By Mark Carruthers
Dean Nicholson is becoming accustomed to making history with Heaton Stannington – and he is delighted with his side’s latest achievement after they racked up their first ever Northern Premier League home win.
Nicholson led the Grounsell Park club into their first ever season in step five of the Non-League pyramid in 2022 and followed that up by securing a first promotion into the Northern Premier League East Division with a Northern League Division One play-off final win over West Auckland Town earlier this year.
More firsts have followed this season after ‘The Stan’ claimed their maiden step four win at Liversedge on the final day of August before seeing off North Ferriby at home in the club’s first ever FA Trophy tie.
However, after securing just one point from their first two home league games, a maiden Grounsell Park maximum was finally ticked off on a drizzly night on Wednesday as Nicholson’s men shook off a below-par first-half display to claim a 4-2 win.
After falling behind to a smart finish from Aycliffe forward Ciaran Jackson midway through the first-half, The Stan roared back to move within sight of the historic points thanks to goals from Leighton Hopper, Connor Walker, Joe Thompson and Louis Anderson.
A late Cole Kiernan strike was a mere consolation for the visitors who were unable to prevent their former Northern League rivals from claiming a first home league win of the season.
Speaking after the game, a delighted Nicholson told The NLP: “The second-half was different class. We said at half-time that it wasn’t quite clicking and our shape didn’t really work. We changed our shape after 25 minutes and they (Aycliffe) were the better side in the first-half.
“We equalised with a set-piece and gave ourselves a leg-up to come in at half-time and address a fine things. I though in the second-half we were absolutely fantastic and we blew them away. We’ve blown a really, really good Newton Aycliffe side away and to get the win, to get the three points is huge and we needed it after Saturday and the disappointment of Stocksbridge.
“I am absolutely delighted for everybody, I thought they were excellent in the second-half and deserved to win in the end.”
Nicholson was quick to move on from the win and set his focus on this weekend’s trip to Bradford Park Avenue as his side look to claim their second away win of the campaign.
Given the fact there was a three-division difference between the two clubs as recently as 2022, the trip to West Yorkshire provides another memorable moment for Nicholson and his players – but their main aim will remain on collecting another three points once kick-off time arrives on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s another historic day for this football club to come up against a side like them and it’s not in a cup competition,” explained the Stan boss.
“To be fighting with them in the league is huge for us, it’s huge for everybody involved. We are privileged as a club to go down there, to places like that – but come three o’clock the battle starts and we will try and win the game.”
