No On a sunny but windy & very cold Monday evening, the Stan travelled across the Tyne & up the hill to play Whickham for the 2^nd of 4 matches in 8 days. It was a hard-fought match with relatively few clear chances for either team & although it looked like the Stan were going to hold on for a 2-1 win, Whickham got the late equaliser that they were trying for. There was 1 change from Saturday’s win over North Shields with Shepherd replacing the suspended Slaughter.

The Stan started positively with a a curving ball from the advancing Hopper going over the Whickham bar. Both teams were trying to attack but with no end product as both defences were working hard. The Stan forward line of Hopper & Reid were trying to break when they could & although much of the early action was in the Whickham half, the home defence worked hard to prevent the dynamic duo getting into their penalty box very often. In 11 minutes, Hopper broke but was offside & soon after he was blocked while advancing again before being caught just offside again. In 14 minutes, a ball from Whickham went very wide & another ball from a free kick was easily cleared by the Stan defence. In 22 minutes, Hopper got round 1 player & was then blocked as the home defence continued to prevent any clear Stan efforts on goal. In 23 minutes, the 1^st clear effort of the match actually came from Whickham as a deflected shot through a crowded Stan box saw Brass pull off a great stretching save. From the resulting corner, Brass caught the Whickham shot. The 1^st Stan effort came in 25 minutes when Burn headed wide from a cross. A Stephenson free kick into the home box was then cleared. In 28 minutes, a Whickham free kick went well over the Stan bar. In 33 minutes, the stalemate was broken by the Stan when, from a Stephenson corner, Reid blasted the ball through a busy box without it touching the ground & into the net for 1-0 to the Stan. There was then a period of mainly Whickham possession but with the ball mainly in their own half although in 39 minutes a speculative low long-range effort by Whickham forced Brass to get down to catch the ball. The half ended after 3 minutes of added time with a Stan attack being blocked.

The 2^nd half saw early pressure from the Stan, & especially through Hopper, as they started positively. In 51 minutes, Hopper advanced & beat 3 players before shooting past the Whickham keeper from the edge of the 6-yard box to make it 2-0 to the Stan. What a great solo goal. The Stan kept trying to attack but the next goal scoring opportunity came from a Whickham free kick in 61 minutes when Brass had to punch the ball clear. Both teams were trying to attack & it was Whickham who scored in 66 minutes from a penalty awarded for an infringement on a player. Whickham started to put more pressure on the Stan defence although Burn shot wide at the other end in 72 minutes. A minute later, there was great opportunity for the Stan as Hopper won the ball from a 1 to 1 tussle near the  bye line & passed to sub Anderson who shot just wide. There was some more Stan pressure as the home keeper blocked the advancing Scott just outside the 6-yard box. In 76 minutes, Brass had to get down to catch a Whickham ball. A long high ball into the Whickham box saw the keeper catch it before Hopper could get to it. In 79 minutes, a long range Whickham effort saw Brass get down to catch the ball. Both teams were trying to attack & the Stan refreshed their efforts in 79 minutes when Lamb replaced hard working Hopper. There were a couple of minutes of Whickham pressure before Anderson supplied the advancing Lamb who shot just wide. 2 long balls to Lamb then saw him blocked on both occasions. The last 5 minutes of normal time saw pressure from Whickham as they sought an equaliser although the Stan still tried to break when they could. The Whickham pressure resulted in 2 headed clearances by the Stan followed by another 2 clearances by them. In the 90th minute, a Whickham free kick into the Stan box was headed into the net at the far post for 2-2. The Stan sought an equaliser during the 5 minutes of added time but the match ended with a draw.

There was disappointment in the Stan Army ranks at full time as what looked like 3 points won changed to only 1 point although a draw was probably a fair result overall The Stan remain in 4^th place but have 3 games in hand over 3^rd placed West Auckland who are 4 points ahead. The next match on Wednesday night sees the Stan host joint league leaders Shildon.

Kevin Mochrie

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