Craig Stanley Remembers Promotion With Hereford United

In an article for the National League, Craig Stanley relives the Conference Play-off final when Hereford defeated Halifax.

“Hereford deserved that moment, there’s no doubt about that,” said Stanley.

“We finished second three years in a row. The year we finally did it, we managed to win 80 points. Accrington were worthy winners, but we deserved to go up.

“I actually sat and watched the game back on Wednesday, it was a thriller - the strange thing is the big moments actually give you more of a tingle now than they actually did at the time.

“I went down with cramp just before the 90th minute. I wanted to stay on but Graham (Turner) decided it was best to come off.

“I was gutted, but when Ryan scored the winner the cramp suddenly disappeared as I legged it down the touchline!

“The thing about Hereford that year was that we have five fantastic attacking players who all played a massive part in our season - yet the goal that took us up came from our right-back!

“Ryan played for Wolves and Wales so clearly he had that in his locker. I’m not sure everyone knew about the body and the tanned chest, mind you! He ripped his shirt off during the celebration and for some reason then grabbed the corner flag and threw it!

“We came from behind twice, but we had done that all season. With the players we had, we were always confident that if we did go behind that it wouldn’t be for long.” 

Later in the article Stanley revealed that he has diabetes.

“I’m passionate about putting out the message that having diabetes doesn’t need to hold you back.

“There are a number of players who suffer from it, a number in the National League, and a lot of us keep in contact."

Full article: https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/specialist-stanley-knows-how-to-paint-promotion-pi-62235