Birtley Town vs Heaton Stannington

Recap

Birtley fell to a 2-1 defeat against fellow play-off rivals Heaton Stannington. 

Match Gallery is available here. 

Goals from Sean Reid and Leighton Hopper were enough to give Heaton Stannington all three points as the race for the play-off spots heats up. 

Birtley started the game brightly and in-form Matthew Ward took just 12 minutes to open the scoring. Ward collected a clearance on the edge of the area and lined himself up after a delightful first touch. His second touch was a furious drive that finished in the top-left hand corner, leaving Stan keeper Brass with no chance. Brass was called into action again when he denied Scott Heslop from point blank range, Hezzy ultimately having being judged to have strayed offside. 

Stan were creating chances of their own and they pulled level during injury time. A dubious throw-in was awarded to Heaton and they worked the ball across the pitch before delivering a cross come shot that Sean Reid slotted home at the far post. 

Half-Time: Birtley Town 1 – 1 Heaton Stannington

Birtley started the second half at a thrilling pace. Scott Heslop was released on goal but his fierce drive struck the face of Brass. Brass again denied Heslop moments later although it looked like Heslop lost his footing at a key moment. Glen Hargrave had a glancing header go beyond the post. Those missed chances came back to haunt Birtley when a long ball from Brass was helped onto Leighton Hopper who tucked his effort into the bottom of the net. 

Birtley pushed for an equaliser but struggled to break down a resolute Heaton defence. In the closing moments Jordan Lashley unleashed a long range effort that crashed off the post. Birtley threw everything forward in the six minutes added on but they couldn’t carve out any meaningful chances as Heaton took all three points. 

Full-Time: Birtley Town 1 – 2 Heaton Stannington

Attendance – 232

Player of the Match – Liam Wotherspoon

Manager’s Corner 

Paul Bryson: “It was a tough one to take tonight. We knew we were up against a good physical side that in my opinion will finish in the top five. They have experienced Northern League players, it was always going to be a tough game. The first half was fairly even. We took the lead on 12 minutes after a brilliant delivery from Spoony. It gets cleared but lands to Wardy on the edge of the area. He takes a great touch before firing it into the top corner. It’s a great goal.  The game then ebbed and flowed, I was really pleased.

We were then subjected to an awful refereeing decision. I have watched it again, there is no way it touches Scott Heslop. It should have been a throw-in to us and for some reason the referee has awarded it to Heaton. We then had to deal with the attack and what happened after the throw-in. They help it on, switch the play and score just before half-time, it was a sickening blow. It really knocked the wind out of us.”

“We lost our discipline at this point. It’s difficult in the heat of the moment and the emotion to not voice your opinion. It was really frustrating, it would of been great to go in 1-0 up. We had half-time to gather our thoughts and wanted the lads to keep believing in themselves. The first 30 minutes of the second half we were absolutely superb. We created chances and we were working really hard. The only thing that was missing was putting the ball into the back of the net. We had some really good chances and we didn’t take them. The keeper made some good saves. We know that they awarded their goalkeeper the player of the match award. That tells us a great deal about the game. They scored a goal on the counter, it was a soft goal and a disappointing one to concede. We pushed for an equaliser and left ourselves open at the back. They had a couple of chances and also hit the post.2

“We are disappointed as we have played so well. We have created lots of chances against a top side. I had nothing but praise for our lads. It was a really good performance it’s hard to come away from the game with nothing. We have a great set of lads and we will be looking to bounce back. There was a cracking crowd at the game and they saw a brilliant game in difficult conditions” 

H2H vs Heaton Stannington – (at Birtley)
P7 W2 D2 L3 GF10 GA17

Next up…

Birtley host North Shields on Saturday in a 3pm kick-off. 

Highlights