The midday boxing day derby was a chance to build on Saturday’s victory and keep the promotion challenge going. The ‘Wright’ result was eventually achieved but only after missed opportunities in the first half and the team making hard work of things in the first part of the second half. There was one change as Hall replaced Middleton in the centre of defence. 

The visitors to an extent had to play with 10 men as the one who was the double of the hair dresser from Benidorm (and just as loud) rarely left the centre circle. The match was able to go ahead, despite 12 hours of rain from 6pm on Xmas evening onwards, thanks to the work undertaken by 10 Stan Army volunteers on Xmas Eve who spiked and rolled the pitch.

A healthy crowd of 145, which was added to by a handful who had been watching Benfield (who had an 11 am kick off) at half time saw the Stan start positively and attack immediately on a cold but dry and pleasant. afternoon. Bailey was blocked and Turnbull spliced the ball wide from a second minute corner. There was then another corner, from which the ball was punched away by Hodgson in the Celtic goal and Wright was blocked after Salim had miss hit.

In 6 minutes, Ray shot wide and 4 minutes later Wright passed to the advancing Turnbull who, although he stumbled, kept the ball but it was put out for a corner from which he shot wide. The visitors had their first effort in 13 minutes which required a great full stretch save from Smith but the Stan were then back up the field forcing Hodgson to catch.

Throughout the match the visitors found it difficult to deal with Turnbull and Wright and they didn’t help themselves as a result of some poor passing and defending. In 18 minutes, Turnbull passed to Wright who advanced and blasted the ball just wide from the edge of the box. 

Wright broke free of the defence and ran and passed across the goal towards Salim and Robertson but a defender got a tackle in and the linesman had his flag up. Wright then won the ball on the half way line and passed to the advancing Turnbull who crossed to Robertson but his header was headed off the line when it looked like going in.   

The continuous Stan pressure paid off in 22 minutes when a Stan ball up the pitch saw a Celtic defender head it the wrong way on the half way line allowing Wright to get it and confidently run forward and score. 2 minutes later Wright advanced again and a Celtic defender was booked for bringing him down just outside the box when he was clear. Wright took the free kick, from the same position as he scored one on Saturday and hit the bar. Imray’s 3-yard rebound effort was caught by the keeper. 

Wright forced the keeper to catch before Smith had to make 2 relatively easy catches. In 28 minutes, Turnbull passed to Wright who beat a player then crossed the ball but Robertson’s header was blocked for a corner. 

After a quiet spell, Robertson had another header which this time went wide. Salim then won the ball but he was blocked when advancing on goal. After Bailey shot over in 42 minutes, Wright got a shot in after initially being blocked but he hit the side netting. Turnbull headed just wide under pressure in the 45th minute and the half ended with a Celtic attack being blocked.

The Stan’s failure to score all but one of their chances in the 1st half came back to haunt them quickly 3 minutes into the second when a Celtic cross was missed by all the sleeping Stan defenders in the box and the No2 kicked the ball into the net from almost on the goal line. 

Apart from Deagle shooting well over after a Robinson free kick was blocked, the Stan were very quiet for the next few minutes and their defence was again put under pressure on a number of occasions although they blocked well and Holland especially was having a great game. The Stan then attacked twice but it took a third for an effort to occur when a Wright cross resulted in Robinson heading wide. 

After another couple of attacks, the Stan had a quiet spell again although it wasn’t helped by the visitors constantly fouling Turnbull when he got the ball on the wing although their No7 was eventually booked for doing so in 69 minutes. In this quiet period though, after their equaliser, Celtic only had one shot which went wide in 68minutes. 

A minute later and a Wright free kick was sent curving towards the top right corner of the goal but Hodgson made a great stretching save. The Stan put the pressure on Celtic again and in 76 minutes, when Celtic got a rare incursion into the Stan half, Imray won the ball back and passed to Wright who ran up the left and twisted and turned into the box and shot past the keeper into the top right corner. 

Celtic didn’t give up, and were helped by poor refereeing, and Smith had to punch the ball away then catch from close range when a Celtic player broke free. In 81 minutes he easily caught the ball from a Celtic corner.

In 86 minutes, a Stan corner was punched clear leading to Wright blasting the ball well over the bar. Soon after he made a great run to force a corner from which the keeper caught the ball. Into injury time and Smith had to catch but the match ended just after a Turnbull long shot was caught by the keeper.

So the Stan, especially through the skill of Jon Jon Wright, had kept their resolve enough to restore their lead and win 2-1. With Tow Law losing, the Stan are up to second place and a point behind leaders Northallerton.

Stan Team: Smith, Holland, Deagle (Jones 91), Ray, Hall, Imray, Turnbull, Bailey, Wright (McKenna 70), Robertson, Salim (Hoggins 79). 

Subs Not Used: Johnson, McKenna.

Goals: Wright 22, 76.

Referee: Connor Scott.

Assistants: Mark Bell, John Love.

Attendance: 145.

Kevin Mochrie