Report

A united Stan drew 0-0 with Sheffield FC on a Wednesday night when they met for the 1st time. They achieved a clean sheet & an important point but neither team was able to break the stalemate. There were 5 changes from Saturday’s defeat at Carlton with De Jesus, Hornsby, Slaughter, Stephenson & Lamb replacing Brass, Evans, Beattie, Anderson & Walker. For keeper Neil De Jesus it was both his 1st home & league match & his efforts earned him both a clean sheet & the man of the match award.

The 1st clear effort came for Sheffield after 10 minutes when Hinton shot from the edge of the Stan box forcing a great save from De Jesus. The resulting corner saw Ayres shoot high & wide. 10 minutes later & Slaughter shot wide from the edge of the Sheffield box. Both teams continued to battle but with little end product although Ayres headed wide in 39 minutes. Although both teams were positive & battling, the 1st half end goalless & with not much end product to report on.

After 10 minutes of the 2nd half, Sheffield thought they had broken the deadlock when a free kick into the Stan box saw Hinton head the ball against the bar. In the 63rd minute, after a few minutes of Stan control, Thompson headed just wide after the ball had been crossed into the box to him. 2 minutes later & the Stan had another great chance to take the lead when Lamb ran down the left outpacing a following defender & crossed to Thompson who should have scored but was blocked by the Sheffield keeper. It was still mainly Stan when, in 69 minutes, a Stephenson volley was blocked by the head of a defender for a corner. The resulting corner saw a number of Stan heads try to get up to the ball but it still would not go into the net. In 78 minutes, it was Sheffield who had the chance to score when De Jesus saved a shot from Watson & the rebound effort by Ayres hit the Stan bar. 3 minutes later & De Jesus made another good save when he stopped an effort from West. In 84 minutes, the action continued when it looked like Marriott was going to score for the Stan but his effort, although on target, was blocked well by a Sheffield player. In the 3rd minute of added time, there was a great break by the Stan but Stephenson couldn’t get the ball in the net and the match relatively surprisingly ended 0-0.

Both teams had stepped up the pressure in the 2nd half & although both had good efforts to score, neither were able to get the ball in the net. Following on from this competitive match, the Stan are at home again on Saturday when they host Emley.

Kevin Mochrie

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