Heaton Stannington are a team that few people outside of Newcastle will know exist, but they have the honour of being the first team that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ever faced on English soil.
The curious match-up came about back in July 2012 when Aubameyang was on international duty with Gabon ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.
The African minnows were looking for a warm-up game and with both Newcastle United and their U21 team otherwise engaged, Heaton Stannington were next on the list.
The non-league side had been in decent enough form that season, having beaten off stiff competition to claim the Pin Point Recruitment Northern Alliance League Premier Division title.
Men's football was one of just five sports that Gabon entered at the London Olympics and amongst their squad was a certain Mr Aubameyang. The fleet-footed forward had just scored 16 Ligue 1 goals for Saint-Etienne and would go on to join German giants Borussia Dortmund the following year.
To this date, he has scored 135 goals in 204 games for the German side, as well as 23 for Gabon, making him their join-top all-time record goalscorer.
After a brief delay when Aubameyang had to head back to the hotel after forgetting his boots, the game got underway, with junior tennis coach Joe Wear, who had earlier that day run a 10K, given the task of marking the livewire striker.
“I was a little bit tired from the 10k,” Wear told 'The Guardian'. “But it wasn’t an opportunity I was going to miss.”
"We knew they were going to be a really good team. So, it was just go out there, work hard, try your best and make it competitive," he explained, when asked if the non-legue side had a plan to stop Gabon. "I think we lost 4-0. To be honest, I didn’t think we did that bad. You could tell Aubameyang was very quick and sharp and I’m honestly not sure if he was putting 100% effort in. He was just a different level.”
“We held our own for a while, but obviously he was the massive difference,” added assistant manager Geoff Walker. “The pace on him was absolutely electric. It’s funny, I keep saying to everyone, he doesn’t seem to be moving full pelt but he just sort of glides across the pitch, you know what I mean? You could tell he was a player.”
Aubameyang scored twice before being withdrawn at half-time, though he and the rest of the squad turned down the offer of pie and beans after the game they did stay and socialise with the local side.
A shirt signed by the Gabon squad still sits above the bar at Grounsell Park and whilst their Olympic campaign didn't exactly go as planned, they'll always have the memory of what we like to think was a rainy Tuesday night in Heaton.