This was one of the very few games played on the day due to the weather and we are thankful that we did get on because we got the 3 points we were after to make it a productive 2 weeks for us with back to back victories which for now has taken us up to 6th place in the premier league table.
Sacriston took the game to Coxhoe from the start and in the end ran out comfortable winners. It is clear that Coxhoe are struggling at the moment and haven’t got the quality of players they once had but I do hope that they carry on because there is still enough decent people involved with them to help turn the club around.
Sacriston wasted several glorious chances within the first 19 minutes of the match and at times you wondered if it is was going to be one of those days. Then on 19 minutes Greg Coates latched on to the ball inside the box and fired in a low shot to finally break the deadlock to make it 1-0.
Sacriston went 2-0 ahead on 29 minutes when Anthony Ward’s shot was parried out by the Coxhoe goalkeeper and Greg Coates hammered in the rebound with a low left footed finish. Coates continued to be involved when his deep corner met the head of Sean Gregory at the far post whose header I am informed crossed the line despite a Coxhoe defender trying to clear although Ward made absolutely certain of the goal by putting in the rebound.
Matty Rudge came on to replace the injured Gary Draper on 37 minutes.
The 4th goal was the best one we scored on the day it all started with a great pass from Stuart Fenton from right back who played a delicious left footed pass into the path of Gavin McCormack down the right hand side who then crossed the ball to the far post where Sean Gregory collected the ball and fired in a low left footed shot from around 6 yards out. This was a very good team goal moving the ball forward quickly and efficiently.
Anthony Ward got on the score sheet just before half time when Greg Coates fine through ball sent him in the clear and Ward dribbled with the ball all the way through to within 10 yards from goal before firing in his shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net past the Coxhoe keeper. It was an important goal for Ward because he had missed the exact same type of chance earlier in the game after 10 minutes delaying to long and allowed the Coxhoe defender to get back and tackle him. It was good for him to put that right.
Coxhoe did have one decent effort on the Sacriston goal on 44 minutes when there player did well to turn and shoot just wide of the far post.
It took Sacriston a while to get going again in the 2nd half but the 6th goal arrived on 61 minutes when Grant Boyd’s wicked left wing cross was met by Anthony Ward who did well to get across his marker at the near post and he deftly flicked the ball into the far corner. By this time Andrew Collinson had come on for James Thornton.
Greg Coates last significant piece of action was to take the corner that lead to the next goal which was brilliantly headed in by Daniel O’Brien who powered in his effort from near the penalty spot. Greg Coates was fantastic on the day and he caused havoc every time he had the ball and although he tired in the end when he was eventually substituted on 67 minutes he had done the damage to make the game safe. He scored or assisted 5 of the 7 goals that Sacriston scored while he was on the pitch. James Thornton came back on to finish the game.
Sean Gregory finished of the scoring on 82 minutes after Collinson had tried to set up Ward for a chance but the effort got blocked and then Collinson pulled the ball back to Gregory who didn’t mess about as he slammed home a right footed shot into the net to complete the perfect hat-rick.
The game finished shortly afterwards. Our defence weren’t tested in the game but there distribution and passing were superb. Bryan Potts will not have a quieter game in the Sacriston goal but the back 4 did well to keep their concentration which ensured a 3rd clean sheet in a row. Stuart Fenton had a much improved game using the ball well and often joining in attacks down the right hand side. Anthony Ward was heavily involved in all our good attacking play and he now has 11 goals one behind McCormack who has 12 with Greg Coates loitering just behind now with 9 goals. Greg Coates just piped Sean Gregory to the man of the match award. It was good to finally see Gregory on the score sheet for the first time this season.
The team look strong and we have many attacking options to choose from going into our quarter-final tie next week away against Witton Park in the Heart Foundation Cup.
