Steels 1-2 Hebburn Town
Stocksbridge Park Steels couldn’t complete a comeback against promotion chasing Hebburn Town.
It started off badly for Stocksbridge. A long ball over the top cut through the defence and Amar Purewal was able to able to time his run perfectly to get past the defence and then finish past Ben Townsend, though with a help with a divot on the pitch. It was the worst possible start for Stocksbridge.
The Steels struggled to get into the game and make their attacks stick, meaning it looked more likely that Hebburn would extend their lead. They weren’t far off when Liam Noble had an effort from distance, but he was denied a debut goal by a great diving save from Townsend.
A big moment would soon happen. Charlie Reaney got the better of his man and went one-on-one with Hebburn keeper Kieran Hunter. Hunter would trip Reaney as he went through, leading to a free kick on the edge of the box. Hunter would just get booked and proved how important that was by making an impressive save from Tomas Poole’s strike. There would be chaos in the box after this, but Hebburn were able to defend and clear.
In the second half, Stocksbridge had tilted the momentum in their favour but this wasn’t helping them to create clear cut chances. But as they were pouring men forward, Hebburn were able to pounce. They countered through Alpha Umaro Djalo who the linesman adjudged to be onside despite claims to the contrary and played a great ball across to fellow substitute Leo Robinson who finished well to double their lead.
Stocksbridge weren’t finished though. Luke Hogg got pushed in the box and while it was a light one, the Steels got a penalty. Luke Rawson stepped up and scored, sending Hunter the wrong way. This allowed Stocksbridge to throw everything at Hebburn to get an equaliser but they weren’t able to get the point.
