AFC BLACKLEY...5, STAND ATHLETIC...2: WITH Walsh and Airey sidelined Stand were without two of their most influential players.

And with league leaders Blackley not having dropped a point and widely accepted as being champions-in-waiting, it was always going to be a tough fixture for the Whitefield side.

For long periods Stand were as good as, if not better than their hosts, but their ability to turn a problem into a crisis was to prove their undoing yet again.

A missed header, a missed cross and a momentary lapse of concentration, the only 15 seconds of aberrant defence in the first 45 minutes.

But on each occasion Blackley scored, Stand being grateful for an offside decision which restricted the half-time deficit to 2-0, extended to 3-0 within a minute of the restart.

A red card for Blackley's number 11 following a crude challenge on Simon Kluj provided an opportunity for Stand to climb back into the game and a moment of sublime skill from Adam Dickinson brought them back to 3-1. But a penalty soon made it 4-1 to Blackley.

Noel Shine then coolly claimed a goal to bring Athletic back to 4-2 with 10 minutes remaining.

But from the kick-off Stand's back four parted like Bobby Charlton's hair to concede a fifth goal.

There will almost certainly be more goals when Stand welcome Ashton to The Elms on September 25.

STAND: Hassall, Kluj, Cropper, Maudsley, Heaney, Martin, Pratt, Smith, Welsh, Shine, Dickinson. Subs: Hunter, Morley, Woods