The Stan’s 1st official pre-season friendly was played at Coach Lane. Thanks must go to opponents & last season’s rivals Whickham who stepped in at short notice to take the place of Darlington Town. There was a start for new signing Marc Ellison while Heaton Stannington A keeper Zamo Khalil went in goals at short notice for Whickham & played the whole match. The Stan 1st half trialist was the same one who played in the 2nd half of the Jimmy Rowe cup.
The Stan took an early lead when Slaughter scored through a great shot taken from the edge of the box after the Whickham defence had only partially cleared a Stan cross into the box. After a couple of attacks by Whickham, they had a shot in 21 minutes which Brass had to get down to save. 2 minutes later & Brass made a great full size save. After another 2 minutes, a ball from a Whickham corner went across the Stan goal but was missed by everyone. In 28 minutes, there was another great save from Brass from a corner. Whickham finally got a goal in 33 minutes but in relatively controversial circumstances. The scorer appeared off-side but, after some discussion, the referee awarded the goal. There was a quieter end to the 1st half though a Stan free kick was cleared in 42 minutes.
The Stan made 4 half time substitutions & 3 more after 58 minutes. Whickham started the half positively & had most of the early possession. They took advantage of this in 52 minutes when a defensive mix-up allowed a Whickham player to tap the ball into the Stan net for 1-2. In 60 minutes, a long ball to Lamb saw him slip but he was still able under pressure to shoot just wide. Despite the torrential rain that had started, the Stan were exerting more pressure on the Whickham defence now as they sought an equaliser. This included through sub Hopper. In 74 minutes, it was a Whickham player though who shot just wide from just outside the Stan box. In 79 minutes, Hopper forced a diving save from Khalil in the Whickham goal. From the resulting header Hopper headed sideways & the ball was then cleared. In 87 minutes, a speculative long range effort by sub Hornsby was caught by Khalil. There was a quieter end to the match as the sun returned although the Stan continued to seek an equaliser.
Kevin Mochrie
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