Although the performance of Heaton was much improved on their last outing, they still lost out in this tussle against a side who still remain unbeaten in this campaign. The visitors had the first clear cut chance of the game after five minutes when Damien Stevens was put through but the young No.9 fired his shot wide.
Slightly against the run of play the home side went ahead on the quarter hour mark when the ball was given away too easily on the half way line and Harrison Davies ran through to score. Three minutes later Heaton should have equalised when Andrew Robertson was put through but his shot was easily saved by the home keeper. Eventually the visitors’pressure paid off when, on thirty minutes, a cross from Stevens on the right was lashed home by Robertson to atone for his earlier miss.
With the half time whistle approaching, a long punt up field was met by the home centre forward Gary Mitchell. Although he appeared to be in an offside position, he was allowed to play on and made the most of his good fortune as he put the ball past Shaun Backhouse to give his Norton & Stockton a 2-1 lead at the interval.
In the second half heavy rain made conditions difficult as the visitors continued to press for a second equaliser and they were rewarded for their efforts when a goalward bound shot was deliberately handled by home defender John Seaton. Lee Johnson scored from the resultant spot kick to make it 2-2.
However a similar instance followed soon after when Ian Dixon was adjudged to handled the ball in the penalty area and skipper Michael Jameson stepped up to fire home. A point was very nearly salvaged in the final minute when a thunderous header from Ben Telford struck the crossbar with David Knight in the home goal well beaten. The score remained though 3-2 to the Ancients.
Stan Team: Backhouse; Telford; Deagle; Dixon, I; Stoddart; Wear; Blakey (Chambers); Johnson, L; Stevens (Yates); Robertson; Burns.
Unused subs: McGarrigal; Hoggins.
Goals: Robertson 30, Lee Johnson (pen)
Yellow Cards: Lee Johnson, Ian Dixon, Robertson.
Attendance: 42
Ken Rodger