Night games are always tricky for both teams and particularly when the kick off time is 6:00 pm. This was the earliest opportunity to play a night time game and the two managers agreed with the referee before kick off to play 35 minutes per half which was sensible given how it was nearly dark by the end.
Just after kick off there was a horrendous snow and hail storm which both sets of players braved their way through for 15 minutes. It was the worst weather without doubt that I had ever seen football played in you literally couldn’t see a yard in front of you. Huge credit must go to both sets of players and particularly the referee who held his nerve and played through it and the rest of the game was played in relatively calmer climes.
The game burst into life when an incident between Sean Gregory and the NA number 11 resulted in a skirmish which was expertly handled by the referee.
Sacriston started the game well and Jacob Horner was at the heart of everything in the first 20 minutes creating mayhem with his direct running down the right hand side but Sacriston didn’t make the most of some very promising situations that came from that.
Then totally against the run of play Newton Aycliffe took the lead on 23 minutes. A long hopeful punt down field was latched upon by the NA forward who nipped in between Bladen & O’Brien in the Sacriston defence before lobbing the ball over a hesitant Potts in the Sacriston goal.
This was yet another costly defensive error which really threatened to de-rail Sacriston’s good start to the match. Then on 26 minutes Potts was called upon to make a brilliant save when O’Brien failed to control the ball which found its way through to the NA forward but Potts stood up tall and made a great save.
NA also hit the post not long after this but Sacriston regrouped and finished the half strong and only went in 1-0 down at half time.
Sacriston played very well in the 2nd half and totally dominated every aspect of the match other than the only thing that really matters in football and that is putting the ball in the net. We had all the play and created several chances to score but the NA defence and goalkeeper stood firm.
Sacriston made 4 changes in the 2nd half to try and freshen things up to get an equalizer. The last change was unfortunately a forced one when Marc Bladen had to be subbed for Michael Quinn. This was Marc’s first game for a while after injury and he played superbly as did Quinn when he came on to replace him even striding forward from centre half to the right wing at one point to put in a great cross to the back post which we just couldn’t get on the end of.
The best chance of the match fell to Gavin McCormack on 50 minutes when he got on the end of a through ball from Craig Coates and found himself clean through but he just couldn’t get the ball out of his feet in time to get a clean strike away and that gave the NA defenders time to get back at him and clear the danger.
Sacriston constantly put testing corners and free kicks into the box but nothing fell for us and at times we had NA pinned in their own penalty box. Craig Coates went very close to scoring when he struck a beautiful free kick from 35 yards out which only needed a little touch from anyone but that didn’t arrive and this allowed the NA keeper to just get across in time to make the save diving away to his left to put it behind for another corner. Coates went close again from closer distance with another free kick but his strike went just over the bar.
NA were cheating in my eyes towards the end with their time wasting tactics which annoyed everybody in the Sacriston team. I lost count of the number of times their goalkeeper switched sides to take goal kicks and went behind the goal to retrieve the ball which had just gone out of play when a replacement was at his feet ready to re-start play. What’s more? Is that he knew it and was laughing about it. The referee had an outstanding game and did allow 3 minutes of added time but this was not nearly enough to compensate for the NA keepers antics. The NA outfield players also kicked the ball away at every free kick to delay us taking the set piece quickly which always gave them time to re-group and organise position ally in defence. The referee should have booked there keeper to put a stop to it because there were taking liberties but this is the only thing I have any qualms with about his performance.
The NA game plan hinged on the performance of the centre forward who on the day gave an absolute master class of how to play as a lone striker. Every time the ball went anywhere near him when NA cleared up field he trapped it stone dead with any part of his body as if he had superglue attached to him. This allowed their midfield players to join in the play in support. It was the best forward display I have seen this season and he capped it off right at the end of the match with the very last kick when another long punt down field by the NA keeper went over the head of O’Brien in the Sacriston defence and he drilled his shot brilliantly into the bottom left hand corner of the net giving Potts no chance in the Sacriston goal. This made it 2-0 and the game was over.
We are proving that we can more than compete at this level but mistakes in both boxes is proving crucial and is costing us games. I could not ask for any more effort from the team who tried their balls of out there and for that I am thankful. If we keep showing that effort and cut out the errors the results will come I am sure. Pelton at home next Thursday bring it on 6:15 pm kick off.
