The Stan’s season finished with a visit from Sheffield team Hallam but unfortunately it also ended with a narrow defeat due to a 2nd half penalty. There was only the one goal for Hallam & chances were relatively few although the Stan had two 1st half goals disallowed for being offside. On the plus side the Stan have ended their 2nd season in the Northern Premier League East in 7th place which is their highest ever league finish. There were 4 changes from last Saturday’s defeat at Grimsby with Evans, Chrisp, Robson & Errington replacing Johnson, Hornsby, Payne & Storey. Ex Blue Brazil Tom Flynn, who announced his retirement, was on the bench.

On a sunny afternoon, both teams started positively although it was Hallam who had a free kick cleared in the 2nd minute. The Stan had an attack cleared in the Hallam box in the 5th minutes followed by the visitors’ counter attacking but Evans did well to halt them. In 11 minutes, the Stan had an attack cleared & 3 minutes later Warhurst in the Hallam goal had to catch before a Stan player got to the ball. Hallam then counter attacked but blasted the ball over the Stan bar. There was not much between the teams although in 18 minutes a Hallam player broke through & collided with Brass, but the ball was guided out. The Stan then attacked followed by some great defending at the other end by Capewell. In 21 minutes, an Errington shot went wide. After a quieter period, Warhurst blocked a Stan ball in front of his goal in the 27th minute. Soon after Hopper won the ball & forced his way by 3 defenders & blasted the ball towards the net but Warhurst somehow got a hand to it for a corner which was subsequently cleared. Errington then sent a long ball towards Hopper, but Warhurst cleared it for a throw in. Soon after a long diagonal ball was sent to Errington & he eventually passed it to Pearson in the Hallam box but his shot was blocked. 2 Hallam players counter attacked but the resulting shot was blasted over the Stan bar under pressure from Capewell who helped deny a goal scoring opportunity. Errington was then brought down just outside the Hallam box. Burn sent the ball from the resulting free kick to Pearson who supplied the advancing Hopper in the 6-yard box & he slotted the ball into the Hallam net but the flag was up for offside to deny the Stan a 33rd minute lead. 3 minutes later & a Hallam defensive error allowed Pearson to slot the ball into the Hallam net but again the flag was up for offside. After another quieter period, in 44 minutes a Hallam player ran in towards the advancing Brass but he couldn’t get his hot away & the ball went out before another Hallam player could get to it. Although most of the limited number of chances were for the Stan, it was stalemate & goalless at the end of the 1st half.

Half time saw Payne & Lamb replace Burn & Errington. The 1st action of the 2nd half saw a high ball into the advancing Pearson but Warhurst got to it 1st. 3 minutes later & Hopper won the ball on the edge of the Hallam box & chested it down but his shot went just wide under pressure. Walker then had a shot that was easily caught by Warhurst. In 55 minutes, a Pearson ball in from a corner was caught by Warhurst. 2 minutes after & a ball from a Pearson free kick was sent into the Hallam 6-yard box by Shepherd but was blocked by a defender. In 59 minutes, a ball was sent through towards Lamb, but Warhurst got out to clear. The next Stan shot was offside & was followed by a quieter period. There was a period of sustained Stan pressure in the 67th minute but 5 different players were all blocked. In the 70th minute, Capewell blocked an advancing Hallam player on the edge of the Stan box & a penalty was awarded. Salmon- Howarth took the penalty in the 71st minute & scored as Brass went the wrong way. In 75 minutes, Brass took a free kick from halfway which resulted in Capewell kicking the ball high over the Hallam bar from 6 yards out under pressure. In 78 minutes, a joined up attack ended with Walker shooting over from the edge of the Hallam box. In 81 minutes, a ball from a Hornsby corner skimmed over a number of heads & went out for another corner which was cleared. The ball came back in & was cleared but was sent back in & the resulting Capewell header was deflected over the bar for a corner. Hallam then had 2 corners in a row. In 83 minutes a ball from a Walker corner saw a Shepherd shot go wide. The ball was sent back in & although Pearson was brought down nothing was given. In 85 minutes, a Hornsby ball into the Hallam box was headed jus wide by Capewell when it looked like it was going into the Hallam net. By 88 minutes, it was all Stan now but they couldn’t get another shot in including when a ball into the box saw Lamb get up to head but he couldn’t make contact. The ball went back out to Capewell whose long range shot forced Warhurst to get down to put the ball out for a corner. From the corner, a Shepherd header was blocked for another corner. In 92 minutes, a ball from a Walker corner was headed clear. It was still all Stan & in 94 minutes Brass got up for a corner which he just missed making contact with. Soon after, Brass had to easily collect followed by a Stan attack being cleared before the final whistle was blown.

Despite having much of the ball & a number of chances, the Stan failed to find the Hallam net & lost narrowly in a relatively uneventful match. The Stan can now look forward to a 3rd season in the Northern Premier League East but before that there is the matter of the Senior Cup final at St James’ Park versus Whitley Bay on 5 May.

Stan Team: Brass; Evans; Chrisp (Y) (Hornsby 64); Robson; Capewell; Shepherd; Hopper (Johnson 64); Burn (Payne 46); Pearson; Walker; Errington (Lamb 46). Sub not used: Flynn. Attendance 510. Man of the Match: Connor Walker.            

Kevin Mochrie

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