The first game of the premier league season had arrived and Sacriston WMC couldn't have asked for a tougher test against last season's runners up Newton Aycliffe WMC. Beautiful conditions for playing football meant the lads were all up for this exciting season opener and it proved to be a good match. Manager Forster made a couple of changes from the previous win against Red Lion, Lee Renwick moved to right back to cover for the unavailable goal machine Aaron White, and Sam Fenwick took Lee's place on the wing.
The game started very competitively and it could be seen immediately how fast the game was going to be. After a series of long balls, Aycliffe won an early corner. They took a short one which caught Sacriston out, and the cross into the box was flicked on towards goal. Keeper Davies coould only manage to punch the ball to the feet of an Aycliffe striker who controlled well before lashing a volley into the roof of the net to give them a 1-0 lead - not the start Sacriston had in mind.
Despite this early blow, it was Sacriston who started to control the game and were causing a few problems however clear cut chances were hard to come by against a very organised Aycliffe defence. Winter and Wardle both had speculative long shots but this was about as good as it got in terms of chances for Sacriston. The work rate from the team after going a goal down was fantastic and every player was giving their all for the cause.
On 35 minutes Aycliffe could and perhaps should have made it 2-0 when an unfortunate Sacriston clearance landed at the feet of the Aycliffe striker, and with the goal at his mercy he somehow scuffed his shot which trickled into the hands of Davies.
As half time came, manger Forster and assistant manger Summers were confident that the lads could get the equaliser their work rate deserved. The second half began and after a couple of corners from Aycliffe, it was Sacriston who were on the front foot. On 55 minutes Sacriston had probably their best chance of the game when Davey Wardle played a perfectly weighted through-ball to David Winter who found himself in on goal but his shot was dragged wide when he perhaps should have scored.
On 60 mins Aycliffe had a good headed effort on goal but Adam Davies was on hand to make a smart stop to prevent the striker from scoring his second of the game.
Aycliffe looked dangerous on the counter attack but the immense Michael Finch and Dean Smith coped with everything that was thrown at them. Sacriston pushed for the equaliser and almost found it on 75 mins when Adam Wilson played in a perfect free kick across the face of the goal but the jaw-droppingly handsome Chris Mordue just couldn't quite get his beautiful right foot onto the ball which would have been a certain goal. Ryan Bell came on for Sam Fenwick and injected a bit of pace into the team and Gavin Bowen replaced the legend Gav Richardson but unfortunately time was running out for Sacriston.
Sacriston continued to try everything but unfortunately came up short and the full time whistle was blown. An unbelievable peformance from Fozzy's Flamingos pushed a top quality side like Newton Aycliffe right until the end. Man of the match was awarded to Ben Sanderson for his all action performance in centre midfield that typified how Sacriston played on the night. Michael Finch and Dean Smith also had fantastic games at centre half, with Adam Wilson and Lee Renwick looking solid either side of them. Sacriston will take great confidence from this performance and look to build on it for the rest of the season - it was just a shame they could not take any points from the match. Manager Shaun Forster commented how delighted he was with the work rate and effort of his team and that they must take that attitude into every performance if the team are to enjoy a successful season.
