FA Vase
Saturday, 23 September 2006
Saturday's Vase trip to Hall Road Rangers near Hull saw RCA go into the game with a five man midfield supporting Willie Crew as lone striker.
The game started with RCA seeing lots of the ball, and it was soon clear that Hall Road were, as we had heard, a very direct side. The pitch wasn't great but the weather was fine, and RCA made a good start. Willie Crew had what looked like a very good penalty appeal turned down inside the first five minutes, before bad luck with early knocks saw both Barry Massey and Simon Andrews needing to be replaced within the first 20 minutes.
At half time the 0-0 score line was probably fair and RCA were right in the match. Early Hall Road pressure was weathered in the second half before a super Karl Jarvis strike on 72 minutes gave RCA the lead. The RCA defence held out comfortably enough as Hall Road pressed before disaster struck in the 86th minute as their winger was allowed to get his cross in from the bye line for the Rangers to equalise with a close range header. Worse was to come as a stray ball across the box took a wicked bounce to beat keeper Nick Lawson, who had an excellent match, to allow Hall Road to snatch the tie deep in injury time. another odd goal defeat for Sunderland RCA.