This was a great start to our league campaign as we came away with a very good 1-0 win away at Sherburn last night. Right from the start the attitude of the Sacriston players was excellent and the whole team played there part in ensuring we came away with 3 points.
Sacriston started the game on the front foot and took the game to Sherburn forcing many early corners and chances. Sean Gregory had a great chance when Graeme Embleton’s perfect free kick found him in acres of space inside the box but Gregory didn’t realise and went for goal with his header which went just wide from around 8 yards out. If there had been any kind of shout Gregory could have brought it down and taken a shot but that chance went begging.
Then on 9 minutes a good team move resulted in McCormack playing the ball perfectly into the stride of his strike partner Coates who took the ball into the box on the angle of the right hand side and he fired an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to give Sacriston a 1-0 lead.
On 13 minutes another excellent Embleton free kick was met by the head of Gregory who powered his header against the post and the ball rebounded to him but he couldn’t control it and the follow up header went over the bar.
At this stage Sacriston were in total command and but for the odd free kick that Sherburn won in and around the penalty box offered very little going forward, although on 37 minutes they did miss one guilt edged chance when a miss hit cross found a Sherburn player all alone at the back post and he missed with the goal gaping. This was the wakeup call Sacriston needed to remind them the game was still close.
Sherburn came much more into the game during the 2nd half and had much more possession and played much more of the game in Sacriston’s half. Sacriston by this stage should have been out of sight with the chances missed but Sherburn were in the middle of a good spell during the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half although Potts never at any stage during the match had to make a decent save as our defence and midfield were excellent.
Sacriston still threatened greatly on the counter attack though and on two occasions our strikers got to within an inch of getting to the ball first but the Sherburn goalkeeper did well both times racing off his line and bravely diving at the players feet to collect the ball.
On 69 minutes we got a free kick from around 35 yards out from which Graeme Embleton struck a fierce shot which the keeper did well again with to tip the shot on to the cross bar and over for a corner.
The use of substitutes was vital for Sacriston late on as Gary Draper, Quinn, Coates & McCormack all needed to come off through a combination of exhaustion or cramp but all those players put in a wonderful effort. James Thornton was excellent when he came on for Gary Draper and got up to the speed of the game very quickly and he got stuck in to with some excellent tackles.
The game at times got a little tasty with some interesting challenges going in from both sides and the game required some strong players and the likes of Gregory and Rob Draper were superb in standing up to the challenge and were not intimidated which rubbed off on everyone else as we saw out the remaining minutes without too many scares.
Bryan Potts had a very commanding game in the Sacriston goal and the communication between him and the back four could be heard all night long.
The whole team played very well therefore picking a man of the match was very difficult but Marc Bladen just got my vote because he defended superbly and every time you thought oh no Sherburn might be in here he got in there and won the ball or cleared his lines to relieve the pressure. This was a very difficult game and we were very satisfied to come away with a 1-0 win.
