The final 3-0 score line doesn’t come close to telling the overall truth of the reflection of the balance of play but Houghton took their chances and Sacriston didn’t and at this level that is all that really matters.
Houghton started the game well and but for a last ditch tackle by Stuart Fenton on the cover from left back Houghton would have had a great chance to take an early lead. For the rest of the first half though Sacriston were marginally the better side and created much the better chances. Grant Boyd fired a cross shot across goal which only needed a touch on it. Gary Draper & John Harrison were causing lots of problems up front with good movement. Gary Draper got himself into some great positions near the goal at times but unfortunately the decision he made with his final shot, cross or pass always seemed to be the wrong one and we didn’t make the most of our dominance. The rest of the team looked solid the back 4 were playing well and Rob Draper & Sean Gregory were dominating in the midfield area.
James Thornton replaced Grant Boyd on 53 minutes who asked to come off because he was tired although he did return for the final 5 minutes.
The start of the 2nd half continued in much the same way with Sacriston still on the front foot and on 52 minutes created the best chance of the game up to date when Gary Draper did very well to get away from the Houghton defence on the right side of the box before squaring the ball to John Harrison who shot from 10 yards out but the defender did well to block his shot and stop a certain goal. If Harrison had lifted his shot slightly it would have been a certain goal. Then on 56 minutes Sacriston missed another guilt edged chance when a ball in from the right was glanced on by Sean Gregory at the near post towards the back post where from afar it looked like Danny O’Brien had a simple tap in from 3 yards out but he couldn’t readjust his body position in time and O’Brien failed to make sufficient contact with the ball to get it over the line and Houghton cleared to safety.
Then on 58 minutes a clever through ball from the inside left channel by the Houghton midfield player split the 2 Sacriston centre backs and found his colleague in the clear but Potts raced of his line in the Sacriston goal to meet him and pulled off a fantastic save getting a strong right hand up high to keep out the shot.
Graeme Embleton after bravely trying to play on through a hernia injury asked to be substituted on 62 minutes and was replaced by Jacob Horner.
You could just tell that Sacriston were going to regret missing those chances and on 65 minutes Houghton scored the first goal of the game. A great run which started in his own half by the Houghton player was cut short when he was brought down 30 yards from goal by James Thornton I think it was. He should never have been allowed to run that far with the ball unchallenged. The resulting free kick was fired low into the Sacriston box which took a deft deflection of a Houghton player and nestled in the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Sacriston pushed hard for the equalizer with Rob Draper & Gregory driving the team forward at every opportunity. Greg Coates replaced Stuart Fenton on 74 minutes with Gary Draper moving to wide left and James Thornton going back to left back with Coates going on up front. Then on 75 minutes James Thornton’s well over hit corner allowed Houghton to counter attack on us and before you knew it Jacob Horner was left one on one against the Houghton forward who carried the ball all the way into the box before the back tracking Andrew Solan got back to help him but fouled him in the process resulting in a clear penalty. The penalty was expertly taken by the Houghton player who found the bottom left hand corner with ease to make it 2-0 and all but finish the game.
Houghton gave the score line an unbalanced look on 81 minutes when a teasing run and cross from the right hand side was clipped to the back post where young Horner again found himself under pressure defensively and his attempted clearing header only found the top corner of his own net to make it 3-0.
Sacriston went close a couple of times in the remaining few minutes to getting on the score sheet but we just couldn’t find the net. We had to score when we were on top and as soon as Houghton took the lead our defensive shape went and all of a sudden Houghton started to look very dangerous as we were committing men forward in an attempt to get back in the game. Houghton did have some good young players going forward but we should have been 3 goals up by the middle of the 2nd half.
Yet again too many of the Sacriston players turned up drunk or in some cases didn’t turn up at all which at this level you can’t get away with and still expect to win. It is such a shame for the majority of the squad and its brilliant secretary Marc Hall that all the effort we made to get to this level is being undermined by the same few people who are showing such disrespect to his and their fellow team mates efforts. Rob Draper & Sean Gregory were brilliant throughout the match and showed what real men are about even when we were 3-0 down there were still fighting for every ball and to them I am grateful I just hope some of their team mates were taking notice because we play Brandon away next week who have got into 2 cup semi-finals and are 2nd in the league and flying.
