It was a historic & fantastic day as the Stan achieved their highest league finish since they were officially established in 1910. Added to this Heaton Stannington A, scored 4 late goals to beat Hazelrigg Victory 6-2 & win Northern Alliance Division 2. A late goal at Crook Town was enough to secure the Stan 3 points, although they only actually needed 1 point, & finish 3rd in the league & book a home tie in the play-off semi-finals. There were 4 changes from Thursday night’s home win over Boro Rangers with Corkhill, Cassidy, Turnbull & Reid replacing Brass, Scott, Sayer & Lashley.
On a cold but dry final Saturday of the season, a relatively quiet start saw the 1st attack coming from the Stan in 4 minutes. It resulted in a corner that was cleared. The Stan had 2 more attacks within a relatively quiet 1st 10 minutes. The 1st Crook attack came in the 11th minute & it was cleared. In 14 minutes, a Stan corner saw Shepherd slide in but his effort went wide. Soon after, the Crook keeper had to punch clear & Stephenson’s rebound shot was blocked.
Although Stan had more of the ball, overall both teams were cancelling each other out. In 19 minutes, a Crook free kick into the Stan box saw Corkhill catch it before an advancing home player got to it. Both teams had another attack before Reid headed clear from a Crook free kick. Hopper counter attacked & sent a long ball towards Lamb but a Crook defender got to it 1st.
In 25 minutes, Lamb sent a ball into the Crook box but it was missed by everyone. The stalemate continued although Crook sent the ball over the Stan bar in 29 minutes. There was still not much happening as half time approached & the bobbly pitch did not help either team. The best chance of the match so far came in 41 minutes when a ball to Burn in the Crook box saw him turn & shoot, but his effort went over the bar. 2 minutes later & Burn passed to Lamb whose great shot was only stopped by a great save by Curran the home keeper. So, a relatively uneventful 1st half was livened up by 2 late Stan efforts.
The 2nd half started with the Stan having much of the ball but, like the 1st half, with not much happening. In 48 minutes, there was a sustained Stan attack which ended with Reid heading over the bar. In 52 minutes, a ball from a Crook corner was blocked twice before Corkhill caught it. A minute later, Hopper supplied Lamb on the left who sent the ball to Reid on the right, but he headed into the side netting.
The 2nd half was now livelier than the 1st & in 57 minutes a Cassidy free kick saw the ball go over the Crook wall but it was caught by their keeper. Both teams were trying to attack but the next dangerous move didn’t come to 63 minutes when a ball from a Stephenson corner was punched clear by the home keeper. The ball came back in but Burn shot over the bar.
Both teams remained positive & Corkhill had to get down to catch at the 2nd attempt in 71 minutes. Soon after a ball from a Cassidy free kick saw the Crook keeper catch it after initially dropping it. Lamb then shot over the Crook bar.
In 77 minutes, the Stan took the pressure off themselves when they scored to go 1-0 up. Lamb passed to Burn who was blocked but the ball deflected towards Reid who turned & blasted it into the net.
In the 8oth minute, a ball from a Stan corner was initially blocked by the home keeper then he also blocked Burn’s rebound effort. After a quieter period, a Cassidy free kick in 88 minutes was initially caught but not held by the home keeper before he cleared the ball. Burn then sent a ball into sub Lennox but he put the ball just over the bar under pressure.
In the last minute, a speculative long-range effort from Crook forced Corkhill to get down to save. The Stan saw out 5 minutes of added time although it included Burn shooting well over in the 92nd minute.
There was delight from the Stan Army at the final whistle as the team achieved 3rd place in Division 1 after only 2 seasons in it. There was then a great moment as the entire squad & management team came over to the Far Corner supporters & shook everyone’s’ hand individually. What a great team both on and off the park! The Stan now host Birtley Town in the league play-off semi-final on Thursday night.
Heaton Stannington: Corkhill, Evans, Hornsby, Cassidy, Turnbull, Shepherd (C), Burn, Stephenson (Lashley 74), Hopper (Anderson 74), Reid (Marriott 86), Lamb (Lennox 88).
Unused Substitutes: Sayer.
Goals: Reid 77.
Supporters Man Of The Match: Joe Shepherd.
Referee: Charlie Ford.
Assistants: N. Sherratt, D. McCauley.
Attendance: 334.
Venue: The Sir Tom Cowie Millfield, Crook, County Durham DL15 9PW .
Kevin Mochrie