Sunderland RCA 0 Morpeth Town 0

Aaron Brown defends successfully in the first half of the match.

Saturday, 28 September 2013

EBAC Northern League Division 1

Please click here for photos from the match.

The injury problems continue to blight the season with Andrew Brown suffering a hamstring injury and Scott Richards out with a dead leg. Liam Clough declared himself fit while Wayne Henderson was unavailable due to work commitments.

There was also the shock news that the manager Neil Hixon had stepped down from his position as manager after six years in change and whilst remaining at the club it would be in an advisory capacity on the committee. Head coach George Herd has at the same decided to retire at the tender age of 77. A press release will be issued shortly regarding this matter.

The new joint management team of David Lee and Stephen Halliday was forced to make changes for the match today. Aaron Brown returned to right back and Kris Summers was recalled to fill in the vacancy left by Henderson. Upfront Kyle Morris was preferred to Home-Jackson and John Jury moved back into a central midfield position.

RCA took advantage of the slope in the first half, but it was Morpeth who had the best of the opening exchanges. Palmer collecting the ball from Mundy sent a speculative pass forward which was won by Anderson, he crossed to the far post, but Chilton at full stretch could only direct the ball wide of the upright.

Within a minute another good move was started by Palmer, this time switching play to the left wing where Taylor crossed to Bell who was off balance and fired over the bar.

RCA produced a spell of good play of their own, Morris winning the ball in midfield slipped the ball to Edwards who in turn played the ball forward to Barton who turned and snapped a shot inches wide of the upright.

In the 20th minute Jameson was forced into an excellent save as Henderson clipped a lovely ball into the path of Chilton; the RCA keeper read the move and closed down the Morpeth forward getting a hand to the ball and then pouncing on it at the second attempt.

Morpeth were starting to boss the game but were meeting a very resilient RCA defence.

Taylor, switched wings, received the ball from Henderson, cut inside and unleashed a shot which flew high over the bar.

As the game started to open up RCA were producing some good interplay in midfield, but as soon as the ball went forward they were met by the outstanding partnership of Hall and Jewels who commanded everything.

Another surging run by Taylor ended with the winger sending in a cross cum shot which Jameson was relieved to guide over the bar for a corner.

A promising move involving Edwards and Thompson saw the ball moved down the right, then Edwards switched play to the left with a lovely ball to Callaghan but the RCA winger allowed the Morpeth defence to regroup and his cross was easily dealt with by Hall.

In Morpeth's next attack the ball was played to Anderson who headed down to Taylor and his first time effort was brilliantly saved by Jameson.

As the game progressed toward half time play was being confined to the midfield were Jury and Edwards were looking to get a foothold. Jury was making tackle after tackle in an attempt to keep Henderson quiet while Edwards was picking up the loose balls and bringing both wingers into the game.

Unfortunately for RCA Hall and Jewels continued to excel at the back for Morpeth repelling any RCA attacks.

The second period started with RCA going on the offensive and a through ball from Edwards to Morris saw the RCA front man fouled as he tried to break past Jewels. The referee awarded a free kick and then showed Jewels a straight red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity.

The free kick was taken by Edwards who fired it into the wall. The ball rebounded to Jury who crossed low into the box, but Mundy got down to smother the ball in front of Morris.

Morpeth regrouped and reorganised after this set back and when Anderson crossed to the far post for Chilton it looked like Morpeth had taken the lead but the header went into the side netting.

RCA responded with a quick break and Edwards found Jury who crossed into the box. For the first time in the game the Morpeth defence panicked and it took a great save from Mundy to prevent his own full back Palmer from scoring in his own goal.

On the hour mark a great move by RCA saw Thompson ghost past two defenders, play a one-two with Barton, then slip the ball to Home-Jackson who played it back into the path of Thompson who fired over the bar from the edge of the box.

Almost immediately Morpeth were awarded a free kick on the left which was taken quickly by Anderson to Taylor who was all by himself on the right. He took control of the ball before forcing Jameson into a superb save.    

The game was swinging from end to end with both teams guilty of wasting chances when in good positions. Anderson had two efforts both of which went wide and then Barton was clear of the Morpeth defence, controlled the ball well but Mundy was equal to the RCA strikers thunderous shot.

Morpeth's Hall was showing great strength at the back and looked to be winning every ball in the air.

When Hassan burst past two defenders and crossed from the by line the ball fell to Home-Jackson, but the RCA substitute mishit his shot and the ball was easily saved by Mundy.

In the final minutes RCA tried to press home their man advantage. Two crosses into the area by Home-Jackson were met by Barton who first set up Thompson, but he fired over the bar. Barton then set up Hassan, but Hall was able to block the shot. 

The attacks continued into the final minutes when Mundy was forced to make a terrific save from Home-Jackson.

After the 7-1 defeat 10 days ago this was a much better display by RCA. The sending off changed the game to some extent, but both teams defended well and both keepers made important saves when required.

A hard earned point for both teams today and a good start for the new management team at RCA.