Saturday, 24 August 2013
EBAC Northern League Division 1
Goalscorers: SRCA: Barton Spennymoor: Graydon.
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Today was one of those occasions where a draw felt like a victory. After the poor display on the artificial pitch on Tuesday, RCA were a completely transformed team, the passion was back and the desire to win was back.
Although for long periods of the match we came under immense pressure from Spennymoor Town we held firm and in the end got the result our endeavours deserved.
RCA started with the advantage of the slope in the first half and were quickly on the attack. Brown played a lovely ball into the path of Logan who cut inside before firing wide of the upright.
Spennymoor's first attack saw Phillips pick up a long throw from Jeffries before dribbling past two defenders and then unleashing a shot which Jameson did really well to parry away. Walton following up could only shoot into the side netting.
Both sides settled into the game with RCA looking to break quickly out of defence and Spennymoor playing the ball about in midfield without much in the final third of the pitch.
In the 15th minute Spennymoor were awarded a freekick on the edge of the box and Graydon, with a trademark kick, lifted the ball over the wall and goalward producing a magnificent save from Jameson low down at the near post.
RCA's next attack came when Jury won the ball on the half way line and released Edwards who hit a shot from 30 yards which was always rising and went comfortably over the bar.
The drama continued in the RCA box when Graydon found Walton in acres of space inside the penalty area, The ex-RCA player proceeded to blast the ball over the bar from six yards out with only the keeper to beat.
In the 40th minute a freekick from Graydon was headed back across the RCA goal by Walton to Davison who managed to head over the bar from inside the six yard area.
The RCA goal seemed to be leading a charmed life, but as the game entered the final minute of the first half it was RCA who were unlucky not to break the deadlock, Logan firing in a curling low shot which Jeffries managed to get a hand to and turn away for a corner.
Then in the final minute of the half a through ball from Edwards set Logan away one on one with the keeper; he took the ball past Jeffries who seemed to catch the RCA striker. The penalty appeals were dismissed by the referee.
With the advantage of the slope in the second half Spennymoor started in determined fashion and it wasn't long before the pressure in the opening minutes told on a stretched RCA defence.
A mistimed tackle gave Spennymoor a freekick 20 yards out on the left edge of the box and up stepped Graydon and, not for the first time against RCA, curled and dipped his shot into the bottom corner of the net leaving Jameson at full stretch with no chance of making a save.
Spennymoor were on top now and should really have sealed the game in the next five minute period when Phillips sent in a cross which was headed away for corner by Wardle. The corner came in and Davison headed the ball down toward the bottom corner and Henderson, as last week, tried to deflect it into the net this time it was cleared off the line by Summers and Jury made the ball safe putting it into touch to allow RCA to regroup.
In the 68th minute RCA were level. When Walton lost the ball on the edge of the RCA penalty area, Edwards sent a long high ball forward into the Spennymoor box. The ball was allowed to bounce between White and Moore and Barton slipped between the pair to slide the ball past the advancing Jeffries.
This goal spurred RCA on and they should have score five minutes later when Barton played in Goss at the far post, his cross was met by Thompson but he could not connect properly with the ball and it spun halmlessly away and was cleared by Moore.
Spennymoor brought on the artillery in the form of Gavin Cogden and he was straight in the action with a shot on the run which went narrowly over the bar, also brought into the game was Lee Kerr and he had only been on the pitch a matter of seconds when he burst into the box and looked certain to score but his shot was deflected wide for a corner.
RCA were clinging on as the game edged into injury time and there was still time for a Graydon freekick in an identical place where he scored from. This time the wall did its job and the danger was averted.
As Jason Ainsley said afer the match “We created enough chances to win four or five games at RCA on Saturday – at some point someone is going to get a hiding."
While I believe he is probably right I think that RCA played really well defensively as a team and got a deserved draw in the end. If we keep playing like this we will be ok, we showed today that we have moved on, the reaction from the players, on the back of the Durham match, was superb.