On the 4^th of 4 home games in a row, the Stan finally got a win & it was both well deserved & comfortable. It was the 1^st time the 2 teams had met although Ossett Albion, who merged with Ossett Town to form Ossett United, hosted & beat the Stan in the FA Vase in the 1981-82 season.  There were 6 changes from the team that lost to Garforth Town on Wednesday with Brass, Grove, Spence, Shepherd, Burn & Slaughter replacing De Jesus, Hornsby, Ellison, Turnbull, Richardson & Walker. Daniel Groves & Robbie Spence made their Stan debuts after both signed on loan from Hebburn Town for the rest of the season.

Heaton Stannington started positively & in the 2^nd minute a free kick into the Ossett box was eventually cleared. 4 minutes later & the visitors also sent a ball from a free kick into their opponents’ box, but it was headed clear by Spence for a corner from which Capewell cleared the ball on the goal line. Soon after the ball was sent across the front of the Stan goal, but it was missed by everyone. Both teams were trying to attack but apart from Brass catching the ball from a free kick, nothing much happened until Lamb shot high & wide in 14 minutes. The Ossett keeper then blocked a Lamb shot for a corner when it looked like Konner would score. There was now a period of Stan pressure & in 17 minutes Thompson, who was blocked, passed to Lamb in the 6-yard box & he was also unable to shoot so passed to Spence whose blasted effort was deflected for a corner. Lamb was blocked another twice as the Stan pressure continued & it paid off in the 21^st minute when the Stan went 1-0 up. A great ball by Lamb to Stephenson advancing into the box saw his shot deflected just wide of the post when it looked like it was going into the net. The resulting corner saw a scrum of players in the 6-yard box challenging to get control of the ball & it was Capewell who forced it just over the line with the linesman in a good position to confirm the goal. Ossett hadn’t given up & forced 3 corners in a row with the 3^rd being headed wide at the back post. After a quieter period, a cross to Lamb in 35 minutes from Thompson saw him run in on goal but he tapped it too far as he ran & the keeper got out to it before he could shoot. After both teams had attacked again, Slaughter sent a high ball into the Ossett box, but the keeper headed it clear before Stephenson could get to it. In 41 minutes, Stephenson shot wide through a crowd of players. Thompson then broke free & was pulled down just outside the box but nothing was given. The Stan were able to go into the break with a comfortable 2-0 lead as in 44 minutes, from a corner, Spence headed into the Ossett net to score on his debut. In the 46^th minute, an Ossett player broke into the Stan box but Brass got down to save his effort.

From the restart, Thompson ran towards the visitor’s goal & his close-range shot was blocked by the keeper. The Stan had 2 more attacks before a quieter few minutes. In 53 minutes, Ossett had a ball from a corner cleared twice followed by Lamb counter attacking during which he was brought down but nothing was given. The Stan then counter attacked again through Thompson, but he was intercepted in the box. In 56 minutes, a long-range ball from Ossett went just wide & 3 minutes later their keeper had to get out to clear a Stan ball. He then got out again to the ball before Lamb did. There was a quieter period until Thompson ran into the box in 67 minutes, but his final ball was blocked. He then did the same again but forced a corner. The corner ball was blocked as it entered the box, but it was sent back in by Stephenson & headed into the net by Thompson in 69 minutes. In 73 minutes, an Ossett free kick went straight to Brass. Burn then chipped the visiting keeper but his effort went just wide. The Stan were getting more of the ball but the next attack wasn’t until 81 minutes when the Stan had 2 efforts cleared. In 86 minutes, Richardson headed wide & 3 minutes later a Stephenson free kick went just over the bar from a tight angle. Stephenson then sliced another shot wide. Into added time, the Ossett keeper mad a great save to stop another Stephenson effort & he also blocked the rebound effort. After Lamb was brought down, the ball from the Stephenson free kick was headed clear followed by Anderson slicing a shot, The Stan pressure continued with a Capewell header being blocked but the match finished 3-0 for the Stan.

A great all-round performance from the Stan, orchestrated by a great selection by manager Dean Nicholson, saw them achieve a 3-0 win & move up the table to 14th. On Tuesday night its Northumberland Senior Cup action when the Stan travel up the coast to play Blyth Town in the quarter finals.

Kevin Mochrie

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There were no fireworks at Grounsell Park as the Stan were beaten 2-0 by Garforth Town. Although the 6 November 2024 might be remembered for the US presidential election results, the Stan Army will quickly try to forget both the result & the unusually poor performance of their team on this date. There were no changes from the team who lost to Emley on Saturday.

Both teams were trying to attack from kick off, but it was a relatively quiet start until Garforth hit the side netting in the 7^th minute. A minute later & it was the Stan who came close when a flick on to Lamb saw him hit the post when it looked like the ball was going into the net. In 13 minutes, another Stan effort went wide of the post. A sustained Stan attack in the 16^th minute ended with the ball nearly been forced into the Garforth net but it was cleared from just in front of the goal as a crowd of players looked on. In 19 minutes, the 1^st Garforth attack for a while saw them take the lead when Antcliff managed to break through & shoot & although De Jesus went the right way, the ball sneaked into the right-hand corner of the net. 3 minutes later De Jesus had to punch clear as there was more pressure from Garforth. In 24 minutes, the Stan had a period of possession but could not penetrate the visitors’ defence. In 26 minutes, a great long high diagonal ball into the box by Hornsby was punched away by the keeper then cleared by a player under pressure. 2 minutes later & an identical ball from Hornsby was sent into the box but was headed wide. Soon after a joined-up Stan attack ended with a third Hornsby long ball into the box, but it went wide of the goal & was then cleared. After a quieter period, a Garforth free kick was easily caught by De Jesus in 35 minutes. Both teams were trying to attack but could not get through the defences. In 37 minutes, Walker was brought down just outside the box but nothing was given. The 1^st half ended with some late Garforth pressure which included 2 corners, 3 clearances & ended with the visitors shooting well wide under pressure.

For the 2^nd half, Shepherd replaced Hornsby & it started with Ellison being booked for a tackle just outside the Stan box. The resulting free kick was cleared. Both teams were trying to get forward but there was no clear early attack from the Stan. In 52 minutes, Lamb was brought down as he was about to advance with the ball. The resulting Stephenson free kick was cleared & although a Garforth player counter attacked, he over ran the ball under pressure from Stephenson & it went out for a goal kick. A minute later & a speculative long range Garforth effort went wide. In 55 minutes, the Stan got the ball into the Garforth box for the 1^st time in the half, but it was cleared. Lamb then had a shot easily cleared. In 61 minutes, Stephenson headed out for a Garforth corner from which De Jesus got down to the ball & held it before a Garforth player could get to it but the player then went down & a penalty was awarded. From the penalty, Tweddle confidently made it 2-0 to Garforth in 62 minutes.

Garforth kept the pressure on the Stan & in 66 minutes a long-range shot was easily caught by De Jesus. In 71 minutes, the ball was sent up to the advancing Lamb, but the Garforth keeper got to it at the same time as him & although Lamb was brought down nothing was given. In 73 minutes, a Garforth corner was headed clear & a long range rebound effort was blocked. After 75 minutes, there was a period of Stan possession but mainly in their own half. In 78 minutes, Capewell stopped a Garforth attack for a corner from which Shepherd headed clear. In 79 minutes, a ball was sent into Capewell in the box & although he had an opportunity to score, the keeper blocked for a corner. From the corner, the ball went out to Ellison on the edge of the box & although the keeper tipped his effort over the bar, a goal kick was given rather than a corner. In 81 minutes, De Jesus came out to block resulting in a Garforth player trying to score by sending the ball over him, but it went just wide. The Stan were trying to attack but it was still mainly Garforth who were dominating play. In 86 minutes, a ball by sub Burn was blocked & Garforth countered & forced a corner. From it, De Jesus cleared at the 2^nd attempt. As the match entered 6 minutes of additional time, the Stan finally stepped up a gear & now looked like they could score. In 93 minutes, a ball from a Stan corner was cleared by the visiting keeper & although it was sent back in he got down to collect it. Lamb then supplied sub Beattie but he sliced his shot. The Stan were still pressing & in 97 minutes an attack was blocked by the keeper for a corner. From the corner, the keeper punched clear & although the ball was sent back in towards the Garforth goal it was headed clear just before the final whistle.

Although overall it was a flat performance from the Stan with some key players missing, there were some glimmers of what the fans usually see from the team and, after 2 consecutive home defeats, hopefully it will be back to normal service on Saturday when the Stan welcome Ossett United to Grounsell Park.

Kevin Mochrie

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Heaton Stannington lost for just the second time at home this season – but certainly didn’t disgrace themselves against second-placed Emley in a fairly even contest.

The Stan made a bright start – even brighter than Emley’s illuminous orange strips – and on 3 minutes Connor Walker released Konner Lamb down the right with a lump forward from midway inside the Stan half. Lamb used his blistering pace to get into the box, held the ball up, got to the byline and played it off his defender for a corner – which was unfortunately headed high and wide.

Another chance – and arguably the Stan’s biggest chance of the whole game – came six minutes later. Emley’s goalkeeper sent a high ball into the Stan half which was met by Jay Hornsby and sent Joseph Thompson on a mazy run towards goal, which saw him slip past the Emley full back with ease before running into traffic. As he was closed down, he was able to slip the ball to his right where Lamb was in plenty of space, but the first-time left-footed shot was scooped over the bar. Lamb’s hands went straight to his head – he knew that he should’ve at least hit the target.

Neil de Jesus was man of the match on his league debut three days earlier, and if it wasn’t for the midfield heroics of Marc Ellison, he would’ve had another today. He was first called into action in this game on 20 minutes – a shot from Laurence Sorhaindo was blocked by Mark Turnbull, and the deflection meant that it required de Jesus to tip it over the bar.

Emley were growing in confidence and on 35 minutes, de Jesus had to make two big saves. The first came after Dan Capewell was robbed by Mohammed Qasim, who charged towards goal and tried to fire it low to the far post, no match for Neil however. The Stan defence got the ball temporarily out of danger, but it found its way back to Berchil to the right of the goalkeeper, his effort blocked by the body of de Jesus making himself big.

The only goal of the game came as the result of a free kick, conceded on the corner of the box. The initial effort evaded everyone, but the ball was recycled from deep and found an orange shirt to knock down for Qasim to fire in a half-volley. Emley looked to give themselves some breathing space, and on 54 minutes Sorhaindo should’ve doubled their lead, given time and space to run at de Jesus but the shot was straight at the keeper.

Some good play from the Stan getting from front to back with some fluid football led to the first of two penalty shouts which were ignored by the referee. Lamb looked to have been clattered on the edge of the box as he challenged for a ball lifted towards his head, but play went on and Kane Evans looked to make something happen but a powerful cross was too close to the keeper Lambton who caught it at his near post. Moments later, experienced former-EFL player Adam Clayton hacked one off the line from a corner.

In a similar chance to the one in the first half, Lamb was set away with a ball over the top on 74 minutes after the defender set to mark him missed the header. Lamb raced towards goal and spotted the keeper off his line but there wasn’t enough lift on the effort and it was another big chance gone begging. 10 minutes later Dan Stephenson had a chance to equalise after being fed in the box by Joseph Thompson, but again, undercooked.

One final moment of controversy came in injury time as Konner Lamb was blatantly tripped in the box right in front of the assistant referee, but nothing was given. The Stan’s performance was a big improvement on Wednesday’s goalless draw with Sheffield – the lads will know exactly what they need to work on, but on another day this could have been a very different result. Garforth are next up at home in a rearranged game on Wednesday, before the visit of Ossett on Saturday.

Liam Milburn

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A united Stan drew 0-0 with Sheffield FC on a Wednesday night when they met for the 1st time. They achieved a clean sheet & an important point but neither team was able to break the stalemate. There were 5 changes from Saturday’s defeat at Carlton with De Jesus, Hornsby, Slaughter, Stephenson & Lamb replacing Brass, Evans, Beattie, Anderson & Walker. For keeper Neil De Jesus it was both his 1st home & league match & his efforts earned him both a clean sheet & the man of the match award.

The 1st clear effort came for Sheffield after 10 minutes when Hinton shot from the edge of the Stan box forcing a great save from De Jesus. The resulting corner saw Ayres shoot high & wide. 10 minutes later & Slaughter shot wide from the edge of the Sheffield box. Both teams continued to battle but with little end product although Ayres headed wide in 39 minutes. Although both teams were positive & battling, the 1st half end goalless & with not much end product to report on.

After 10 minutes of the 2nd half, Sheffield thought they had broken the deadlock when a free kick into the Stan box saw Hinton head the ball against the bar. In the 63rd minute, after a few minutes of Stan control, Thompson headed just wide after the ball had been crossed into the box to him. 2 minutes later & the Stan had another great chance to take the lead when Lamb ran down the left outpacing a following defender & crossed to Thompson who should have scored but was blocked by the Sheffield keeper. It was still mainly Stan when, in 69 minutes, a Stephenson volley was blocked by the head of a defender for a corner. The resulting corner saw a number of Stan heads try to get up to the ball but it still would not go into the net. In 78 minutes, it was Sheffield who had the chance to score when De Jesus saved a shot from Watson & the rebound effort by Ayres hit the Stan bar. 3 minutes later & De Jesus made another good save when he stopped an effort from West. In 84 minutes, the action continued when it looked like Marriott was going to score for the Stan but his effort, although on target, was blocked well by a Sheffield player. In the 3rd minute of added time, there was a great break by the Stan but Stephenson couldn’t get the ball in the net and the match relatively surprisingly ended 0-0.

Both teams had stepped up the pressure in the 2nd half & although both had good efforts to score, neither were able to get the ball in the net. Following on from this competitive match, the Stan are at home again on Saturday when they host Emley.

Kevin Mochrie

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