As all these games seem to be yesterday was no exception with another hard fought contest with the game ending in a 1-1 draw. Sacriston took the lead early on after 4 minutes when Graeme Embleton fired in a brilliant free kick from 25 yards out which left the New Durham keeper motionless as it whizzed into the top right hand corner.
New Durham came back strongly from the early goal conceded and created some opportunities to score. New Durham hit the post from a free kick from 20 yards out with a left footed shot. Sacriston were not keeping possession well enough and were being forced to give away lots of free kicks in the process and it was through this that New Durham got level. Shaun Gregory’s bad first touch on the edge of the box forced him into having to make a foul and give away a free kick. From this free kick the New Durham number 10 got away from his marker and headed in from 9 yards out.
Sacriston played better for the rest of the first half and through Graeme Embleton created a couple of chances to score first on 37 minutes when he did well to take the ball into the box and shoot but the keeper made a good save and he had another free kick which went just wide of the right hand post on 44 minutes.
Greg Coates was substituted early in the 2nd half with a dead leg and Gary Draper came on.
The game sparked into life on 53 minutes when New Durham was awarded a very soft penalty when Andrew Solan was adjudged to have made a foul in the box. The penalty was taken and it cannoned back off the crossbar and out towards the right wing position where Shaun Gregory made a very bad challenge on the New Durham player and was correctly sent off leaving Sacriston to play the remaining 35 minutes of the match with 10 men.
This meant that Sacriston were pretty much forced to defend for the remainder of the match and looked to hit New Durham on the counter attack when we had the chance. Andrew Solan got injured as a result of a late tackle and he tried to run it off but he couldn’t continue so he came off on 68 minutes and Chris Wood replaced him and he did a very good job in an unfamiliar right wing back role.
New Durham went close on 70 minutes when Sacriston had trouble clearing a corner and the ball was pinging about the area like a pin ball which at one stage hit our post but we got the ball away to safety.
Bryan Potts was forced into a good save when New Durham put a cross into the box which was headed towards goal but Potts got up well to tip the ball over the bar.
At times we were forced to defend desperately with last ditch tackles and clearances and we did ride our look at times but once we got to grips with the task we actually had some decent chances ourselves. Graeme Embleton was starting to find the forward runs of Draper & Ward and they were doing well in getting us good field position and earned us a couple of corners and free kicks in good positions which by this time was going to be our best chance of nicking a winner. Michael Frazer nearly scored at the back post from a Graeme Embleton corner but he couldn’t get good enough contact on his header.
On 80 minutes Gary Draper let fly from 20 yards with a cracking volley which went just over the bar.
New Durham had a couple of free kicks in dangerous areas towards the end of the match to cause some late tension but we dealt with them well and the match finished 1-1.
The likes of Quinn, Boyd, Collinson & Thornton all stood up to the challenge brilliantly when Gregory was sent off and without their improvement in performance when it was needed in work rate and defensive duties there was no way we could have got a draw here and it was great to see these guys step up when we needed them most. Embleton was fantastic again and really kept the team going and Ward & Draper did lots of unselfish running late in the 2nd half to help the team out. However Michael Frazer put in a monumental performance at the heart of our defence and he took a battering from the number 10 from New Durham all game and Frazer kept coming back for more and he seemed to be in the way every time New Durham looked like they were about to get through and in the absence of club captain O’Brien he really stepped up to help win a point for his team.
New Durham had 2 very lively and physical forwards and tended to play the ball into them and work off them and along with the little number 9 in midfield these were the main threats throughout the match.
Overall a good point in the circumstances for us and a great amount of effort physically was put in by the lads to ensure we didn’t lose.
