Sunderland RCA FC 2 Bedlington Terriers FC 0

Saturday, 16 October 2010

STL Northern League Division 1

Click here a slideshow of photos from the match.

Richard Logan replaced Paul Wardle in attack as the only change to the team that took all three points at Ashington. Two ex RCA players, Steven Stewart and Richard Hodgson were in Bedlington's team to face Hicka's team today.

The largest crowd of the season so far watched an eventful and very entertaining match.

RCA showed their intent in the opening minutes of the match when a dangerous cross from Davies was headed away for a corner by Flynn. From the resulting kick the ball fell to Coghlan, who threaded the ball back to Davies and his second cross in as many minutes caused panic in the Bedlington defence and they were pleased to hack the ball clear.

Bedlington responded to the early pressure with a long range effort from Gredziak which went wide of the target.

In the tenth minute Bedlington must have thought they had taken the lead. A cracking shot from Hodgson forced a magnificent save from Hoggeth, the rebound fell to Benjamin inside the six yard area and although the leagues leading scorer hit the target, Hoggeth somehow managed to get a hand on the ball and force it away for a corner. This seemed to spur RCA on and a slick passing move between Ellison, Smith and Davies set the winger up for a shot which he blasted high and wide.

RCA were playing some good one touch football and had Bedlington chasing shadows at times.

In the 16th minute RCA deservedly took the lead when Coghlan opened up the Bedlingtom defence with an inch perfect pass and the ball fell to Davies who made no mistake from 10 yards out volleying the ball off the underside of the bar and into the net.

Bedlington almost made RCA pay for a momentary lapse in concentration when a cross from Philipson was not cleared and the ball found its way to Benjamin who headed over the bar. The response from RCA was immediate, they put together the best passing move of the match involving Ellison, Coghlan, Smith and Davies who put Logan in the clear and it took a tremendous save from Morton to deny the forward.

In the 30th minute Philipson was dismissed for kicking out at Davies after the two had tangled after a clumsy challenge by Philipson. Bedlington were forced to make a substitution with Flynn limping out of the game and being replaced by Morton.

RCA mounted a number of attacks, but could not make the pressure tell and it remained 1-0 at half time.

The second half opened with both keepers being called into action in the opening two minutes. Morton pulled off a brilliant save from a corner by Davies, with the ball heading for the top corner he managed to palm over. At the other end a cross in from Hodgson found Benjamin free at the far post and although he managed to direct the header towards the bottom corner, Hoggeth once again denied him, turning the ball round the post for a corner.

The game was starting to liven up again. Davies, cutting in from the left wing, unleashed a shot which went narrowly wide, whilse a freekick by Elliott scraped the base of the post with Hoggeth scrambling to cover.

In the 63rd minute RCA were awarded a penalty when Logan was fouled by Dixon inside the area. Smith stepped up and sent Morton the wrong way with a well executed spot kick. Three minutes later Smith had a glorious chance to seal the match when he beat Morton to a Davies cross but had to watch as his header went inches wide of the goal.

In the 70th minute Bedlington had a good shout for a penalty, but the referee adjudged that Oates made contact with the ball and awarded a corner.

There was still time for Smith to shave the post once again with a superb driving shot after he had ben set up by the influential Coghlan who by now was running the show in midfield.

As the game pettered out Bedlington offered little in the way of a threat. The introduction of Convery and Shandran did little to improve their attacking power and what they did throw at RCA was ably dealt with by the home defence. All in all a brilliant performance by every member of the RCA team.