Saturday 26/09/09 Sunderland Ryhope CA 3-0 Whickham

Northern League Division 2
Meadow Park
Ryhope
Sunderland
Co. Durham.

This has been described elsewhere as "men against boys" and I could not agree more. RCA, top of the division having won 8 and drawn 1 of their 9 fixtures to date, fielded a possibly weaker side than usual due to injuries, but still had more than enough to cope with Whickham's depleted young side. Special mention goes to young Scott Cresswell in the Whickham goal, who did his best to keep his side in the game.
RCA took the lead after 15 minutes when a surging run by Scott Richards left the Whickham defence in disarray, his cross found Liam McBryde at the far post and he headed goalwards, Steve Stewart made sure nipping in to head home from close range. RCA had the ball in the net when McBryde rose high above Gary Andison and headed home only for the linesman to flag for an infringement.
Late in the half a lovely cross from Stewart found Harrison Davies inside the six yard box, but he could only guide the ball onto the bar and into the waiting arms of Cresswell and a minute later the same player shot across the face of goal. McBryde had another goal disallowed when he ghosted in at the back post to score from a well taken corner. The referee awarded a freekick for a foul on the keeper. However, on the hour mark McBryde got the goal that his efforts deserved when he latched onto a pass from Stewart and although Cresswell saved the first shot he followed up and slide the ball home. Within a minute RCA were 3 - 0 up when Richards hit an unstoppable 25 yard screamer which the goalkeeper never saw.
Only some brilliant saves from Cresswell kept the score at 3 - 0, firstly a point blank save from Shields and then he saved with his feet from Stewart.

Easington Colliery 0-1 Shildon

FA Vase
Second Round Qualifying
Easington Welfare Park
Memorial Road
Easington
Co. Durham.

My first visit to Easington in nearly 44 years and I really enjoyed it. Wearside League outfit Easington battled well to keep a strong Shildon side at bay, to the point of causing a few problems for the Shildon defence towards the end of the game. A well-taken free kick from the edge of the penalty area by Andrew Johnson, well into time added on at the end, was the deciding factor. A Shildon shot which went out for a goal-kick after hitting a post after 28 seconds, could have signalled a rout.

Sunderland Ryhope CA 0-0 Crook Town

Northern League Division 2
Meadow Park
Ryhope
Sunderland
Co. Durham.

Sunderland RCA lost their 100% league record to a very good Crook Town team who more than matched them in a very competitive 0-0 draw at Meadow Park.
How often have you heard it said that 0-0 draws were predictable? Well when these two teams met they had scored 45 goals between them so a no score draw was probably the most unpredictable score line imaginable.
The game started with Crook forcing the pace and a shot from Kokes going wide. It didn’t take long for RCA to respond and it was Davison who produced a cracking shot which was well saved by Lanning.
In the 18th minute Crook looked to have taken the lead when a cross into the box was met by Olusoga who scrambled it home, but he was adjudged to be offside. Crook were piling on the pressure and gained two corners in quick succession; however they were well dealt with by RCA defence.
In the 37th minute RCA were awarded a freekick on the edge of the box and Coghlan passed the ball to Davies who crossed into the box only for Lanning to get to the ball just before the head of Davison.Two minutes later and another Coghlan freekick went inches wide with the keeper beaten.
In the 42nd minute Taylor tried an audacious shot from 25 yards which rattled off the crossbar and was cleared by Hall.
The second half saw Crook well on top in the opening 10 minutes with Kokes going close with a snap shot and Hall heading against the crossbar. The two forwards were causing all sorts of problems and only some superb defending by Wardle and Anderson kept them at bay.
In the 70th minute a corner was awarded to Crook and when the ball was delivered into the box Hall powered a header downward into the bottom corner. Somehow Mclean got a hand to the ball and turned it over the bar. A great save to keep RCA in the game.
The introduction of Richards to the midfield added something to RCA as an attacking force and they came into the game a little more. Coghlan sent another freekick inches wide and when Davis crossed to the far post Taylor was on hand to volley the ball home only to be flagged for offside.
Both teams continued to attack and to try to win the game and as the match reached its conclusion a flare up between a number of players resulted in the dismissal of Davis.
RCA will probably not face a sterner test than this one and they came through with their unbeaten league form intact. Crook will be disappointed that they did not convert at least one of their chances.

Report by Rob Jones at http://www.sunderlandrca.co.uk

Behind

I must get down to adding the match reports which are missing from the last few weeks. Just not had a lot of time recently.

Billingham Town 1-5 Consett

Northern League Division 1
Rowney Ltd. Arena
Bedford Terrace
Billingham
Cleveland.