This was a fiercely hard fought contest played between two sides that desperately needed the points for different reasons. Unfortunately for Sacriston we are finding that all mistakes at this level are punished and despite playing well for long periods during the game we still found ourselves losing the game 1-0.
Sacriston had many players back available for this game after having many missing the previous Sunday at Newton Aycliffe which enabled the team to be a lot more competitive.
Sacriston started the game well and having Ward back in the team enabled us to put pressure on the Pelton defence with his industrious running forcing Pelton to always have to play the ball under pressure. From this we forced a couple of early corners which we went close to scoring from.
Then a needless foul from Andrew Solan on the right hand touchline resulted in us conceding a free kick around 40 yards out. Pelton took the kick which was clipped into the penalty box which seemed harmless enough until Potts came off his line in the Segga goal looking like he was coming to claim the ball but he didn’t get there and the rest of the Sacriston defence stood still as the ball was allowed to drift into the net with only a token challenge from the 2 Pelton forwards closest to the ball.
This was such a soft way to concede a goal and gave Pelton the initiative. Sacriston were shocked by conceding and it took us a while to get our game going again but we came back well though and took the game to Pelton. Potts and the Sacriston defence for the rest of the game defended superbly and ironically the mistake that was made for the goal we conceded Potts dealt with much more decisively. Several times he came off his line and either caught or punched the ball well clear to safety.
Apart from the odd corner and one good chance which Potts did well to save from after a shot came in from the edge of the box Pelton didn’t threaten much.
Sacriston finished the half very strongly and had several near misses in search of the equalizer. Anthony Ward hit the post when he did well to wrap his right foot round the ball under challenge from the Pelton defender following a loose bouncing ball from Graeme Embleton’s corner. Ward went close again when a ball came into the box and he did well to divert his header goal wards but straight at the keeper, a yard either side of him and it would have been a certain goal. We went very close from other crosses into the box where the first header was won and the ball just didn’t fall in the right place for teammates in and around the 6 yard box.
In all honesty half time came at a bad time for Sacriston and for the first 15-20 minutes of the 2nd half Pelton re-grouped and started to get more possession and looked much more of a threat going forward but we were defending well and stayed in the contest.
With 20 minutes to go we made an attacking substitution and changed the shape of the team in an attempt to get more forward options on to the field. Michael Quinn was sacrificed for Greg Coates and Sean Gregory who put in a typically battling performance in midfield playing for the first time in around 9 weeks after injury cramped up and was replaced by James Thornton.
We did start to get more attacks going and looked more threatening but we weren’t creating the number of chances that we did in the first half. As the game wore on Pelton became less adventurous and seemed to settle for the 1-0 score line and defended deeper.
Pelton on 70 minutes had there one last chance to make the game safe when there forward was allowed to get through despite being at least 2 yards off side but Potts stood up well to make the safe and Sacriston cleared the ball to safety. This would have been too much to take but we dealt well with the situation and pushed even harder for the equalizer in the last 5 minutes.
Pelton were slowing the game down by now taking forever over throw-ins and free kicks and players were staying down longer than they needed to. These are things all teams do when wanting to hold on to a slender lead to be fair. However this was very frustrating for the team that are behind and the least you want is the correct number of minutes in injury time to compensate for it of which we got 2 minutes for.
Ryan Grayson came on for Gary Draper for the final 6 minutes or so. We had lots of possession towards the end and put plenty of balls into the box and at the very end we had every player including our goalkeeper Potts in the Pelton box as we tried everything we could to score but the ball just never fell for us and we couldn’t find the equalizer.
At the very least any observer would say we deserved was a draw and the effort that every Sacriston player put into the game was there for all to see and for that I am very thankful to the team. However luck tonight was just not on our side but if we put the same amount of effort into a 2 remaining games I am sure that luck will change and we will acquire the necessary points we need to stay in this great league.
Anthony Ward did everything right in the game but score and it was great to have him back after not playing the last 3 games.
We need everyone to stick together now for the final 2 games and do everything in our power to get what we need to stay up. The team spirit was great with most of the team afterwards having a few drinks in the club after the game despite the defeat which bodes well for the immediate future.
Pelton also battled extremely hard all over the pitch on the night and everything we got in the game we had to work really hard for and I was really impressed with their central defender Webby I think his nickname is. He always seemed to be in the right place and drove his team from the back superbly.
