It turns out that the number 13 is a lucky number for Hanley Town as they claimed their first home league win of the season at the 13th time of asking.
Their record for home games in the Northern Premier League West division before this encounter with Glossop North End was played 12 won 0 drawn 5 and lost 7. However, thanks to Sam Turner’s first-half penalty the Town have now got rid of that hoodoo.
The game’s main talking point came on 26 minutes when Kieran Brown broke free of the Glossop defence before attempting to round goalkeeper Craig Ellison who had rushed out of his goal. The former Congleton Town goalkeeper brought him down leaving the referee with no option but, to point to the spot. Up stepped Turner who calmly dispatched the penalty to give Hanley the lead and, score his first goal for the club.
It could have been an even bigger scoreline for Hanley had they put their first-half chances away with Ellison making two fine saves to deny Turner more goals, while Brown headed over a Tom Curl cross after 90 seconds of play.
Meanwhile, in the second half, Hanley put in a fine defensive display to keep Glossop North End out, the only real chance the visitors had was when Harry Freedman hit a shot from around 25 yards out which was a comfortable save for Dale Eve.
A bad night for the Hillmen was compounded just after the half-time break when the match official sent visiting manager Stuart Mellish from the dugout. However, nothing was going to dampen the spirits of Hanley’s players.
After the game, I caught up with an ecstatic Ryan Shotton to discuss the match.
Hanley assistant manager Ben Chapman also popped over to come and have a chat with Moorlands Radio.
