game they play in.. A really good mentality among the group is something we work on a lot." 

The game was overshadowed by events shortly after full-time when a supporter was airlifted to hospital after falling ill. 

Hednesford issued an update on Sunday confirming that the supporter was 'alive and responsive' and Vaughan joined the club in sending his best wishes to the supporter and his family.

"Our heart goes out to him and his family. We just wish him all the best," he concluded.

"It was dealt with really well and it just puts things into perspective that there's more to life than football. 

"We're so engrossed but when things like that happen, it just gives you a reality check. 

"So we're over the moon to hear the good news and I hope that good news continues. 

"As well as Max McCarthy who broke his ankle in the game. Really made the game flat for 10 or 15 minutes but we wish him all the best in his recovery."