After Saturday’s disappointing result at home to Ryton & Crawcrook Albion, where 2 points were ceded by the concession of a late leveller by the basement dwelling visitors, The Stan struck out to the deepest Durham and lowly Esh Winning’s picturesque West Terrace ground in the hamlet of Waterhouses. Sadly the full bucolic majesty of the rural splendour in which Esh’s home finds itself was not immediately discernible on a starless and bible black November Wednesday.

Any hope that the same team that failed to hit the heights on Saturday would be afforded the opportunity to put matters right was blighted by a rash of withdrawals, meaning that only 12 fit Stan players made the lengthy trip down the A1 and A690, including centre back Mark Davison making his first appearance of the season and new signing Clay Darrell.

However, the players available dug deep and kept The Stan 4 points clear at the top of Northern League Division 2 with a resounding 5-2 success. Jonathan Wright opened the scoring after 20 minutes, before Brian Dodsworth extended the lead on 28 minutes. Just when it seemed The Stan would run away with the game Richardson halved the arrears and that is how it stayed at the break. Soon after the resumption Kevin Carr notched his first goal of an injury hampered campaign and The Stan began to assert a degree of control.

Some 18 months ago, Heaton Stannington held Gabon to a 0-0 draw in the first half of a warm up game for the 2012 Olympics; Joe Wear marked Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the game that day. It seemed that would be the most astonishing thing that happened to The Stan, though that was arguably trumped when Darrell, a full international for Bermuda, came off the bench to replace the injured Dean Deagle and scored Heaton’s fourth goal. Accepting a through ball from Wright, Darrell hit the ball low past the keeper’s right hand from 15 yards. Soon after, he almost scored again, when hitting a thunderbolt fractionally wide of the post from outside the box.

It was to be Esh Winning who got the next goal, when Ward reduced the arrears, but this was only a temporary hope for the home side. On 72 minutes Wright completed the scoring with his 26th goal for Heaton Stannington this season, when dispatching a penalty awarded after Paul Chapman’s mazy 40 yard run was crudely halted with an illegal challenge in the area. Well done to all Heaton Stannington players for putting in such an impressive performance in trying circumstances, but especially to Jonny Mann who produced his most accomplished display for The Stan so far.

With such a great result, it is a shame that Saturday 9th November sees The Stan without a fixture as Northallerton town were unable to accommodate our wish for a 2pm kick off.

Stan Team:

Subs:

Yellow Cards: Carr, Davison.

Attendance: 32

Goals: Wright 20, 72 (pen), Dodsworth 28, Carr 53, Darrell 61.

Kevin Mochrie