Sunderland RCA FC 3 Tow Law Town 0

Saturday, 18 February 2012

STL Northern League Division 1

Super Joe! Joe Walton breaks for the Tow Law byline to make the cross for Gary Shields to open the scoring for RCA. Joe's pace and power also laid on the second and third goals.

Click here for a slideshow of photos from the match

Click here the SportsByte report on the match

Sky Tyne and Wear video of match goals

Sunderland RCA moved up to second in the League exacting revenge for the defeat they suffered at the Ironworks Road ground earlier in the season. In the end this was a comfortable victory against a team who are second off bottom in the league.

RCA welcomed two new faces to the squad with the full debut of Craig James at left back and the introduction of Robert Briggs on the bench. The pre match warm up looked to have been changed and the partnership of Shields and Davison up front really paid dividends as the oldest player on the books Gary Shields produced a man of the match performance.

After the enforced lay off due to the bad weather lately it was great to be back in action. The wind which has accompanied all but one of our home fixtures also returned making conditions difficult to play attractive football.

RCA made wholesale changes for this match, new signing James slotting in at left back, Paxton and Oates re-united to form the central defensive partnership, McGuinness was pushed forward into the left wing position and Shields was brought in to partner Davison up front.

The game started slowly, with no tempo to the game. Both teams seemed to be taking time to adjust to the bitterly cold wind. RCA created the first chance on five minutes when a cross from Walton found Davison who slipped the ball to Shields, but his shot cleared the crossbar.

As the match progressed it seemed that the RCA midfield was being stifled by the hard tackling Lawyers midfield. McGuinness created a chance for Davison in the tenth minute but the striker headed straight at Gordon.

A spark of life was injected into the game when Oates won the ball in midfield and played it to Close. He combined with Cuthbertson before sending a lovely pass to Walton who beat the full back before curling in a great cross which both Davison and Shields were inches from touching into the net.

Tow Law took inspiration from this to create their first effort on goal when Robson won the ball and played in Nixon who turned and fired in a low shot which Atkinson did well to turn round the post for a corner. Herbert took the corner and Luke Thompson, powering in at the back post sent his header over the bar.

Once again the game got bogged down in the midfield with little in the way of chances for either team and neither keeper being troubled.

RCA took the lead in the 34th minute when a brilliant piece of play saw Walton turn two defenders before crossing into the box for Shields to slam home from five yards out.

As the half progressed RCA became more dominant and the Lawyers were reduced to the odd counter attack with Nixon the main threat. RCA should have doubled their lead just before half time when Jones and Walton combined, but the final effort from Jones was easily saved by Gordon.

RCA were forced to make a substitution at half time when the injured Cuthbertson made way for new signing Briggs. The second half started with a bang as Walton raced onto a beautiful through ball from Paxton before crossing for Close to slot home in almost a carbon copy of the first goal.

It was almost one way traffic for the next 20 minutes as RCA mounted wave upon wave of attacks on the Lawyers goal. Davison headed over and Walton, bursting through fired over and Shields forced a save from Gordon. Briggs settled into the midfield slot and produced a lovely through ball to Close, the RCA captain was tripped and a freekick was awarded. Davison took charge and fired in a thunderbolt of a shot which flew inches over the bar with Gordon stranded.

The Lawyers only real chance of the half came in the 66th minute when a ball played out of defence was held up by Nixon before he played in Waters, he in turn crossed into the box and Paxton had to be at his best to turn the ball away for a corner with Nixon in close attendance.
From the corner RCA cleared up field to Shields who held the ball up before playing in Jones, his cross was met by Davison, but he could only steer his header wide of the target.

Within a minute Shield had the opportunity to sew the game up, a high ball from Oates seemed to have caught the Lawyers defence napping and Shields nipped in to lob the keeper, the ball struck the inside of the post and rebounded into the grateful arms of Gordon.

Most of the half had been dominated by RCA but Town Law had stuck to their guns and defended well. However it was a mistake in the Lawyers' defence which saw the home team extend their lead and it was once again Walton who supplied a sublime cross into the path of Shields and he made no mistake from close range.

RCA kept control of the game and saw out the final five minutes without much trouble.

This was an all round team performance that broke the hearts of the Tow Law faithful. Marske up next will pose a different threat and as with all games in the STL Northern League there are no easy ones.