Report

It was a disappointing afternoon for the Stan at Heritage Park as the current good run by Bishop Auckland under their new manager continued thanks to 2 first half goals. After Bishop had dominated the 1st half, the Stan attempted to fight back in the 2nd half but could not get any goals to avoid defeat. Alfie Gordon, especially in the 1st half pulled off a number of crucial saves to prevent any more Bishop goals & provide the Stan with the platform to attempt to make a comeback in the 2nd half. He was awarded man of the match as a result. There was 1 change from Tuesday’s Senior Cup win over Blyth Town with Walker replacing Errington. New signing Evan Blaney from South Shields was an unused sub. 

The first 10 minutes of the match were relatively quiet before Bishop had one effort saved by Gordon followed by a low Stan shot being parried away by the Bishop keeper for a corner which came to nothing. In the 18th minute, Bishop had the 1st of 3 consecutive corners with the last one ending with a looping header landing on the roof of the Stan net. In 29 & 30 minutes, Bishop had two 1 on 1s with Gordon with the Stan keeper saving both efforts. Gordon then saved another shot. In 35 minutes, the Bishop pressure paid off when a high cross forward from the right was put into the net by Steels off his shoulder under pressure from Capewell. In 41 minutes, it was 2-0 to Bishop when a long ball forward was crossed into the box & although headed away by Milburn the rebound shop was blasted into the net by Jarvie.

The Stan had struggled to get into the match in the 1st half but showed a great deal of effort in trying to change things round in the 2nd half. Halftime saw the Stan replace Milburn with Storey. After 10 minutes, Bishop forced 2 more saves from Gordon. The Stan had more of the ball in the rest of the 2nd half but could not find the back of the Bishop net. In 82 minutes, Bishop shot just wide although in the 90th minute the Stan came close to scoring, but the work of 2 Bishop defenders prevented a goal. After 3 minutes of added time, the match ended with only Bishop’s 2 first half goals to show. 

Despite a 2nd half comeback, the Stan left County Durham empty handed as they were unable to break down an organised home defence. The result takes Bishop Auckland out of the relegation zone while the Stan remain in 7th place. The Stan now travel on Tuesday to far away Lincoln United who are 5th bottom of the league.

Stan Team: Gordon; Milburn (Storey 46); Evans; Burn; Capewell; Shepherd; Johnson (Lamb 56); Payne; Pearson; Hopper (Errington 56); Walker (Deverdics 62). No cards. Sub unused: Blaney. Attendance 377. Man of the Match: Alfie Gordon.                       

Kevin Mochrie

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