Report

There was no icing on the Pontefract cake for the Stan due to an early & a relatively late goal for the West Yorkshire visitors. This relegation 6 pointer therefore ended pointless for the Stan even though they created lots of chances to score. There was one change from Saturday’s draw at Garforth with Burn replacing the injured Stephenson. Joe Shepherd made his 101 appearance for the club.

It was a great start for the Stan as they won the ball from the Pontefract kick off & started immediately on the attack through Errington who saw his effort blocked on the Pontefract goal line with Burn’s rebound effort hitting the side netting. The Stan attacked again & Burn had his shot saved. The visitors immediately attacked for the 1^st time & although their initial effort was blocked, Dunn chipped the ball from the edge of the box & into the net to give Pontefract a shock lead. Pontefract had an effort headed clear 2 minutes later. Errington then broke with his 1^st effort blocked followed by his 2^nd effort from the edge of the box being cleared on the line. A Stan free kick was then head clear & the resulting Pontefract counterattack was off side. After an injured Pontefract player was treated, it was back on the attack for the Stan. After a quieter few minutes, 2 Pontefract attacks were cleared in the 13^th minute followed by a home attack being cleared. Pontefract had a long throw into the Stan box which was cleared & the long range rebound shot went well wide. The visitors shot wide again in 19 minutes. The Stan then had a ball from a corner blocked followed by a shot going over the bar. In 23 minutes, a Pontefract attack was cleared & again 2 minutes later. A Groves corner was then punched clear by the Pontefract keeper. Groves then sent a ball into the Pontefract box which was headed out for a corner from which Adamson’s shot was blocked. The Stan pressure continued but Pontefract continued to defend well & in 32 minutes Marriott shot wide. From the 34^th minute, there were 3 minutes of end to end action but with both defences clearing well. In 37 minutes, Brass caught a Pontefract effort then sent a long ball to Errington but the keeper easily caught his shot. In the 39^th minute, the Stan had a sustained attack which included 2 Stan efforts being blocked followed by an effort being cleared on the goal line by a Pontefract defender when the Stan thought they had scored. It was end to end again as the 1^st half came to a close,

Both teams continued trying to attack after the start of the 2^nd half & each had initial efforts cleared. The Stan added to their attacking threat by introducing Hopper in 52 minutes & Walker & Lamb 13 minutes later. In 56 minutes, a Stan free kick into the Pontefract box saw an unmarked Shepherd break forward & collect the ball but his effort was saved by the keeper. Soon after Brass made a great save at the other end. It was end to end again but again both defences dealt well with the attacks. In 69 minutes, Walker shot well over & for the remaining 20 minutes there was mainly joined up pressure from Heaton Stannington. In 70 minutes, Pontefract had to clear 7 times as part of the sustained Stan pressure. In 76 minutes though, against the run of play, Pontefract broke & although their initial shot was blocked by Brass, the 4-yard rebound effort was tapped into the net by Elliot Walker. It was then back to Stan pressure & Pontefract defending including through 2 headed clearances. In 84 minutes, A Groves free kick was initially cleared followed by a ball from Lamb going across the Pontefract goal line before being cleared then back to Payne whose effort, from just outside the box, bobbled just wide. In 89 minutes, Walker shot just wide. Capewell then had to make a good clearance from a rare Pontefract attack. The 6 added minutes again saw 1 way traffic as the Stan continued to try & get the ball into the visitors’ net, but Pontefract managed under pressure to deny them.

There were highs & lows during the match. The highs included the Stan continually trying to attack when they had the ball & creating lots of chances as well as defending well when required. The lows were not converting any of the many chances created & conceding 2 goals which were both when scored against the run of play. The Stan are in action again in 3 days when they host Dunston in a Friday night local derby.

Kevin Mochrie

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