Sacriston sporting their new sexy tracksuits entered the game known as 'Titanic Tuesday' on an excellent run of form and high in confidence.
Much of the pre-match talk was on starting the game strong and getting at The Britannia, but few would of predicted just how strong Sacriston started the game.
Within minutes Sacriston took the lead with Gav playing it wide to Tom who then played it wide to Winter; Winter took the ball in his stride and dribbled past the defender to the byline, cutting back for Luke who ended his goal drought in emphatic style by curling delightfully into the top corner.
It could have been 2-0 almost immediately after with Tom's through-ball playing Renwick in one-on-one but unfortunately his touch let him down for once. Renwick made no mistakes with his second chance on 7 minutes when a fine through-ball from Davey Wardle put the striker in on goal and Renwick kept his composure to take it round the keeper and slot into the empty goal for 2-0.
Sacriston's high tempo, pressing and passing was simply too much for The Britannia to handle at this point. This high tempo again paid off on 15 minutes as Renwick charged down the Brit centre half and managed to poke the ball to Luke who dribbled towards the goal and curled home passed the helpless keeper; another lovely finish from the wee man.
Sacriston continued to dominate the game and a stroke of luck gave the away side a 4-0 lead on 25 minutes. Dean's 70 yard clearance caused a mix up between centre half and goalkeeper at the other end, resulting in Renwick scoring his easiest goal of the season by blasting the ball into the empty net from yards out.
After the fourth goal the Brit finally started to get into the game and could have made it 4-1 had it not been for an unbelievable double save from Segga's number 1 on the 35 minute mark. The Britannia striker found himself free in the box and his strike towards goal was superbly tipped onto the crossbar by Davies, only for the ball to drop kindly to another Britannia player, Davies quickly got up and made himself big and saved the rebounds bravely with his face; a double save worthy of the great Jim Montgomery (who is apparently a personal hero of Adams).
Sacriston got their fifth goal of the game on 40 minutes as Dean passed to Davey Wardle who flicked it on cleverly to Renwick inside the box, Renwick controlled the ball and dribbled passed the last defender before firing the ball into the bottom corner, a typical Sammy Renwick strike that was too hot to handle for the keeper.
Half time came and Sacriston were absolutely delighted and won't play a better half of football again all year. Most of half-time was about keeping the high-tempo up and not letting the Brit back in the game. Unfortunately Sacriston made the worst possible start to the half.
Almost immediately after kick off the Brit centre mid picked up the ball inside Sacriston's half and powered his way through to the heart of the defence, dribbled past the last man and poked the ball over the onrushing Davies. Minutes later the Brit got their second goal when they broke down their right handside and the deflected cross found the left winger who headed over Davies and Tom couldn't get enough on it to clear off the line (probably should have done!)
The Britannia were now brimming with confidence and Sacriston's nightmare start to the half seemingly got worse when the injured Renwick had to come off and was replaced by Andy White on 50 minutes. However although the change weakened our attacking threat having Andy White join Ben and Gav in centre mid worked much better for the second half and helped to neutralise the attack for the remainder of the game. Adam Wilson also replaced Davey Wardle who was starting to tire on 60 minutes and worked well with Dean to cope excellently with the threat of the Britannia down their right hand side.
Davies was called upon on a number of occasions to deal with shots and headers from all over the park but wasn't going to be beaten and his handling was no less than perfect throughout the whole game. Sacriston defended the remainder of the game out admirably with Finch and Summers leading from the back showing their grit and determination to win every ball.
Sacriston had little threat in the second half but Luke's workrate was non-stop upfront and gave the defence some much needed rest bite for periods in the half.
Sacriston made their final change on 88 minutes with Dan replacing Tom at full back and the game was now becoming unsalvagable for the Britannia. They did pull one back with virtually the last kick of the game when their inswinging freekick was header home nicely by the striker.
Fortunately the whistle went soon after to cheers from the Sacriston team who thoroughly deserved their victory on the night. Certainly a game of two halves but Sacriston showed the fight and desire that is needed to win titles.
Man of the match goes to Davies who put on his best display since signing for the club and made some excellent saves, had great handling and dominated his box. Davies asked for a quote to be put on the website back at the club, so here it is:
"It is the greatest game I've ever played in, to be part of such a fantastic team is unbelievable #uptheclub #2-1" Very touching words Adam.
Special note goes to the Ice Man who stuck to his word and splashed out on a pint for the whole team to celebrate the victory; also reliving his paintball story involving bamboo and akimbo style guns is always a pleasure.
6 games to go now for Sacriston who will look to win all 6 and win the league title.
