Saturday, 5 November 2011
Northern League Division 1
This was a tough defeat against a very strong Spennymoor Town team on Saturday. The game saw the return of RCA old boys Gavin Barton and Keith Graydon, but RCA skipper Carl Beasley missed out on the chance to lead the side out against his old club, as his recurring ankle injury confined him to the bench.
Spennnymoor looked to be strong all over the field and also on the bench, which proved the case later in the game. Hicker went for a 4-3-3 formation with Scott Richards joining Brian Close and Andrew Cuthbertson in midfield while Lee Owens and Bryan Stewart worked the flanks up front in support of Andy Jennings, who came in to the side as Mark Davison pulled out in the warm up feeling ill.
The first half was a fairly even affair, RCA pushed hard down the slope, although we had one big let off at the back when Gavin Cogdon screwed wide with the goal at his mercy. Bryan Stewart had a couple of half chances, and there was a little bit of a penalty appeal when Lee Owens went down, but it was Spennymoor who broke the deadlock on 22 minutes when Gavin Barton notched well. Cue for more effort from RCA with little product and it was 1-0 to Spenny at the break.
The second half started in the same fashion with a fairly even tempo to the game, although man of the match Keith Graydon was showing his trademark long passing wide to good effect for Spennymoor and looking increasingly dangerous. The dam burst in the 62nd minute when Cogdon ran through for Spenny's second, and in quick order goals from substitutes Adam Johnston and Craig Ruddy had Spenny cruising with 20 minutes to go.
RCA to their credit kept going, but it was very much a consolation when Lee Owens scored from the spot after Brian Close was brought down by the keeper. The referee was within the spirit of the game for ignoring the keeper's foul on Close, a clear sending off offence under the current laws; sensible, but it won't have done him any favours with the assessor I bet! A very well deserved win for Spennymoor, and apologies that the regular report writer and the photographer were both missing, one getting married and the other at the opera; it's a very strange world.