On a dull but dry and blustery day, a crowd of over 165 witnessed only the second home match of the year for the Stan as they attempted to halt the visitors run of eight wins in a row. There were two changes from the team eight days ago at Whickham and there was no Rowntree and again no Hayton up front.

The Stan started positively with Jones shooting over in two minutes and a Grieveson cross was caught by the visiting keeper two minutes later. With only one catch by Smith in the 6th minute, the first ten minutes saw the Stan have most of the pressure although both teams were attempting to attack. In the 14th minute Telford, after a 1-2 with Jones, got into the box and was shoved off the ball but no penalty was given. Three minutes later and it was Burns who was this time brought down in the box but again nothing was given by the referee. In the 21st minute, Grieveson crossed to Burns whose shot was caught by the Northallerton keeper.

Two minutes later and Philipson headed over his own goal for a corner. From the corner, a visiting player’s header was deflected off a Stan defender and Smith put the ball over the bar. From the next corner, Smith came out confidently and caught the ball. In the 28th minute, a Stan header was cleared off the line by the visiting keeper and the counter attack saw Wear kick the ball off the Stan goal line.

In the 36th minute, Smith pushed the ball clear then punched away the rebound. Two minutes later and it was the Stan who were attacking but Burns spliced his shot. There was not much between the teams and the 0-0 half time score reflected this.

The second half started in sunshine although it was more of the same in terms of play. The first clear attack in the 50th minute saw Jones blocked by a defender. A minute later and a Northallerton corner was missed by everyone in the crowded home box. The next 20 minutes was fairly even with both teams only having one clear shot each although the visitors had more of the ball.

In the 70th minute, a Northallerton counter attack was stopped by Smith who grabbed the ball before an incoming Northallerton player could get another touch. Two minutes later Imray made a good tackle and got the ball up eventually to Burns who lobbed the ball and although Northallerton’s Calvert thought he would catch it, the ball bounced off the bar first.

Grieveson got the ball back in but a Northallerton counter attack resulted in Smith running out to block. The visiting forward retrieved the ball but shot over. Smith then saved again a minute later. The visitors then had three shots that went over the bar before Wear cleared another shot off the goal line in the 84th minute. Smith then made two more saves.

After a relatively uneventful match, the last few minutes were proving to be the liveliest. In the 87th minute, the Stan finally got back on the attack when a defensive error saw Telford nearly break into the box. The next attack saw Burns fail to connect with a through ball which was followed by a visiting player blasting the ball wide when he had a good chance to score. After a Wear clearance, Burns got the ball up in front of an advancing Grieveson but a defender got to it first.

Into injury time and Smith caught a ball from a free kick which then resulted in a Grieveson led Stan attack which came to nothing. The Stan then attacked again with Burns showing good vision to get the ball across to the incoming Telford who was blocked for a corner from which Imray shot over the bar. There was one more Stan attack before the match ended 0-0.

It was a fair result but also a good one for the Stan given the visitors recent record.

Stan Team: Smith; Stoddart; Philipson (McCabe); Ray; Wear; Imray; Telford; Bailey; Grieveson; Jones (Thompson); Burns.

Unused Subs: Trodd; Waters.

Attendance: 166

Kevin Mochrie