It was the Stan & not their opponents Jarrow who march on after a 2-0 win. It was historic but cold afternoon as the new 50 seater stand, which was installed the day before & brings the seated capacity up to the 100, was used for the 1st time. There were 2 changes from Wednesday’s Senior Cup defeat with Hornsby and Luke being replaced by Kevin Carr, making his 50th start in the Northern League era having also played for the Stan in the Northern Alliance, & Jason Chanayire making his 1st start after a sub appearance. Newest signing Evan Howard, from Blyth Town, made his debut from the bench.

A relatively quiet opening period, although not if you count the singing from the large & vocal Jarrow travelling support, saw the Stan have much of the ball but with no real threat. Things got livelier after 10 minutes when a Jarrow shot hit the near post then Hubery in the Jarrow goal got down to save a Burn effort. In 12 minutes Jarrow hit the post again & Regan put the ball out for a corner. Holmes then countered but Hubery was out to block just before he shot. Jarrow themselves then countered & Regan blocked for a corner.

In 18 minutes, a Stan shot was deflected just wide. 5 minutes later the Stan were ahead when a Hopper shot was blocked near the goal line but the ball came back to Holmes who made no mistake putting it away. Both teams continued to try to attack, with Hopper working especially hard, although it took a good tackle by Chanayire in 29 minutes to halt a Jarrow break. 2 minutes later & it was the Stan’s turn to hit the bar from a Stephenson cross followed by a Burn shot being easily saved.

In 33 minutes Chanayire shot over. 3 minutes later & Jarrow had a period of pressure which included Hall & Esdaille both having to clear twice & Regan punching a corner ball over the bar. In 39 minutes Carr shot just wide. 2 minutes later & a clearance by the Stan was followed by some Stan pressure before the final few critical & action packed minutes of the 1st half. A Jarrow attack saw the ref play advantage after a tackle just outside the box but the advancing player was then flagged for offside as he put the ball in the net. The Stan then advanced up the pitch & a missed hit clearance by a defender saw McBryde tap in for the Stan’s 2nd goal. Hopper then tried to get a 3rd for the Stan but, after a free kick which saw 2 Jarrow players booked, his eventual effort was cleared. From it potentially being 1-1, the Stan went into the interval 2-0 up.

Jarrow started the 2nd half on the attack but 2 minutes in, a Holmes break was intercepted but the ball landed with Carr whose shot was caught by Hubery who came out to block. After 50 minutes, a Jarrow counter saw Regan come out of his box to intercept the attacker which he did as the attacker tried to go over him. The ref consulted his linesman & Regan was booked & a free kick was given to Jarrow. Unhappy with the decision, a Jarrow player was sin binned for his comments. Regan caught the ball from the free kick & the next clear effort didn’t come until the 61st minutes when a Holmes effort saw Hubery easily get down to stop it.

It was mainly Stan now & another shot was blocked although in 63 minutes a Jarrow free kick went wide. A minute later, from a Jarrow corner, Regan got down to get the ball but it was forced out of his hands & into the net resulting in the goal being disallowed. It was back to Stan pressure with efforts from Stephenson & Holmes.

One new player, Chanayire, was replaced by another, debutant Howard, although it was Stephenson who tried to force his effort into the net but was blocked by Hubery in 72 minutes. There was a quieter period & both sides were not helped by the pitch beginning to churn up although the Stan continued to have more of the ball. In 83 minutes, a poor Jarrow clearance allowed Carr in but he was brought down just outside the box. Burn’s free kick was then stopped by a great save from Hubery. There were claims for hand ball by the Stan after the resulting corner but the ball was eventually cleared with no penalty given. After Esdaille stopped a Jarrow attack in 87 minutes, the last few minutes saw more Stan pressure including through Burn.

It was a deserved win although the football gods and the ref were in the Stan’s favour which made the win a more straight forward task than it could have been. Still 8 points clear at the top of the league, the Stan travel next Saturday when they take on Sunderland West End.

Heaton Stannington: Regan; McAndrew; Stephenson (Dobson 89); Burn ( 66); Hall (C); Esdaille; Hopper; Carr; McBryde; Holmes (Campbell 75); Chanayire (Howard 70).

Unused Subs: Hornsby, Groves.

Goals: Holmes 53, McBryde 85.

Yellow Cards: Regan.

Supporters Man Of The Match: Kev Carr.

Referee: David Mitchell.

Assistants: M. Moore, R. Morgan.

Attendance: 303.

Kevin Mochrie

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