Heaton Stannington (A) – Match Preview

1st visit 6th as we try to get back to winning ways with our next fixture: A league match against Heaton Stannington

Promoted the season before us, Heaton Stannington’s tenure in the NPL East has been hot and cold, with their first season at this level seeing them finish in 12th

This season though, they are currently sat just outside the play-offs, a single point behind Dunston and Bradford Park Avenue, whilst also being 7 points clear of 7th placed North Ferriby.

A clear improvement this season, the Stan have seen 2 of their last 3 results be 4–0 victories, with both Bridlington and Grimsby Borough suffering those damaging results.

Heaton have, in fact, been unbeaten since the 1st of November, a run only matched by us and Dunston…who we face in our next game, on Boxing Day.

Their last four victories have all been accompanied by clean sheets, which is a tally even we have struggled to achieve, with blips against Consett and Bradford meaning those clean sheet victories have been ultimately split up.

Interestingly enough, us, Heaton Stannington and Dunston have all had nearly identical records since the 1st of November, with the only anomaly being that our 4-0 win against Lincoln was the only victory, with Dunston and Heaton both drawing 1-1 on that game week.

Anyway, we have some fixing to do on our end, with that 2-2 draw being a bit of a dampener on what has been a highly successful season

It says a lot about a side when you’re newly promoted and then being frustrated when you draw.

But with how good we are, and how competitive this league is, there really isn’t room for error.

We have been on a solid run though since losing to Matlock, with 6 wins on the bounce and the draw to Consett meaning we are still 7 games unbeaten.

7 points clear at the top of the league, with 2nd placed Emley also having played 2 matches more than us, we are still in a good spot

Matlock’s draw against Pontefract Collieries meant they couldn’t capitalise on our last result, and they remain nine points away from us.

This also means they are now the same distance from us as they are from Pontefract, who are currently 8th, which reiterates my point about how strong this league really is.

We are still not having any issues scoring goals though, but Adam Boyes has officially been caught up in the Step 4 goal scoring table, Barton Rovers’ Albie Hall matching his tally of 22.

Brad Fewster’s goal against Consett though has seen him enter the step’s top 10, and he is also now the league’s 2nd highest goalscorer too!

Of the top 5 for our division, 3 are Redcar players, with Oscar Fletcher joining Adam and Brad, and the only other two sides with representation are Matlock, and funnily enough, our next opponents, Heaton Stannington.

With Bradley Fewster being the highest away goalscorer in the league, and Heaton Stannington’s Dale Pearson being the 3rd highest home goalscorer, there will more than likely be goals from both of them on Saturday

I would say place your bets, but the last time I was directly involved in Redcar bets was when we got a bunch of private messages in Turkish calling us cheats and a disgrace for not scoring against Ashington…so…yeah.

If you’re unable to make the match then live updates, as always, will be on X, but if you can make it, then I hope to see you there!

Take care, and up the Steelmen!