Report

The Stan’s 1^st competitive match of the new season saw them start on the road to Wembley with a Friday night FA Cup tie in front of a crowd of 603. A 2-0 win saw the Stan get revenge against the visitors Easington Colliery who had beaten them 72 years ago when they last met each other in the FA Cup. There were competitive debuts for Connor Walker, who started the match. & for both Matt Foster & Marc Ellison from the bench while Jay Hornsby made his 100^th start for the club.

There was a quiet start to the match until the Easington keeper caught the ball from a Stan corner after 6 minutes. 2 minutes later & an Easington effort went wide under pressure followed by Hopper shooting wide. In the 13^th minute, Brass easily caught the ball from a long-range free kick. He then sent a long ball up for Lamb, but he could not get to it before it went out. Soon after the Stan sent the ball into the away box & Hopper got up to head but the ball came off the bar &, although the keeper & a defender nearly collided, Easington managed to clear the ball. After 16 minutes, a great run by an Easington forward was stopped by a Turnbull intervention. Sayer then supplied Lamb at the other end who shot wide across the goal. Both teams were trying to attack & in 24 minutes a Stan corner saw Shepherd head the ball at the back post, but it was cleared. In 27 minutes, another Stan corner ended with Evans blasting the ball towards the net but the keeper made a great save. It was now end to end as both teams tried to attack. In the 40^th minute, Walker was brought down as he advanced & the resulting free kick saw the ball being sent wide by Slaughter. In 44 minutes, an Evans shot in the box was blocked. Hopper was then brought down just outside the box. Lamb took the resulting free kick & although it went past everyone in the box the keeper made a full length save to stop him scoring & keep the score 0-0 at half time.

The Stan started the 2^nd half positively with the Easington keeper having to catch the ball in the 47^th minute & 2 minutes later Lamb sliced an effort under pressure. After a quieter few minutes, the Stan were in the lead in the 56^th minute when Sayer passed to Walker who was blocked but the ball went back to Hopper who blasted it under pressure past the keeper & into the back of the net. 2 minutes later & Sayer made a solo run into the box & a 1-2 with Hopper saw him then shoot wide. Hopper then supplied Sayer who was blocked followed by Foster & Evans also being blocked. The Stan had stepped up a gear & another Sayer effort was just stopped in time by the Easington keeper. In the 60^th minute, an Easington long range effort forced a great save by Brass. Although the Stan were still putting pressure on it was the visitors who came close in 69 minutes when a long range effort that went just wide. Both teams were now trying to score but it was the Stan who got the craved for 2^nd goal in 76 minutes when Hopper passed to Sayer who passed to Lamb who was able to shoot & blasted the ball into the net. It was all now mainly one way Stan traffic until the 83^rd minute when an Easington attack was ended by a great block by Sayer. The last few minutes saw both teams trying to attack but the match ended with a 2-0 win for the Stan.

Although Easington put up a good fight, overall the Stan earned a comfortable win. The Stan now travel to Garforth Town in the Preliminary round of the FA Cup on Saturday 17 August but before that they have the not so small matter of their 1^st ever PitchingIn Northern Premier League East match at home against Belper Town on Saturday 10 August.

Stan Team: Brass; Evans; Hornsby; Palmer (Ellison 86); Turnbull; Shepherd; Walker (Burn 74); Slaughter; Lamb (Y) (Foster 79); Hopper (Anderson (Y) 79); Sayer (Lashley 88). Attendance: 603. MoM: Connor Walker.

Kevin Mochrie

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