After a dreadful result at the weekend, Sacriston were in action at home against Chester Black Horse in the league with an opportunity to put things right. Sacriston fielded a very young side with Dan Ferguson and debutant Joe Blackbourne leading the line up front – captain Dean Smith being the veteran of the side at the back.
Sacriston started the game strongly and dominated the possession, pressing high and looking dangerous; the two up front causing problems in behind the opposition defence and the wingers Jacob Horner and Sonni Armstrong threatening on the flanks. However it was a goal against the run of play which put Black Horse in front when a scuffed effort managed to find the bottom corner. The good thing about this was that Sacriston kept their heads up and continued to force the Black Horse back and were instantly rewarded. Dan Ferguson picked the ball up in the number 10 position and played a clever through ball to Sonni Armstrong who took a good touch, composed himself and coolly slotted the ball past the onrushing keeper to level the scores. It was one-way traffic at this point with Sacriston forcing corners and having a few speculative shots from distance. Another opportunity came for Sacriston when the gorgeous Chris Mordue whipped in a lovely ball to the back post where the full-back Lee Renwick leapt like bearded salmon to nod the ball against the crossbar.
As the game was drifting towards half-time, Sacriston were dealt a cruel sucker punch when a free-kick from the Black Horse was fizzed into the box and Thomas Ludlow could only parry and the rebounds was put in by Chester’s centre half for 1-2. The half time whistle blew shortly after and the lads all agreed to carry on playing they did in the first half and the result would take care of itself.
The second half began slowly and Black Horse played a dangerous ball over the top of Sacriston’s defence which resulted in old Dean Smith shown a yellow card for pulling back their striker – a soft decision really. A chance then came for Sacriston when Sonni crossed in a deep ball to the back post which found the feet of Joe Blackbourne Rovers who controlled well but fired over the bar. Apart from that, Sacriston struggled to get going in this half, created few opportunities and were soon punished. The Black Horse found their striker in on goal and he hit high shot which was only able to be parried into the net to make the score 1-3 to Chester.
Sacriston made a few changes due to injury and tactics with David Winter, Peter ‘Greyhound’ Richardson and another debutant George ‘Kenny’ Daglish (Manager Gav Richardson had a twinkle in his eye when he heard the surname) came on to replace Sonni, Lee and Dan. The game started to swing in Sacriston’s favour once more with attack after attack on the Chester goal. A good opportunity fell to David Winter but he scuffed his shot wide when played in on goal by Ben Sanderson. Luck seemed to be on Chester’s side when in a matter of moments they somehow cleared two efforts off the line in quick succession. Adam ‘Jockey’ Wilson whipped a corner in which a Black Horse defender headed towards his own goal but the ball was cleared off the line for another corner. From the resulting corner, the young Jockey whipped in another ball which met the head of David Winter but yet again the ball was cleared off the line. Sacriston made a final change with Jacob Horner replaced by Liam Moran but time was ticking away with the game seemingly over.
However, with three minutes left, Sacriston forced a corner following a scramble in the box. A quick corner was taken and Adam Wilson played the ball into the box which was met by a superb header from George Daglish and the ball floated into the bottom corner to make the score 2-3 and give Sacriston a glimmer of hope. The ref signalled that there was only two and a half minutes left so Chris ‘Wolfy’ Mordue roared the Sacriston lads on and urged them to press hard get the ball back. Chester were now panicking and just lumped the ball long into the hands of Thomas Ludlow. Thomas launched the ball back downfield which was controlled well by Mordue straight into the path of David Winter who unleashed a first time strike with his right foot from outside the area straight into the top corner sparking wild celebrations and levelling the score at 3-3.
The referee indicated that there was only one minute of time remaining when Chester unbelievably forced a corner; at this point Sacriston would have taken the point. As the corner was whipped in, Thomas Ludlow got a great punch on the ball sending it to the edge of Sacriston’s area. Tom Winter then won a crucial tackle and the ball broke to the right-hand side to David Winter and the counter attack was on. The crowd was going wild as skipper Ben Sanderson made a great overlapping run and was played in by Winter. Ben played a deep ball to the back post which was met by Joe Blackbourne who headed the ball towards the goal. However, as the ball was about to hit the back of the net, a Chester Black Horse defender punched the ball away to deny a certain goal and was rightly shown a red card. Incredibly, this gave Sacriston a huge chance to win the game with Adam Wilson stepping up to take the spot kick. The referee announced before the penalty that no matter what, this was the last kick of the game. Jockey stepped up and powerfully smashed the ball into the bottom left corner to earn Sacriston a vital first league win of the season.
An unforgettable game for the fans and the players who definitely got their £2 subs worth. Lots of positives to take from the game with the spirit and determination being a highlight. Incredibly, Sacriston had four 17 year olds and one 16 year old playing who all played tremendously well and hopefully will continue to stick with the club as the future looks bright. Man of the match could have gone to any of the young lads but I’ve awarded it to Joe Blackbourne who showed some lovely touches and confidently led the line well in his first ever game for the team.
Next up is the annual Durham pub crawl on Sunday, with Tim Ice Man Asquith returning from his “How to be a goalkeeper using only your feet” training camp.
Up the club!
