Daniel Kent grabs late equaliser for Crook Town at Grounsell Park

Heaton Stannington 1-1 Crook Town.

Leading Division 2 goal scorer Daniel Kent snatched a late equaliser as Crook Town drew at Grounsell Park.

After a goalless first half, Joe Kerridge scored a penalty to make it 1-0 Stan. But the away side equalised through Kent in the 87^th minute.

Heaton Stannington were looking to climb above Birtley into ninth with a home win. But they went into the match with an injury-stricken squad; Connor Campbell, Lewis Burns and even their top goal scorer Jon Wright were all unavailable.

Crook started the day in second place, a point behind Carlisle City, after losing 2-1 to them at home. Manager Jamie Tunstall was unhappy with the number of penalties his side had given away this season.

He said: “We’ve conceded 9 penalties this year…and over half of them were in the first 10 or 15 minutes.”

In the first 15 minutes of this match, both sides were battling well, but with Crook having better build-up play.

The best chance of the first half fell to Stan who had a shot cleared off the line in the 30^th minute.

Crook Town were denied by an offside decision after a great run from Joseph Smith, who rounded Regan and tapped home in the 47^th minute.

Stan scored first in the 70^th minute. Kevin Carr received the ball in the box before being fouled by goalkeeper Michael Arthur. Joe Kerridge planted the penalty into the bottom left corner to make it 1-0.

To tighten things up, Stan brought on Gary Dixon in the 85^th minute, dropping deeper to absorb the pressure. Crook Town pressed higher up the pitch, flooding the Stan box.

Daniel Kent was on hand to smash home in the box after Dan Regan had parried away a shot. With 87 minutes on the clock, Crook had secured a point on their travels and Kent took his leading total to 14 league goals.

Heaton Stannington:

Regan; Stoddart; Leech; Waters (Blackbourne 58); Hall; Imray; Proctor; Wilson; Hoggins ©; Carr; Kerridge (Dixon 82). Subs unused: Deagle; Allan.

Crook Town:

Arthur; Verity; Eltringham; Hillerby; Elgie; Myers; Fielding ©; Smith; Kent; Nicholson (Tumilty, 72);  Webb (Holiday, 45). Subs unused: Hume; Shevels.