26 February 2012
EBAC Northern League Division 1
Goalscorers: Celtic Nation: Archibald, Skinner, SRCA: Kane.
The long trip to Celtic Nation produced no points for RCA but the team did show signs of improvement with a strong defensive performance.
It could be argued that the goals could have been prevented but all three goals in this match would have been worthy of winning any other Northern League fixture.
The only disappointment of the night apart from the result was the lack of a crowd, it must be so frustrating for the committee of Celtic Nation, who have spent a fortune on ground improvements etc., to be playing in front of less than 50.
In the early stages of the match Celtic Nation took the game to RCA who looked to be coping really well. However, in the 6 minute, with Marron recovering from a knock, the ball was knocked long into the path of Douglas who beat two defenders on the by-line then somehow managed to squeeze the ball through to Archibald who lashed the ball low into the bottom corner of the net.
RCA recovered from this quite well and started to produce some good football up to the final third when they were thwarted by a resilient Celtic Nation defence.
Celtic nation were awarded a freekick 25 yards out and Skinner fired inches wide with Shields confident that it was going there.
A long range effort from Close had the Celtic Nation keeper scrambling to make the save before Douglas went on another great run but was denied the shot as Preston made a last ditch tackle.
Douglas was causing a lot of problems playing in a free role and able to attack at will, in the 38 minute he had a shot saved by shields and the follow up shot by Reed struck the post before being cleared up field.
Back came Celtic nation two minutes later and a dribble and cross from Reed found Douglas but he shot well wide.
Having withstood this mini revival by Celtic Nation, RCA came back and a great move between Guerin-Lokanga, Cutts and Clarke ended when Skinner intercepted the final pass.
In the 42 minute RCA were back on level terms when a sweeping move by RCA saw the ball switched to Close on the right wing and his cross was headed down by Guerin-Lokonga into the path of Kane who swept the ball into the top corner.
At the start of the second half it was Celtic Nation who looked to be in the ascendancy and RCA were forced to defend deep although they didn't look to unsettled by the Celtic Nation forwards.
They came closest in the in the 66 minute when a run and cross by Archibald was missed by three players but fell at the far post to Douglas who fired wide with the goal at his mercy.
The winning goual when it came was scored by player manager Skinner, picking the ball up on the half way line he was allowed to carry the ball forward 10 yards before unleashing a swerving, dipping shot into the top corner of the net.
Within minutes RCA almost equalised when Close clipped the ball forward and Kane latched onto the ball before firing goalwards, the ball struck the keeper on the shoulder as he charged off his line and the ball rebounded out of play.
Both teams huffed and puffed without really creating much in the way of chances in the final 10 minutes.
You always know when you have watched a decent game when you look at your watch and there is only a few minutes remaining when you thought there was 20 minutes left and this is how this game was.
Not breathtaking brilliant but very workmanlike and entertaining.