After consecutive cup outings Sacriston returned to league action away to High Handenhold Bird Inn and were missing some key players upfront and in the middle of the park forcing a reshuffle in the starting line-up that had won the previous two games.
The game started evenly and Bird Inn were unfortunate not to take a 1-0 lead early on when the striker got in behind the defence and rounded the keeper before seeing his effort hit the outside of the post and go wide.
This miss sparked Segga in to life and what followed was an extremely dominant 45 minutes from the away side who continued to play the ball well and close down together as a unit all half.
Without Sam and Luke who contributed 60 goals together last season it was left to Dan ‘Newby’ Johnson to lead the line and it didn’t take him long to get off mark, latching onto and dispatching Davey Wardle’s whipped ball into the box following an excellent run down the wing form the full back.
David Winter made it 2-0 shortly after receiving the ball from Gav before going on a trademark mazy run passed a number of opposition defenders and firing a low powerful strike into the bottom corner from just outside the box.
Sacriston continued to dominate and Dean Smith playing in the Gareth Bale role scored a goal reminiscent of the Galactico himself, receiving a pass from Wardle and firing an unstoppable thunderbolt into the top corner from 25 yards.
Davey continued to rack up the assists and got his third of the game playing a long curling ball in behind the defence which cut them open and sent Dan through on goal and he made no mistake with a delightful finish with the outside of his boot, very similar to Borini’s finish at Wembley earlier in the year!
Newby continued his clinical finishing when played in by Gav he took the ball in his stride and dinked over the keeper into the back of the net for his first hat-trick for the club.
Dan continued to work hard upfront and turned provider shortly before half time, cutting in from the left and crossed deep towards the far post to find the veteran Gav who directed his header excellently into the near post before wheeling away in typical Sterling fashion.
Half-time came and Sacriston were completely dominating the game and were looking to continue that dominance throughout the second half.
The second half was pretty uneventful and Wardle was substituted with a nasty gash on his ankle 10 minutes after the restart and was replaced by last week’s hero Lee with Tom dropping into right back.
Sacriston bagged their fourth around the 65 minute mark when Dan was again played in by Gav and scored his fourth of the game with another fantastic chip over the keeper which dropped into the roof of the net.
Foz then replaced the industrious Gaffer Sanderson and the Ice Man made his much anticipated return to action coming on for the not so bald Chalky, before immediately going on a dazzling run passed 7 or 8 opposition defenders and his lightning fast step-overs had the opposition in knots but unfortunately the move came to an abrupt end following a bad pass from an unnamed Segga player, certainly through no fault of the Ice Man though…
Segga had a couple of further chances to extend their lead, Newby should have got his fifth but rather than tapping in the open goal tried to lay off Foz and his effort was saved on the line; Ben then had another great chance to get our eighth but unlike Lee last week couldn’t find the curl on his finesse and the finish went wide.
High Handenhold weren’t too threating with Summers having a solid game at the heart of defence and Davies making a couple of decent stops and commanding his area on crosses well but it was the Ice Man who kept the clean sheet intact when the opposition got in behind and chipped the keeper leading to Tim sprinting back towards the goal-line and doing an acrobatically ICYCLE kick to clear the danger and save his team.
Unfortunately High Handenhold did get a consolation goal late on when an intelligent flick on header from the impressive Asquith led to the opposition running down wing towards goal and the young pup Wilson slid in and brought the striker down leading to the ref pointing to the spot. A debatable penalty as he seemed to get the ball but perhaps it would have been better to stay on his feet as the striker seemed to be running out of ideas and play. The resulting penalty was met with a great save from Davies but unfortunately Segga’s #1 could do nothing with the rebounds.
The rest of the game was relatively uneventful other than some firm but fair tackling from the mesmerising Tim ‘Brahma Bull’ Asquith. The full time whistle came and it was a fantastic win for the away side and man of the match was a coin flip between Newby and Tim but scoring four and getting an assist meant Dan just edged things, leading the line brilliantly and showing that clinical touch in front of goal.
At home to Red Lion next week where Segga will look to get their fourth win from five in the league this season.
