This match was all about trying to gain mid table superiority with Sherburn one point above Sacriston going into the match. The match started with Sacriston on the front foot and on 5 minutes missed a great opportunity to score the first goal when Gavin McCormack’s clever pass with the outside of his left foot found Anthony Ward with time and space to shoot on the right hand side of the penalty box but his effort was saved by the Sherburn keeper.
Then on 11 minutes the game got stopped for around 30 minutes when the Sherburn player went in for a tackle with Sacriston’s Grant Boyd. The tackle was fair and not one player including the referee made a moments fuss about it but it became clear quickly that the Sherburn player was in serious pain and an ambulance was called for and the player was taken quickly from the field of play to hospital in the ambulance. The lad did break his leg and therefore the action taken at the time by all concerned was fully justified and we all hope the player makes a full recovery. Then after the referee consulted with both teams play was allowed to continue and Sacriston struggled to regain their earlier momentum.
Sherburn took the lead on 13 minutes when a hopeful long ball down field caused confusion between the Sacriston defence and goalkeeper and the Sherburn forward did well to get in between them and lob the advancing Potts in the Sacriston goal with a clever finish from just outside the box. This was a goal which should have easily been avoided from Sacriston’s point of view although it was taken very well.
The game lacked goalmouth action for much of the rest of the first half until the 39th minute mark when it looked for all the world that Stuart Fenton’s strike was heading towards the goal for an equalizer for Sacriston after beating the keeper but the Sherburn defender did well to react retreating back to his goal line to clear the shot.
Sacriston made a change at half time in personnel with Rob Draper coming on to replace Matty Rudge who had had a steady game and made a change in formation going to 4-4-2 with Ward going up front with Harrison.
Sacriston looked better for it straight away and pressed hard for an equalizer. Anthony Ward was denied a goal on 50 minutes when his shot was well saved by the Sherburn keeper.
Then after pressing hard up the field after a succession of corners Sacriston fell 2-0 behind to a sucker punch of a goal on 54 minutes. Sherburn counter-attacked from Sacriston’s corner and the Sherburn forward did well to dribble some distance with the ball past the last 2 defenders to get within 18 yards from goal from where he let fly with a shot which Potts could only get a partial hand on which didn’t stop the ball going into the net. The lad took the goal well don’t get me wrong but he was allowed to run far too far without a challenge and Potts in the Sacriston goal should have done better and would normally have saved a shot like that. This was another very avoidable goal to concede and gave Sacriston a mountain to climb to get back into the game.
From this point on Sacriston totally dominated the remaining 35 minutes or so and Sherburn seemed happy to sit back and protect their 2 goal lead. Sacriston responded well, Jacob Horner replaced Stuart Fenton on 62 minutes who had played perfectly well but we had to get as many attacking players on the field as possible at that time to try to get back in the game. When Horner did receive the ball he caused mayhem down the right hand side but the problem was we couldn’t get the ball to him enough.Grant Boyd had put some cracking set pieces in during the game by this point which ultimately counted for nothing but was threatening the Sherburn goal.
Countless times Sacriston put great attacking moves together with the final pass just going to wide or to far but we were pressing hard and high up the pitch but it was taking a while to get that first goal. Then it came on 75 minutes when Ward cleverly flicked the ball around the corner to McCormack who had came in of his left wing to shoot from 15 yards, his shot was hit hard and low into the ground and found the far right corner of the net to make it 2-1 and give him his 13th goal of the season.
Sacriston immediately made 2 changes with Gary Draper & Greg Coates replacing Michael Quinn & John Harrison and went close several times to getting the equalizer.
Then on 87 minutes it finally came after some brilliant play by Horner down the right hand side resulted in him cutting in only to be fouled on the edge of the box resulting in a free kick. Gary Draper clipped the free kick to the back post towards where Rob Draper had managed to gain a yard of space away from his marker and his header found the top corner of the net via the Sherburn keeps hand to make it 2-2.
The final 5 minutes of the game including injury time was pretty frantic. Sherburn looked like reclaiming the lead on 89 minutes when a ball over the top was seized upon by the forward and his shot was taken early but it hit the crossbar and went over a lucky escape for Sacriston however cruel it may have been because that had been Sherburn’s first attack since they scored their 2nd goal. Bryan Potts did well in some of the closing moments to come and punch the ball clear from crosses into the box.
Then towards the end Horner won Sacriston a couple of free kicks close to the Sherburn penalty box from which we threw John Harrison back on for in an attempt to get on the end of in place of the tireless Ward. This nearly worked because the ball went to him in the box but he couldn’t get under good enough control to get a shot away and the game ended 2-2.
The referee in this game a MR. Fittes I believe was absolutely first class. He constantly communicated well to the players and bench and explained all his decisions quickly and with clarity. His decision making was excellent and he was always in a good position to judge what was happening. This was a lovely contrast compared to the guy we had the week before.
Fair play to my team Sacriston who showed tremendous fighting spirit to come from 2-0 down to get a draw and it was us at the end who looked more likely to win the game. Rob Draper made a massive difference to the game when he came on as did Jacob Horner.
001960547589 Holly Crescent4512642314.0Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-GBJAX-NONEWe don’t have a game next Sunday with our next game coming on Tuesday 31st March at home against Newton Aycliffe WMC 6:00 pm kick off
