Saturday, 25 January 2014
EBAC Northern League Division 1
Goalscorers: SRCA - None West Auckland: Close, Campbell
SRCA welcomed title chasing West Auckland to Meadow Park and after their defeat at Ashington in mid-week they would be looking for a much improved performance today. RCA were without a game for two weeks and were looking to continue their undefeated start to 2014.
The pitch passed a 10:30am inspection and the match referee declared the game on at 1:45pm, although the rain that had fallen in the intervening three hours made for very slippery and boggy conditions underfoot.
RCA took advantage of the slope in the first half, but it was West who created the first opportunity when Garthwaite slid the ball to Richardson on the edge of the area, but the West front man fired well wide of the target.
West were playing some good passing football at this early stage of the game and it was causing RCA problems just trying to get a touch of the ball.
In the ninth minute Richardson picked up a loose clearance, passed the ball forward to Moffatt who laid the ball off to Richardson, he, in turn, squared the ball to Close who drilled in a powerful low shot which flew into the bottom corner of the net to record his first goal for West, ironically against his former team.
The match could have been level a minute later when Barton met a Wilson corner, but his powerful downward header was somehow tipped round the post by Nixon in the West goal.
The game had livened up and West went back on the offensive with Richardson picking up a pass from Close, cutting inside before unleashing a terrific effort which flew inches wide of the far post
RCA struck back and when a cross field ball from Brown was missed by Green and fell to Fryatt, he sent in an inch perfect low cross into the path of Patton who guided the ball into the net past Nixon, unfortunately it was, harshly in my opinion, ruled out for offside.
With 20 minutes gone West upped the tempo again and RCA were forced onto the back foot, a cross from Briggs was headed against the bar by Richardson and scrambled clear by the RCA defence. The passing and movement of West was almost unbelievable at times, especially given the condition of the playing surface.
However RCA were not finished yet, not by a long chalk and it was they who had the next real effort. Fryatt picked the ball up from Jury, slipped past his marker before sending in a cross shot which Adam Wilkinson headed inches wide of his own goal with Nixon stranded.
Moffatt had a great chance to settle the game in the 37th minute when a long clearance fell to him 20 yards out, but Carmichael produced a brilliant save, racing from his line to block the shot and collect the ball at the second attempt.
As the game drifted towards half time RCA started to push forward, but were leaving themselves open to a quick counter attack and in the 42nd minute the quick thinking of Close sent the ball forward to Garthwaite who fired wide of the target.
The opening of the second half started in bizarre fashion. Nixon picked up the ball in his area, his clearance struck Patton on the back, as the RCA forward reacted to the loose ball he looked to be fouled by Nixon inside the area and fell to the ground, the referee stopped play and awarded a freekick to West for a hand ball by Patton.
West took control of the second half as they went forward at every opportunity, leaving RCA to respond with quick breakaways.
Moffatt headed over the bar after some good work by Briggs down the left wing.
In the 55th minute a freekick by Garthwaite was headed over the bar by Adam Wilkinson, then a last ditch tackle by Ross Wilkinson prevented Moffatt from scoring. This was immediately followed by more pressure as Richardson once again rattled the woodwork with a great header.
Although under massive pressure RCA were still in the game at 1-0 and Ross Wilkinson almost restored parity when he rose unchallenged to a Wilson freekick but his header went over the bar.
At the other end Close released Briggs who shot low and hard toward goal but Carmichael proved to good for him with an exceptional one handed save.
In the 80 minute a good piece of play by Jury and Brown released Hughes who controlled the ball but before he could get in a telling shot Green somehow got acroos to block the ball at the expense of a corner.
Carmichael was called upon a minute later as substitute Banks twisted and turned inside the area before shooting into the arms of Carmichael. There was even time for another substitute Byrne to get in on the action with a long range effort that Carmichael dealt with somewhat dismissively.
Unfortunately for Carmichael and RCA, West's other substitute Campbell did get on the score sheet in the 92nd minute when Carmichael made a terrific save from Briggs, but the ball fell to Campbell five yards out and he made no mistake.
After the match both managers were interviewed by Ray Simpson: West manager Peter Dixon said; “I think we should have scored more goals, but their keeper had a blinder. We couldn’t make the game safe until late on, and there was always a risk that we could leave the back door open.”
Sunderland RCA manager David Lee said; “We were always in the game at 1-0, and if we’d taken one of our half chances, then we would have caused them problems. But keeper Jonathan Carmichael and defenders Ross Preston and Ross Wilkinson were excellent.”
Next up Penrith at Home on Tuesday. However, the weather forecast for the next few days is for RAIN followed by RAIN followed by more RAIN with a possibility of SNOW.