VICTORY is always sweet. The sweetness enhanced once when the vanquished are difficult; twice when the referee has-one-of-those-games; and three times when the winning goal comes late in the game and, arguably, against the balance of play.

Difficult opponents. Impossible to play football against a side whose pragmatism is as evident in the tackle as it is in the "'ave it" mentality which replaces the idea of playing the ball out of defence with the notion of 'umping it as far as you can in the direction from which it came.

Add a referee whose decisions deteriorated from variable to inexplicable as his confidence visibly evaporated and you have the potential for a mugging.

Which seemed to be on the cards when Jackson equalised for the visitors with eight minutes remaining.

It's hard to imagine Tintwistle scoring a beautiful goal; this one was downright scruffy.

To compound Stand disappointment, it came from a free-kick awarded for a blatant non-offence.

Worse still, it invested in the visitors a bragadaccio which had been singularly absent from the moment when Ian Maudsley swept John Airey's tenth minute cross into

the stride of Phil Smith for 1-0.

This, his ninth of the season, underlines the added value Smith delivers from midfield.

But the performance of the day came from the final provider of the chance.

Off the field, Maudsley is a gentleman. Self-effacing and unfailingly courteous.

Some days he can be the same on the field, other days he metamorphoses into two metres of centre half. Confident, dominant, imposing.

His natural reaction to hold open a door subsumed by a desire to slam one in your face.

On those occasions he becomes an invaluable centre half.

With Simon Kluj, he built the platform which was to preserve a narrow lead for 70 minutes, and maintain the later parity which finally brought Stand the opportunity to settle the game.

With added time imminent, Dale Brimielow rose to rattle a header off the underside of the bar.

Partially cleared. Airey picked up the loose ball on the left, crossed, Brimielow reacted first, leaping to guide the ball into the roof of Tintwistle's net off the outside of his right foot.

STAND: Baker; Morley, Maudsley, Kluj, Reid, Martin, Smith, Airey, Hunter; Barrington, Shine: Subs: Hassall, Newton, Dickinson, Howells, Brimielow.