On a historic day for the Club, we win our place in Step 4 with a 3-0 Play off final win. Read more!

Last weekend, Stan A were looking to bounce back from their cup final defect against Blyth Town U23s in the League. Blyth had beaten them in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. A competitive fixture ended in a draw, with Ryan Bailey scoring for the Stan.

The photos can be seen here:

Heaton Stan A fell at the last hurdle, in a penalty shootout, against Hazlerigg Victory on Wednesday night in the Amateur Cup Final. Read about all it here in our match report and look back at the action in our photo gallery:

Photo Gallery

Match Report

On a March Tuesday night in North Shields, live cup final football provided everything & more that Champions League football on the TV could- goals, action, a debateable penalty, unexpected opposition goals, a 2^nd half comeback & a penalty shoot-out! Northern Alliance division 2 leaders Heaton Stannington took on 2^nd place Hazlerigg Victoria in the final of the cup for teams from that specific league. When the Northern Amateur league merged with the Alliance & Combination in 1988, its cup became the 3^rd tier cup. This is the Stan’s 1^st time competing in the 3^rd tier cup but in the old amateur league the club won it 6 times (1^st team 4 times & A team twice) between 1936 & 1977.

Both teams started positively & after 4 minutes Khali was out of his box to get to the ball before an advancing Hazlerigg player who was then flagged for offside. The Stan attacked but this was followed by a Hazlerigg counterattack which saw Khali get to the ball 1^st. Hazlerigg then shot over under pressure. The Stan were in the lead after 9 minutes when the advancing Poole supplied Tallen who sent a great cross into the advancing Robson who blasted the ball into the net. Hazlerigg almost immediately also had the ball in the net, but the responsible player was well offside. In 12 minutes, a Hazlerigg player went down easily in the Stan box & a penalty was given. From the penalty, Khali got to the ball but couldn’t stop it going into the net for 1-1 after 13 minutes. Both teams continued to try to attack & the Stan had a ball across the Hazlerigg goal cleared in 17 minutes with a similar move happening at the other end 2 minutes later. The Stan then pressurised the Hazlerigg defence, but it was the opponents who shot well wide in 22 minutes. Soon after, Khali confidently came out of his box to intercept the ball & in 25 minutes he made a great save to stop an effort from the edge of the box. The Stan then had a few minutes of sustained pressure ending in Tallen shooting well over the bar. In 34 minutes, there was a great run by Boothroyd under pressure & although he out ran the chasing defender he passed to Robson who supplied Tallen who then blasted a good opportunity over the bar. There was more pressure at each end with both defences working hard. In 40 minutes, a Hazlerigg effort went wide followed by the home keeper easily saving a Milburn effort from a Stan corner. Both teams continued to try & attack but in the 45^th minute, it was Hazlerigg who were successful & went into the break in the lead. They had an attack cleared before they tried a shot from the edge of the box which although it looked like it was going wide, saw the ball hit off the post & into the net.

The Stan start the 2^nd half on the attack as they knew the match was still winnable. A minute in & a good run by Boothroyd, who had switched wings at half time, ended with his great shot being saved by the keeper for a corner. It was mainly one way traffic as the Stan kept forcing the Hazlerigg defence to work hard. The Stan came especially close to an equalising goal in 55 minutes when a Robson effort was blocked by both a defender & the keeper. In 59 minutes, Walker shot just over under pressure. In 63 minutes, Hazlerigg’s 1^st attack of the 2^nd half saw a joined-up advance into the Stan box & the ball was eventually put into the net for 1-3 against the run of play. The Stan’s heads remained high as they kept the pressure on. Khali had to save in 70 minutes & 4 minutes later Hazlerigg shot across the Stan goal but the ball went well wide. The Hazlerigg keeper then had to catch from a Tallen ball into the box. In 77 minutes, after Boothroyd had been fouled, a Tallen free kick into the box missed everyone & bounced into the net for 2-3. This encouraged the Stan even more & especially Boothroyd. He forced a corner in 79 minutes from which the Hazlerigg keeper had to get down to stop a Poole effort. The Stan defence was also working hard to stop any Hazlerigg counter attacks. In 88 minutes, a Stan shot was blocked but not held by the Hazlerigg keeper who then blocked Doyle’s rebound shot. It was all Stan now & the expectant equaliser came in the 89^th minute from a Tallen corner which saw Poole expertly head the ball down & it bounced into the net. What a goal. The Stan now sought a winner as they kept attacking but Hazlerigg hung on & the match ended 3-3. There was no extra time as the match now went straight to penalties. Tallen scored the 1^st one for the Stan followed by Hazlerigg also scoring. Poole then had his penalty saved while Hazlerigg’s hit the bar. After the 3^rd round of penalties, Hazlerigg had the advantage as they scored after Nagel had blasted over the bar. Dunbar-Phillips scored but so did Hazlerigg to make it 2-3 after 4 rounds of penalties. Boothroyd easily scored for the Stan, but Hazlerigg also scored to win the cup 4-3 on penalties.

So the Stan lost the final at the last hurdle but competed to the end. Given the momentum that they had gathered in the 2^nd half, if the match had gone to extra time rather than straight to penalties then they would have been on course to win. The Stan will now have to focus on the league & they have a 6-point advantage on 2^nd place Hazlerigg & have 1 game in hand over them with 9 games still to play.

Stan Team: Khali; Doyle; Milburn; Morton (Evans 60); Dunbar-Phillips; De Pina (Harris 78); Boothroyd; Walker (Nagel 64); Robson (Evans 830; Poole; Tallen.  Sub not used: Ripken.

Kevin Mochrie