By Mark Carruthers
Heaton Stannington manager Dean Nicholson admitted he was lost for words after his side secured a first ever promotion into the Northern Premier League East with a 3-0 win against Ebac Northern League rivals West Auckland Town.
After claiming a league double over West during the regular season, The Stan were in a confident mood ahead of their play-off final clash – but there was more than a hint of nerves being played out during the opening 45 minutes in front of a club record crowd of 2,107.
But those nerves subsided within minutes of the restart as Konner Lamb grabbed the opening goal of the game with a stunning curling effort beyond the desperate dive of visitors keeper Nick Liversedge. The lead was doubled just before the hour-mark with a neat finish from Andy Burn before Louis Anderson came off the bench to seal a memorable day in fine style when he grabbed a third with five minutes to go.
For the Stan, a step seven club just over a decade ago, the win marks the end of a short but sweet two-year stay in the Northern League’s top tier as they now look forward to mixing it with North East rivals Dunston UTS, Consett, Newton Aycliffe, Bishop Auckland and Ashington in step four.
Speaking after the game, Stan manager Nicholson praised the work ethic of his players and insisted they fully deserved their place in the club’s history books.
He told The NLP: “Being in the Northern Premier League wasn’t part of the plan when I came here, but by god we deserve it for that today. It was an unbelievable effort, it will never be forgotten at this football club, never. I think every one of them, for what they’ve done this season, fully deserve it and we deserve it as a club.
“We wanted to go an entertain the crowd with over 2,000 here and what a goal to start it off. I think it’s probably the best 45 minutes of the season during the second-half – although I’m sure I pulled my hamstring running down the line when the first one went in.
“West Auckland were in unbelievable form, they’re a great side, they are very well coached and managed – so to beat them three times in a season shows the quality we’ve got here. I’m lost for a words a bit – but we have known all season we are backed well by are supporters and now we want to kick on. The crowd was a crazy number and they’ve helped us get over the line.”
Heaton Stannington: Brass, Evans, Hornsby, Stephenson (Doyle), Turnbull (Marriott), Shepherd, Burn (Sayer), Slaughter, Hopper (Lashley), Reid, Lamb (Anderson) Subs: All used
West Auckland Town: Liversedge, Hume (Nicholson), Hope, Wood (Holdsworth), Brown, Potter, Mitchell (Greenwood), Bailey, Scott, Fletcher, Harrison (Hegarty (Cocks)) Subs: All used
