Sacriston went into this match with several players missing so to come within 30 seconds of winning away to Sedgefield under these circumstances was a great all round effort by the team.
The game itself was a very entertaining affair with both teams looking to be positive throughout. There was a constant howling wind blowing throughout the match but both teams coped well with the conditions. The match also had an outstanding referee who went by the name of MR. Jackson. This was the first time I had seen him in one of our fixtures and he had an excellent game. His decision making was faultless and he had complete control of the game which was in stark contrast to the guy we had last week which made for a much fairer and better match. The game was also played in a great spirit by both sides.
Now to the match which started pretty quietly while both teams were trying to get to grips with the wind. Sedgefield played with the wind assisting in the first half and Sacriston played with the wind assisting them in the 2nd half.
On 18 minutes Sedgefield took the lead out of nothing really when a ball was played across the box which forced Potts in the Sacriston goal to go with the forward which ultimately got him out of position and the ball was laid back into the centre of the 18 yard box from where the Sedgefield player did well in sliding in a low finish through a crowded penalty area into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Sacriston almost levelled immediately when Grant Boyd did well down the left hand side and his cross rattled the crossbar after being wind assisted.
The game was very even and Sacriston did look threatening and started to apply the pressure which was rewarded with an equalizer on 29 minutes. Graeme Embleton’s free kick was parried out by the Sedgefield keeper and Gary Draper was the first to react to the rebound and his first attempt was saved but he buried the 2nd attempt from close range blasting high into the net to make it 1-1.
There wasn’t much further goalmouth action until early in the 2nd half when a couple of Sacriston’s attempted clearances cruelly ricocheted perfectly into the path of the Sedgefield striker who all of a sudden found himself one on one with Potts in the Sacriston goal who then did brilliantly in saving the forwards powerfully shot with his right leg.
For the next 20 minutes or so Sacriston started to get right on top and forced many good scoring opportunities. Only the final touch was missing from several brilliant balls in by Graeme Embleton. Then Embleton had a long range free kick well saved by the Sedgefield keeper.
Jack Brennan came on for his Sacriston debut on 61 minutes replacing Matty Rudge and he did well showing good running power and strength in the midfield area. Matty Rudge came back on after 75 minutes replacing Jacob Horner. Rudge had an excellent game in central midfield and his presence allowed Graeme Embleton the freedom he needed to dictate the play for Sacriston.
Then on 74 minutes totally against the run of play Sedgefield took the lead again when they got down our right hand side far too easily and the Sedgefield player did well to carry on his run into the box and his shot looked destined for the bottom corner but Potts did well to get down and save but Sacriston for once were very slow to react to the rebound which fell to another Sedgefield player who instinctively headed for goal which looked to be looping well over the goal but the wind held it up sufficiently to allow the ball to drop into the net.
Sacriston came back strongly again though and Anthony Ward nearly levelled the game straight away when an audacious chip from 30 yards out only just went over the bar.
Then on 79 minutes Sacriston did get level through a piece of individual brilliance. Potts sent a long kick down field out of his hands which went fully 75 yards towards Gary Draper who showed amazing instant control to bring the ball down with his right foot before being forced wide by the Sedgefield keeper on to his left foot from where Draper fired in a shot which ended up in the back of the net despite the brave attempt of the Sedgefield defender on the line who got back to get a head on the ball but the power of the shot was too much. It was no more than Sacriston deserved and it capped a wonderful all round performance by the Segga number 10.
Sacriston took the lead for the first time in the game on 83 minutes when Graeme Embleton’s far post corner was met by the head of Danny O’Brien who diverted his header back across goal where Anthony Ward was perfectly placed to head home from 2 yards out.
Sacriston seemed to be seeing the game out quite easily and didn’t really come under any pressure but in the 91st minute we failed to stop a right wing cross come into our box and with O’Brien having been dragged out wide we had little height at the back post where the Sedgefield player got minimal contact on the ball but despite Andrew Solan’s best attempts the header went in via Solan to make the game 3-3.
This was a cruel blow to Sacriston who deserved the win but fair play to Sedgefield they never gave up until the end. Sacriston showed great character on the day to come from behind twice to lead the game into injury time. We played some excellent football at times and this performance was very encouraging. Gary Draper and Graeme Embleton really stood up and played brilliantly today. There were solid contributions from everybody Stuart Fenton and Matty Rudge did very well with accomplished displays at left back and central midfield respectively considering that it was Fenton’s first game of the season and Rudge had only played a handful of games. Ward linked up well with Draper up front and ran constantly throughout for his team.
Overall it was a good team performance and it was such a shame we just couldn’t get the win we deserved.
