Sunderland RCA 1 Penrith 1

Saturday, 21 January 2012 STL Northern League Division 1 Penalty? Tom Berj goes down inside the Penrith area, but this and other appeals went unanswered. Click here for a slideshow of photos from the match. Sky Tyne and Wear video and comment The dismal home form continues with yet another draw against a below average Penrith team who battled hard but only really created the one chance with which they scored. For all our possession we were unable to produce the quality in the final third of the pitch. Ifs and buts will not win games, if the penalty appeal had been successful would we have scored the equaliser? Never mind we are as high in the league as any other RCA team in history and teams are coming to Meadow Park to defend, we need to find a way of breaking teams down, the same way that Spennymoor do.

RCA started with the same team that had played so well against Spennymoor Town. They started the game promisingly and should have taken the lead after two minutes when Owens whipped in a corner which was only cleared as far as Oates eight yards out, but he snapped at the shot and it flew over the bar. A minute later and Owens slipped past the full back before crossing onto the head of Davison, but the striker could only steer the ball wide of the post. The windy conditions were making it difficult for both teams to control the ball and the game degenerated into a mid field battle which nobody seemed to be winning. Penrith with the advantage of the slope and the wind were unlucky not to score when Coleman cut in from the right. His shot was blocked by Jones and the ball spun to Wood who thundered in a shot which went narrowly wide. In the 21st minute a lovely move between Walton and Berj saw the latter through on goal, but his effort went well wide of the target. The Penrith team seemed to take heart from this and Gill in particular started to look dangerous everytime he got the ball. His direct approach gave the RCA defence a lot of problems and it was no suprise when, in the 28th minute he skipped past two defenders before squaring the ball to Jackson who slid the ball past the despairing dive of Atkinson. With their tails up Penrith almost went 2-0 up when Coleman picked up the ball on the right wing and held off two defenders before firing in a cross shot which went narrowly wide. The game was starting to liven up, Owens was giving Clasper a hard time on the left wing and when he went past him and pulled the ball back to the edge of the penalty area Davison was on hand to curl in a lovely shot which went just over the bar. At the other end a free kick by Ainsworth was fired over the bar. Late in the first half RCA had a penalty appeal turned down when Walton's attemped cross was charged down by Davidson. A dramatic start to the second half saw another penalty appeal turned down when a near post corner was clearly handled by Wood before he conceded another corner. Ironically RCA scored as a result of this corner, but in rather unusual fashion. Penrith scrambled the corner away and the ball was lofted upfield where the only player was Atkinson the RCA keeper, who blasted the ball back into the Penrith half, the ball fell kindly for Beasley who slid the ball past the advancing Holland. The game had turned and Penrith were encamped in their own half for long periods with only the occassional counter attack. As the second half progressed so RCA players started to get frustrated, playing long balls into the wrong areas of the pitch or straight at the Penrith defenders. Chances were mainly restricted to long range efforts which were easily dealt with by the Penrith defenders. Cuthbertson must have thought he had scored when he reacted first to a poor clearance to volley a shot low towards the bottom corner of the net but Wood was able to get a foot to it and clear. RCA forced a number of corners, but to be fair to Penrith they defended most of them with ease, acouple of goalmouth scrambles ensued but the luck was with them and the ball fell kindly for Holland. The final chance of the half fell to Davison, but he put his header high over the bar. Penrith played well in the first half and probably on the balance of play deserved to be in the lead at half time. They also defended well in the second half. However RCA had so much possession and created so many chances throughout the match that they should really have put this one to bed early in the second half.