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Redcar Athletic 1 Sunderland RCA 3

Submitted by Simon Mears on Sunday, 18 September 2022
Saturday, 17 September 2022
Northern League 1

Thibault Charmey in action during the second half of the match.

More photos from the match are here.

After three league wins in a row, Sunderland RCA travelled down the A19 to take on Redcar Athletic looking to extend the run to four matches and continue to push up the league table.

RCA named an unchanged starting Xl from the 1-0 win at Whickham last time out.

The teams lined up as follows:

Redcar Athletic: Norton, McGucken, Farrington, Young, Dale, Guru, Smith, Rivis (c), Coleman, A Conway, Walker. Subs: S Conway, Holdsworth, Clarkson, Thompson, Duff.

Sunderland RCA: Marrs, Allen, Charlton (c), Jakab, Hall, Patton, Charmey, Moan, Annang-Colquhoun, Fryatt, Morris. Subs: Bennett, Lavery, Guy, Lawrence, Richards.

Prior to kick-off there was an impeccably observed minute's silence and playing of the National Anthem to mark the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll. 

The match got under way in glorious sunshine, with the playing surface in immaculate condition. 

In the opening minutes, Redcar took the game to the visitors, but without troubling Marrs in the RCA goal. On the quarter hour mark Athletic missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring - a low cross from the left found Young with time and space but he side-footed the ball over the crossbar from eight yards with the goal at his mercy. 

Midway through the first half, RCA were forced into an early substitution, with Moan limping off and being replaced by Bennett. A minute later and Bennett almost made an immediate impact, threading a good ball through to Fryatt, but his goal bound effort lacked power and was comfortably saved by Norton. 

Redcar then had a couple of efforts of their own - first, a corner from the left was headed narrowly over by Walker. Then a super cross from the right by McGuckin was headed clear at the far post by Hall under pressure.

In the 42nd minute RCA took the lead, and what a goal it was. An RCA attack down the left was broken up and the ball was half cleared to Patton - who was at least 30 yards from goal - and he fired in an absolute piledriver, which flew past Norton and almost burst the net.

The visitors were well on top now and almost doubled the lead a minute later when Charlton fired in a shot from the apex of the penalty area, which took a deflection and went narrowly wide of the far post and out for a harmless corner.

RCA were not to be denied a second goal, however, and in first half stoppage time Annang-Colquhoun played the ball out to Fryatt on the left. He drove into the penalty area and played in a lovely low cross into the six-yard area where Annang-Colquhoun was on hand to take the return pass and guide the ball into the net for a well-worked goal.

Half-time: Redcar Athletic 0 Sunderland RCA 2

The second half began with Athletic having the first effort on goal when Walker fired in a long range shot which was comfortably held by Marrs. A minute later and Young fired in a shot which cleared the crossbar. In the 56th minute the home side had another chance but Walker's low shot was well blocked by the outstretched foot of Marrs. At the other end Bennett played in Fryatt down the left, who cut in and forced a good save from Norton.

On the hour mark RCA scored a third goal - Morris and Annang-Colquhoun combined well down the right before Morris fired in a close range shot which produced a brilliant block from Norton. The ball rebounded up into the air and Morris was first to react, heading the ball into the unguarded net.

Four minutes later and it could have been four when Bennett dispossessed an Athletic defender but once again Norton pulled off an excellent save to turn the ball away for a corner. 

With just 15 minutes remaining the visitors were heading for a comfortable 3-0 win, but Athletic were given a lifeline in the 77th minute when a good cross from the right was superbly chested down and half-volleyed into the opposite corner by Holdsworth. Five minutes later and Fryatt had a great chance to put the match beyond doubt as he raced clear from a through ball from Annang-Colquhoun but Norton again denied RCA with another good block. 

There was still time for a late surge from Athletic as Walker fired a shot just over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area. Then Lavery made a vital clearance near the goal line from a low cross. And finally, Marrs made a good diving save to his left to deny a curling effort from Holdsworth to secure the win for RCA in an entertaining match.

A fourth league win in a row takes us up to seventh place in the table. And good to see the goals being shared around the squad so far this season, with three different scorers in this match.

Next up for RCA is a big match in the FA Vase when Bishop Auckland are the visitors to Sunderland LGV Park on Saturday, 24 September. Kick-off is at 3pm.