When two sides that have not won any of their games since November meet in the league, a draw was always the most likely result and, that was the case at the Red Industries stadium as Newcastle Town and Hanley Town played out a 1-1 draw.
The hosts took the lead just after the half an hour mark when midfielder Callum Lovatt was able to head home for his second goal of the season and, it looked like Castle were going to claim an important victory until the 85th minute when Kieran Brown was bundled over in the area and, the referee pointed to the spot. Up stepped Jake Twyford who sent Joe Slinn the wrong way to ensure the points were shared.
Despite their last win coming on the 12th November away at 1874 Northwich, Hanley looked up for the game and, they had three glorious opportunities to open the scoring in the first 15 minutes of the match. The first came on two minutes when recent signing Brown burst into the area before his shot hit a defender’s hand, the referee did not award a penalty maybe because the ball had broken to Kyle Blake who saw his shot fly wide of Slinn’s goal.
Then on eight minutes, Brown played the ball to Reece Jones who went around a defender before having a sight at the goal. However, Slinn rushed out of his goal and, was able to get a hand to the effort from Hanley’s right back and the ball bounced out for a corner.
Jones was to set up the third chance on 15 minutes when Blake played a quick free kick to him down the right wing. He crossed it into Eden Bailey who put his header over the crossbar.
Hanley were made to pay for those missed chances on 31 minutes when Newcastle took the lead through Callum Lovatt, A perfect cross from Nathan Morley found the midfielder at the back post and his header hit two parts of the goal frame before crossing the line. Kieran Harrison tried to fish the ball out of his goal but, the former Kidsgrove Athletic goalkeeper did not deceive the Assistant Referee as he flagged to say the ball had crossed the goal line to give Newcastle the lead.
Despite the setback, Hanley continued to press their hosts in the first half with Bailey putting a point-blank header into the hands of Slinn. The former Port Vale shot stopper really earnt his corn as he then made another fine save from Jones as he got a shot away following a slip from Kyle Stubbs.
The second half followed a similar pattern of play with Hanley Town having 99% of the play but failing to find a way past the Newcastle Town goalkeeper. Captain Louis Dodds fired a shot well wide of Slinn’s goal while Brown and Twyford put chances over the crossbar.
At the other end of the pitch, Jayden Hunter should have made it 2-0 when he broke clear of the Hanley defence. However, the former West Brom youngster saw his shot land straight into the gloves of a grateful Harrison.
Ryan Shotton looked to change things up for Hanley as he threw on an extra attacker in Jake Avery who replaced the industrious Jones and, it was an inspired substitution as Avery was like a conductor directing the orchestra how to play their tune. He looked to get at the Newcastle defence at every opportunity and, had a fantastic effort on 77 minutes when his shot from just inside the area was punched away by Slinn.
It looked like Newcastle were going to hold on for the win, but that all changed on 84 minutes when Brown was nudged over in the penalty area. It was the slightest of contact from the Newcastle defender but, it was enough to see the forward hit the deck. Up stepped Twyford who must have watched Marcus Rashford’s penalty against Everton on Friday night as he took the exact same penalty as the Manchester United man did as he sent Slinn the wrong way to pull Hanley level.
The result sees Hanley move out of the relegation playoff places into 16th place, just two places and two points behind hosts Newcastle who slipped down a place as City of Liverpool won 4-2 at home to Skelmersdale United. Next up for Newcastle is a trip to basement side Widnes next Saturday, while on the same afternoon Hanley welcome playoff chasers Runcorn Linnets to the Payaro Stadium.
After the game, I caught up with Newcastle Town manager Robin Van Der Laan to get his reaction to the game.
I also spoke with his counterpart from Hanley Town- Ryan Shotton in an extensive interview
Newcastle Town: Slinn, Conlon, Stubbs (Russo, 43), C.Lovatt, Askey, Dennis, Ritchie, T.Van Der Laan, Hunter, Vale and Morley.
Unused subs: Lloyd and Parker.
Hanley Town: Harrison, Jones (Avery, 64), Morris, Blake (Sanders, 76), Stair, Cotterill, Twyford, Dodds, Brown, Bailey and Walford.
Subs: Chapman and Shotton
Attendance: 338
