Selby Town FC 3 Sunderland RCA FC 2

Saturday, 4 September 2010

FA Vase 1st Preliminary Round

Sunderland RCA were in action in the FA VAse against Selby Town of the North West Counties League. After 20 minutes of the game they found themselves 2-1 down and no Selby player had scored.

(Sorry for the delay in publishing this report but had gremlins in the computer and was not willing to compromise this web site.)

RCA began this FA Vase match with a flourish and almost took the lead in the opening minute when Tate had a shot well saved. RCA took the lead after two minutes when Wardle headed home a Coe corner at the far post unmarked.

In the 11 minute an Eeles cross into the box went into the net off Butler's head for an own goal.

RCA resorted, untypically this season, to the long ball and put Selby under pressure, but they did not create any chances.

Selby started to turn the screw and were rewarded when a Rhoades free kick cross was headed into his own goal by Wardle for his second goal of the game. Unfortunately it was another own goal to put Selby ahead.

A collision between Naisbett and Debnam saw the latter depart with what looked like a serious knee injury. Selby were beginning to get on top towards the end of the first half

The second half saw the game go Selby's way and it was no surprise to see them increased their lead when Wheeler found Shahin after some dreadful defending and he passed the ball to Davis to curl the ball round Naisbett.

Minutes later and Wheeler should have sealed the victory when he missed two opportunities inside a minute. The first chance went just wide when he was through one-on-one with the keeper and the second when Naisbett collected as Wheeler was sent clear. This marked the start of a flurry of substitutions as RCA tried to get something from a game that was fast running away from them. Wilkinson forced Fraser into a good save with his legs minutes after coming on. The same player forced a fantastic reaction save from Fraser two minutes later.

In the 80th minute Joe fairish was dismissed for a second bookable offence although both bookings seemed harsh in a match where there wasn't a bad tackle.

RCA upped the tempo in the final minutes and the pressure paid of in the last minute when an attempted clearance hit Tate on the head and the ball went into the goal. This made for an exciting end to an otherwise poor display from RCA.