Sunderland RCA FC 2 Marske United FC 0

Strength of purpose: RCA's Phil Horsman shows the ball out for an RCA throw in.

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

EBAC Northern League Division 1

Goalscorers: SRCA: Fryatt, Barton Marske: None.

Please click here for photos from the match.

Work commitments meant that Stanger, Patton and (Andrew) Brown where unavailable for selection. Into the squad came the evergreen Wayne Henderson.

The selection of the starting eleven was further disrupted when both Nathan Wilson and Ross Wilkinson reported niggling injuries. Therefore the team reverted to the familiar 4-4-2 formation, (Aaron) Brown swapped to right back, Jury into the centre of midfield and both Baynes and Fryatt recalled as wingers.

After the excellent display in securing a point on Saturday hopes were high of adding to our points tally against a Marske United team who seem to have fallen away of late.

RCA started with their, now familiar, trademark of scoring inside the first 30 seconds of a match. From the kick off the ball was collected by Brown who slide the ball into midfield where Halliday sent a slide rule pass into the path of Fryatt who outpaced the Marske defence before rounding the keeper and slotting home 1-0 up in 23 seconds.

The lead was almost short lived as Marske moved forward and a cross into the box by Stewart was met by ex-RCA player Marshall, but he headed well over the bar from a promising position.

The next chance of the game fell to Barton, Jury won the ball in midfield and sent the ball out wide to Baynes who crossed low into the box to Barton whose shot was well blocked by Collins.

As with the match on Saturday, RCA were forced to defend in numbers as the opposition took the game to them and it took some excellent defending by Preston and Wray to keep the Marske strike force from scoring. They did so well that Carmichael was not forced to make a save in the first half hour.   

Marske were playing some good possession football without penetrating the RCA defence and for their part RCA were quick to break when the chance arose.

In the 28 minute RCA were awarded a Corner which Baynes took, picking out Barton on the penalty spot the RCA striker headed down toward goal where Hughes stabbingg the ball forward producing a great reaction save from Dean who took a knock to the head in the process.

The reaction from Marske was predictable as once again they started to play the ball about without creating a worthwhile chance although Butterworth did have a long range shot in the 42 minute which went wide of the target.

The  second half started with a flourish for RCA, Fryatt, pushed up front to replace the injured Hughes, was in the thick of the action within a minute of the restart as he ran at the Marske defence, unfortunately his final ball, meant for Barton was a little to heavy and was collected by Dean.

Two minutes later and Brown played a delightful ball forward to Baynes who played a one two with Barton inside the penalty area before striking a low drive which Dean saved supurbly.

Marske with the advantage of the slope started to make inroads into the RCA defence and a great ball in from Stewart was met by Macdonald who blazed his shot high and wide. at the other end Jury tried his luck from 25 yards out but his effort went well over the bar and a Wilson freekick was headed straight at Dean by Shields.

A mistake in the heart of the RCA defence saw a sliced clearance fall at the feet of Marshall but his shot was poor and easily dealt with by Carmichael.

In the 80th minute RCA thought that they had extended their lead when a cross into the box was headed away by O'Sullivan, the ball fell to Fryatt who set himself up before volleying the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Unfortunately the linesman ruled that Shields was in an offside position and interfering with play.

The game switched to the opposite end almost immediately when a ball into the box by Mcdonald resulted in a goal mouth scramble and the ball could have gone anywhere, as it happened Halliday took control and played out a great ball to Shields who held the ball up before playing in Brown, he returned the ball to Shields who crossed into the box where Barton made no mistake from 5 yards out.

Marske made one last effort to get back into the game but a header from Marshall and a long range effoert by Dougall didn't really threaten the RCA goal.

Another all round team performance and just rewards for the effort that they have put in. 13 points out of the last seven games is a great achievement given our predicament just before Xmas.

Some excellent performances tonight, Wray and Preston seem to be getting a great understanding at the heart of the defence and what can you say about Halliday, he is leading by example and what an example. We are also chipping in with some goals now which was a problem area before the turn of the year.

Morpeth on Saturday and I am sure that they will be trying to turn their season round. No easy games in this league.