Wednesday marked a welcome return to proper floodlit evening games with the visit of newly promoted Blyth Town. 416 brave souls had ventured out for the game, which was played in increasingly cold conditions as the clouds cleared, and the warmth of the last few months became a distant memory. Many had been unprepared for this change in weather; still donning short sleeves and shorts, although to be fair most of them were on the pitch. There was one change from Saturday’s FA Cup win over Marske with Walker replacing. Burn. Ex-Stan keeper De Jesus was in goals for Blyth Town.
It wasn’t until the 5th minute that we got our first real action when Errington shot, aspirationally, from 35 yards. He kept it low, but it was well wide of the goal. Barely 4 minutes later, Blyth were one up when Johnson, their speedy No.11, crossed into the box and in the resulting scramble, Fishburn, scored a scrappy goal.
Over the next 15 minutes, the Stan started to dominate the midfield culminating in several unsuccessful shots on goal. Blyth Town’s Richardson, perhaps frustrated by this period of play, was booked for a careless challenge on Errington. Blyth Town however, remained dangerous with their No.7, Millington, having a shot just over the bar after a fast break. Almost immediately, another rapid series of passes led to their No.10, Giles, being free on goal, who drilled a powerful shot towards goal only for it to be well saved by a diving Brass.
After a couple of Heaton Stannington corners that came to nothing, the Stan had their best chance of the half on 32 minutes when Beattie battled past a string of defenders and unleashed a great shot that had to be tipped over the bar by Blyth’s keeper. The Stan largely finished the half stronger, with another Blyth player, Fell (No.5), being booked for a late challenge on Hopper but it remained 1-0 to Blyth at half time.
An early attack by Blyth in the second half led to a goalmouth scramble, not unlike their first goal, but thankfully in this case it was successfully defended. Soon after, Errington picked up a yellow card for holding a Blyth player back who had beaten him in a challenge and was heading to the Stan box.
Heaton Stannington then made two successive substitutions: Storey for Adamson and Burn for Beattie, with Stephenson then moving to left back. These substitutions quickly paid off for the Stan with Burn scoring from close range on the 59th minute following a long throw-in from Slaughter which was flicked on at the near post and into his path.
The status quo did not last long, as within 5 minutes, Millington scored a second goal for Blyth after some strong play from Giles. Two minutes later after a Hopper attack down the right and into the penalty box, Heaton Stannington were awarded a penalty, when his run was prematurely ended following a reckless challenge by a Blyth defender. Hopper duly converted the penalty to make it 2-2.
It was end-to-end stuff for a period following this flurry of goals. The best chance was on 70 minutes when Slaughter, clear on goal, side-footed over the bar from 18 yards, following an excellent pass across the box from Errington. On 77 minutes, Blyth replaced Johnson with Lively. On 79 minutes, the Stan played a ball through the Blyth defence that Errington was first to chase but the Blyth keeper, De Jesus, showed good anticipation and cleared the danger.
Into the last 10 minutes of normal time, Heaton Stannington replaced Milburn with Shepherd, and soon after Blyth made a double-substitution: Cooper for Millington, and Nicholson for Giles. These substitutions seemed to benefit both teams, as soon after there were close chances, and important saves, at both ends of the pitch. There seemed to be another goal to come in the game, but despite a further two substitutions for Heaton Stannington, Payne for Walker and Groves for Stephenson, it failed to materialise.
A draw seemed to be a fair result for two teams who played entertaining and clean football. The Stan now travel in the league on Saturday to North Ferriby.
Heaton Stannington: Brass, Evans, Beattie (Burn 58), Stephenson (Groves 90), Capewell, Milburn (Shepherd 80), Hopper, Slaughter (C), Adamson (Storey 56), Walker (Payne 90), Errington.
Goals: Burn 59, Hopper 66 (Pen).
Supporters Man Of The Match: Kane Evans.
Yellow Cards: Errington.
Referee: Stephen Beresford.
Attendance: 416.
Match Photos: Flickr.
Neil Gammack / Ben Sartain