The Young Anchors exited the FA Youth Cup in the first qualifying round despite a spirited performance at South Shields.
An end-to-end opening to the game saw a handful of chances fall to either side. Within the first 10 minutes the Anchors had the first effort on target when Jack Spears drilled a low strike in the direction of the goalkeeper.
A huge opportunity fell to Stockton in the 18th minute when Joe Kennedy, who caused constant problems for the hosts all game long, was played through in-behind, and saw a chipped effort fly narrowly over the crossbar.
Goalkeeper Tyler Smith was called into action on a number of occasions, and pulled off some strong saves to keep the scores level.
Three minutes before the interval, the Anchors found the opener when a flurry of blocked shots eventually fell to Harvey Parkinson who buried a strike into the corner to give Stockton the lead at the half-time mark.
Half-time: South Shields 0-1 Stockton Town
11 minutes after the restart, the hosts were back on level terms when defender Thomson headed home a corner.
Joe Kennedy very nearly put the Anchors back in front soon after, when he miraculously got out of a tricky situation near the corner flag and drove towards the box, eventually firing a curling left-footed strike narrowly past the wrong side of the post.
67 minutes in, South Shields found themselves in the lead when Sloan reacted quickest to another corner to power a shot past Tyler Smith.
The Anchors pushed for an equaliser and nearly found one when Tom Birtles drilled a low strike towards goal which was met by a superb stop by the legs of the South Shields shot-stopper.
Despite a spell of late pressure, the hosts held out to advance to the next round of the competition.
Full-time: South Shields 2-1 Stockton Town
Words: Jordan Clarke
Photo: Harry Cook
