Report

An injury time winner for Stocksbridge denied the Stan what would’ve been a hard-fought and well-earned point in South Yorkshire.

The first big chance went the way of the home side on nine minutes – as an eye-of-the-needle pass was slotted from midfield through to the striker Jack Haslam. He raced towards goal but goalkeeper Callum Corkhill made himself big and the shot was slotted wide.

The Stan did well to keep Stocksbridge at bay in a dominant spell of pressure which saw us penned into our own half for a good while. With the box packed, Haslam tried again on 12 minutes but this time his attempt was a sneaky bend into the near post from wide that needed more accuracy to work.

The strong defensive work paid off and the Stan capitalised on a calamity at the back to take the lead on 28 minutes. A Dan Capewell header to clear eventually found its way to Richie Slaughter who was able to fire one over everyone into space for Konner Lamb to run onto – just as Joe Shepherd did last Saturday against North Ferriby.

Stocksbridge keeper Ben Townsend may have won the race, but he failed to gather the ball from his feet and Lamb was able to nip it away from under him. With the goalkeeper beaten, Lamb just had to steady himself to avoid a calamity of his own, which he did and gave the Stan a leader just before the half hour mark.

The home side went back on the offensive and had opportunities to level. Daniel Hernandez headed against the post in first half injury time and an inviting cross looking for Joao Silva was an easy gather for Corkhill not long after the interval.

The men in yellow and blue found their equaliser just before the hour mark, but it began with a Stan attack. Lamb forced the keeper down to a save, but it was always going to be difficult, charging at goal from the right but only able to shoot with the same foot.

Up the other end, a high ball was played into the box by the Stocksbridge midfield. It was brilliantly controlled by Haslam to bring it down, and then another touch allowed him to flick it over Corkhill and into the net.

A draw would’ve been a fair result. The two sides exchanged blows but neither side looked as though they’d done enough to take all three points. A low effort from Kurtis Turner on 63 minutes was easy for Corkhill, and a Hopper volley a few minutes later was too central to get the better of Townsend in the home goal.

The introduction of debutant Joe Thompson made a big difference, injecting pace and trickery out wide. A dangerous cross on 70 minutes made the Stocksbridge keeper work, and when found in space deep into injury time, with the option to shoot towards the near post or send a low ball into the mixer, neither really happened and a good chance to nick it was wasted.

Unfortunately there was still one more chance in the game and it was gobbled up by Stocksbridge in the third minute of injury time. As they’d done so much in the game, the box was filled with yellow and blue shirts, and when Oliwier Grzelak saw an opening through the crowd to shoot, he took it and send a powerful effort past Corkhill to spark jubilant scenes in the home sections and dismay in the Far Corner.

A devastating way to lose, having never looked like losing. The Stan have 11 days until they return to league action with a home game against Newton Aycliffe, with the small matter of an FA Trophy match away to friends Clitheroe in the meantime.

Liam Milburn

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