Saturday, 1 October 2011
STL Northern League Division 1
RCA travelled across the Pennines to Penrith and returned with all three points, thus maintaining their unbeaten record and remaining top of the league. The game turned out to be a hard fought affair with not a great deal of entertaining football, but a lot of honest endeavour from both teams.
The winning goal, coming in the 58th minute, was a superbly executed header by Davison.
Although RCA started brightly they found it difficult to break down Penrith’s well organised defence and as the game settled down after 10 minutes it was Penrith who started to make in-roads into the heart of RCA defence.
A succession of corners by Penrith produced no end result but when a cross from Ainsworth was punched clear by Hoggeth the ball fell to Allison but his shot went well wide. Within a minute they had created their second chance of the game when a through ball from Bowman found Davidson inside the area but he mishit his shot over the bar.
RCA created their first real attempt on goal after 17 minutes when a high ball into the box by Ellison was flicked on by Davison to Stewart who chested the ball back into the path of Davison but his shot went wide of the target. With both defences on top the game became very scappy and there was little pattern to the game. The home team looked to be very strong in both defence and midfield but lacked the finesse up front. However it was RCA who finished the first half the strongest, A free-kick taken by Stewart caused the first real panic in the Penrith defence as they scrambled to clear, the ball fell to McGuinness on the edge of the box and he fired his first time effort over the bar. Ainsworth then produced a little bit of magic, cleverly beating a succession of RCA defenders with a great dribbling run before forcing a finger tip save from Hoggeth.
Suddenly the game had woken up and a through ball from Richards found Stewart in acres of space and his cross was met by Davison but he could not keep the ball down and his header went over the bar. A minute later and Ellison, who was starting to get to grips in midfield, sent a beautiful ball into the path of Stewart, he advanced into the area before unleashing a terrific shot which in turn produced a stunning reaction save from Holland. The resulting corner was met by the head of Maddison but Holland was again on hand to save and bring the first half to a close.
RCA upped the tempo at the start of the second half and within 2 minutes had forced a corner. Stewart took it short to McGuinness and his cross was picked up at the back post by Beasley whose clever chip beat Holland but drifted just over the bar. A minute later and Stewart ran onto a cross field ball from Jones and his powerful shot looked destined for the bottom corner until Holland somehow managed to get a hand on it and turn it away for a corner.
The moment of pure skill arrived in the 51st minute when McGuinness worked the ball to Stewart on the right, he passed the ball inside to Richards who curled the ball into the area where Davison rose to delicately steer the ball just inside the post and out of the reach of Holland. RCA were rampant now and a long throw from McGuinness found Richards who laid the ball into the path of Ellison but he struck his shot wide. McGuinness then went on a surging run which ended in a thunderbolt of a shot from 35 yards which Holland did well to keep hold off.
Penrith were reeling from this onslaught, but with Ainsworth and Coleman on the pitch they were dangerous on the break and this was shown to good effect in the 68 minute when Coleman headed into the path of Ainsworth and hit well struck shot from 25 yards out was brilliantly saved by Hoggeth.
A minute later and the two combined again, this time to set up Gray but he fired well wide of the target. To the relief of the RCA defence Coleman was replaced by Gill.
Holland was again brought into action when Walton burst into the area and drilled the ball straight at the Penrith keeper.
A lovely piece of skill by Ellison saw him tip-toe past a number of tackles on the edge of the area before finding space inside the area but his shot flew high over the bar. Holland, after such a good display, almost became the hero at the other end when his long clearance, following a RCA corner, found Davidson in space inside the RCA final third and only some desperate defending by Ellison and Jones prevented him from getting into a goal scoring position.
This type of defending is what is setting RCA apart from other teams at the moment, there are no lost causes.
A surging run by Stewart on the right wing saw him cut inside before shooting but his effort was blocked by Gray.
Both teams looked to have given their all as the game entered the last five minutes and no further chances were created.
Another hard fought win by RCA and a good display by Penrith who made it difficult for the lads all afternoon. As Mr Hixon said, “sometimes you have to grind out results and win ugly and that’s what we have done today”.