Report

On a bitterly cold Friday night, the singing Stan Army were warmed up by watching the Stan move up to 4^th, & a promotion play off place, after a convincing 4-0 win in the Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland RCA. There were 5 changes from the win 2 nights previously against Guisborough with Corkhill, Sayer, Marriott, Shepherd & Palmer replacing Brass, Evans, Hornsby, Scott & Turnbull.

The Stan were 1-0 up after 3 minutes when a ball from their 1^st corner was cleared off the line & the ball went back into the box to Hopper who scored. In 6 minutes, a good shot by Lashley was saved by the visiting keeper. From the resulting corner, Marriott headed against the bar. 2 minutes later & Hopper broke through, but the keeper got down to catch the ball. It was all one-way traffic as the Stan kept attacking & RCA didn’t have a shot until the 12^th minute when Corkhill got down to save.  In 18 minutes, Reid had a shot blocked followed by Lashley shooting over. In 21 minutes, Burn advanced into the RCA box & the ball was eventually cleared but out to Palmer who sent the ball back into the box & it was headed into the net by Reid for 2-0. It was all Stan now & a Hopper shot was blocked in 24 minutes. In 31 minutes, Hopper was injured after a tackle on him & he had to be replaced by Anderson. In 33 minutes, a ball from a Stan corner was headed clear. Although the RCA defence was doing its best to stop the Stan attacks, it was 3-0 in 40 minutes. Burn tried a speculative shot from 35 yards & his Barnoldswickesque strike went straight into the back of the net. What a goal! The 1^st half finished with more Stan attacks on the visitor’s goal.

The 1^st minute of the 2^nd half saw the Stan go 4-0 up when, after balls from the Stan had been blocked twice in the RCA box, Reid slid in on goal & put the ball in the net. In 54 minutes, Shepherd headed clear a rare RCA effort followed by Lashley counterattacking & although he was brought down nothing was given. In 56 minutes, a ball from a Stan corner was cleared off the line. In 61 minutes, another rare RCA attack saw a ball from a free kick being cleared in the 6 yard box by Sayer. In 63 minutes, a shot by Palmer looked like it was going in but the RCA keeper pulled off a good save. From the resulting corner, Sayer got up to head but t the ball was cleared & then cleared again after Doyle had sent the ball back in. From the resulting corner Marriott headed just over. The Stan kept pressing for a 5^th goal & the RCA defence had to work hard to stop them. Corkhill did though have to make 2 rare saves at the other end in 72 minutes. The Stan kept attacking & Sayer came close in 90 minutes when he put the ball just over the RCA bar. The match ended with Doyle, who had worked hard all night, sending the ball across the RCA gaol but Reid could not connect with it.

The Stan advanced 2 places up the table after a comfortable win which featured some good goals including an excellent one from man of the match Andy Burn. The Stan are now away on Tuesday & Friday at Tow Law & Sunderland RCA respectively.

Kevin Mochrie

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