This was our first game for over a month and in the first 10 minutes this showed with several of our players slow to react and looking rusty which was understandable. However we went on from there to play a very good game and all of our players improved as the game wore on and in the end we put on a very professional performance to come away from East Rainton with a well deserved 3-0 win.
Sacriston took the lead on 15 minutes when Gary Draper’s free kick was played into the box where John Harrison got up well to cushion his header into the path of Greg Coates who slid in at the far post to finish well to make it 1-0. A simple but effective goal.
East Rainton nearly equalized on 26 minutes when their number 10 got through on goal but his shot was well saved by Potts in the Sacriston goal.
Towards the end of the first half Sacriston were starting to get a strong foothold in the game with Sean Gregory dominating the central midfield area ensuring that Sacriston had good possession high up the field and this led to some chances being created.
On 36 minutes a nice move between Gary Draper and Greg Coates down the middle opened up some space for Coates to let fly with a vicious shot from 30 yards out from which the East Rainton goalkeeper did brilliantly to save from diving away to his left hand side.
Then on the stroke of half time we forced a corner which Greg Coates took and the in swinging corner forced the goalkeeper under pressure from O’Brien & Gregory to fumble the ball over his own goal line to give Sacriston a 2-0 lead.
We put ourselves under pressure at the very start of the 2nd half with some carless passing and had to defend for 5 minutes several crosses and corners but we did this well. Then on 50 minutes we started a brilliant team move from deep in our own half involving most of the players which eventually led to Sean Gregory being presented with a free shot on the edge of the 6 yard box but he failed to connect properly dragging the shot wide.
Sacriston were still showing glimpses of some really stylish attacking play but East Rainton had a bit of a go in the 2nd half but didn’t create any clear cut chances to score mostly down to the excellence of the Sacriston defence well marshalled by Daniel O’Brien & Robert Draper. James Thornton was providing a good out let from left back and was defending well. Stuart Fenton finished the game strongly after a shaky start to the match and with 25 minutes to go I brought on Quinn to replace Fenton and Horner to replace Greg Coates with Ward going up front to join Harrison.
The changes give the team an energy boost and Jacob Horner had almost an immediate impact when he ran at the heart of the East Rainton defence before crossing a ball to the back post where Harrison was just unable to make contact on for what would have been a certain goal.
Sacriston finally made the game safe on 75 minutes when Sean Gregory’s pass set Anthony Ward through down the left hand channel where he was met by the East Rainton keeper and defender but he did well to ride those 2 challenges keep his balance and manoeuvred himself into a good shooting position to score into an empty goal from the 18 yard line. This was his reward for his sheer persistence.
Andrew Collinson came on for John Harrison on 76 minutes for his first appearance for a while. Harrison played well winning every header and he held the ball up well for the team only thing missing from his performance was a goal. Collinson got into the action straight away showing some decent skill and set up a couple of decent shooting opportunities which we should have made more from.
Gary Draper had had a quiet game until the 86th minute from central midfield but he had been doing a great job defensively protecting the back 4 and cleaning up allowing Gregory to play further forward. Then he let fly with a shot from 25 yards out which was tipped on to the post by the East Rainton keeper.
Sacriston went close a couple more times from corners and flicks being cleared of the line but there were no more goals and the game finished 3-0.
Gavin McCormack and Anthony Ward from the wide areas provided plenty of energy constantly running with the ball getting the team into good areas.
Greg Coates did the damage with his 2 goals earlier on in the game but the man of the match was Sean Gregory for an all action display in central midfield the man was everywhere wanting to be in the thick of the action competing for every ball and he did everything well in the match but score but I do feel he is due a goal he is getting into too many good positions not to score.
Overall a good all round team performance and a clean sheet to boot.
