The 2023-4 football season is over, and what a season it has been for Heaton Stannington and the Northern League in general. Indeed, it is quite amazing to see that the season has finished at all, when I think back to how many games were postponed in the dark, wet autumn and early winter of 2023, but Heaton Stannington did get to the end of the season, with a quite stunning ending.
As documented in previous editions of this commentary, Heaton Stannington started the season well in the league and with some comfortable wins in the early qualifying rounds of the FA Cup, before coming a cropper outside York in the small Yorkshire town of Tadcaster on a warm early September Saturday, in front of a large contingent of the Stan Army.
The next hope for a glory-filled cup run was in the FA Vase and things were going well until another trip down the A1(M), saw the run end in early November at Emley, following a 1-0 defeat.
Into 2024
Meanwhile in the league not a lot at all was happening with barely a league game for two months from the beginning of November to the beginning of January. Once 2024 came however, the weather did get slightly drier or at least dry enough for regular games in Northern League One to resume. By the end of February, it was clear that the title was going to be a two-horse race between two famous old south west Durham clubs, Bishop Auckland and Shildon. Heaton Stannington were still a number of places behind the top two, but with games in hand, having had so many games called off in November and December.
Heaton Stannington ended February with a narrow win in the derby match at Newcastle Benfield, before a somewhat disappointing home draw against a well organised Crook Town side on 9 March. This was followed by a heavy 4-1 defeat at second placed Shildon the following week and Heaton’s hopes of a play-off place looked to be in some jeopardy.
Three big wins in a week – and more
Stan soon got back on track however, with three big wins in a week against Guisborough town and two against lowly Sunderland RCA. This was followed by a hard-fought goalless draw at home to high-flying Birtley Town on a wet Easter Monday afternoon at Grounsell Park, that nonetheless saw a large crowd of 502 attending. This was followed by an impressive win at home to North Shields, despite being down to ten men after only five minutes. Stan drew 2-2 at Whickham after being two gaols up, but this disappointment was soon forgotten as Heaton gained revenge for their defeat at second placed Shildon with a tremendous 2-1 home win, in what was their third game in four days. So it was that Heaton Stannington went to Guisborough on 20 April in the knowledge that if the results went right then they could reach the promotion play-offs…
A large contingent of the Stan Arny made its way down the A19 hoping for the right result and once Stan had secured a hard-fought 0-0 draw, they were able to celebrate just that. Just two years after being promoted from Northern League Division Two, Heaton Stannington were in the play-offs for promotion again. The race was now on with other clubs in the top five to get home advantage by finishing second and third.
In the event, second place had long been sewn up by Shildon, who had pushed champions Bishop Auckland hard in the race for the title, including a tremendous 3-1 win at Bishops on Easter Monday, in front of a huge crowd of 1 102. That was the largest Northern League attendance of the season up to that point – but it wouldn’t be for long.
The task for Heaton Stannington
The task for Heaton Stannington was to win their remaining two games, so that they could finish third and have home advantage in their play-off semi-final. First up were Boro Rangers on a late April evening at Grounsell Park, that felt more like a late January evening, with a cold wind blowing, which was accentuated as the sun dipped behind the houses to the west of the ground. In a tight game, Stan managed to win 1-0 courtesy of a Leighton Hopper penalty, which meant that the chase for third spot was very much on.
Less than 48 hours later, Stan played their last league game of the season, away at Crook Town, needing just a point to finish third. On a difficult pitch, Heaton were the better team in the first half, without ever really getting in behind a well organised Crook defence and threatening them. They were still on course for the coveted third place. They picked up the game in the second half and finally got the breakthrough through Sean Reid with thirteen minutes to go. Heaton were able to see the game out, to finish the season three points clear of both Birtley Town and West Auckland, with only Shildon and champions Bishop Auckland ahead of them.
Heaton were in with a chance of promotion, but even with home advantage in the play-off semi-final, it appeared that they would still face a tough trip to Shildon for the final on Bank Holiday Monday. That was assuming that Shildon beat local rivals West Auckland in the other promotion play-off semi-final. However, in a surprise result on May Day West Auckland won 1-0 at Shildon and suddenly Heaton’s chances of promotion had risen considerably.
Breakthrough
So it was that the next evening, on Thursday 2 May, on a day when political commentators throughout the land were thinking about what the results of local and mayoral elections would be, there were many who were thinking of another result, that between Heaton Stannington and Birtley Town. Walking up to the ground about half an hour before kick-off, I commented that there didn’t seem to be many people making their way and perhaps that was because they were all there already. As we turned the corner at the roundabout near the ground the truth was revealed. The queue stretched for hundreds of metres along the pavement and then round the corner of the nearby church and many more metres after that. We got to the ground half an hour before kick-off, but still missed the first few minutes of the game.
In yet another hard-fought game, Birtley had arguably shaded a tight first-half. However, we knew that Heaton could play better and within a couple of minutes of the re-start it was clear that they had upped their game. Then on 56 minutes came the decisive moment. Joe Shepherd captain for the night and centre-half, won the ball about 25 metres from the goal, before launching a howitzer that the Birtley keeper, who had a great game, couldn’t handle and Heaton had their breakthrough. It was mostly Heaton from then on, but Birtley’s keeper kept them in the game until the end, with a string of outstanding saves, before the Stan Army could finally celebrate making it to the Promotion Play-off final on the Bank Holiday Monday. A bumper crowd of 1 235 made many of us wonder what size crowd would turn up on Monday…
As the game was to be against West Auckland Town, who had finished fifth, so Heaton Stannington had the home advantage. After missing the first few minutes of the semi-final, we decided to go up early, getting to the ground an hour and twenty minutes before kick-off. Even then the queue to get in was beginning to stretch out along the pavement, but we soon got in and savoured the atmosphere as the ground began to fill-up.
On the way up
In the end the game was watched by a new record crowd for Heaton Stannington of 2 107. Could the team respond with a promotion winning performance? Again, we witnessed a tight first-half, which Heaton just about shaded, without there being too much in it. And again, as on the previous Thursday evening, Heaton came out in the second-half able to step up their game. Promotion was just about settled with a one-two sucker punch of goals early in the second half.
Firstly, two minutes after the re-start, Konner Lamb cut in from the right, dummied to pass to an overlapping right-back before finding space for a beautiful curling shot, which gave the West Auckland keeper no chance. Then ten minutes later, Andy Burn hammered home a second and the Stan Army could really begin dreaming of playing in the Northern Premier League (East) next season. Any nerves among the large home crowd were finally put to bed when Louis Anderson scored a fine third goal five minutes from the end. Only two years after their promotion to Northern League One, Stan were going up again!
Once the referee blew his whistle, we had the obligatory pitch invasion from younger fans and two older fans poignantly bringing a flag dedicated to Brian Lisle, a club stalwart who sadly died last year, to join in the celebrations.
Congratulations
So, it is congratulations to manager Dean Nicholson and all his coaching team and of course to all the players, who fought through a difficult season, when hardly a game was played for two months, to achieve a second promotion in the space of two seasons. We look forward to seeing how the Stan will fare in Northern premier League (East) next season…
Congratulations as well, of course to Bishop Auckland, who deservedly won the Northern League One title after leading the league for most of the season. Commiserations must go to Shildon who ran Bishop Auckland hard for the title but missed out on the chance of promotion due to the defeat to West Auckland on 1 May.
At the other end of Northern League One, the end of season saw relegation for Tow Law Town and Sunderland RCA, while in Division Two Blyth Town convincingly won the title with a tremendous 105 points. In the promotion play-offs, Newcastle Blue Star, who had a highly impressive first season in the league, lost the play-off final at home to Easington Colliery in front of a crowd of 1 771.
So, at Heaton Stannington we look forward to new challenges next season after what was yet another highly enjoyable season in the Northern League. If you like watching good, honest football, played for the right reasons then you could do a lot worse than get along to watch your local non-league team.
For more information on the Northern League see here: https://www.northernfootballleague.org/
For more on Heaton Stannington see here: https://heatonstan.co.uk/ and here: https://twitter.com/Heatonstan
