Stokesley SC 5 Sunderland RCA 2

Arngrove Northern League Division 2

Saturday, 08 September 2007

Stokesley is a lovely little town, the sports club is a great set up, with fans having the choice of football or cricket to watch on Saturday, plus England later on the clubhouse telly. That's where the positives end for Sunderland RCA, as our second ever visit ended the same way as the first, with a 5-2 beating.

Stand in boss Graham Defty went with five at the back, and recalled Kevin Dixon in place of the injured Karl Jarvis, and the first half hour was entertaining as RCA came close on a number of occasions and took the lead through a well worked Andy Allen goal, following good work after a corner by Anth Laidler and Kevin Dixon.

Dean Fox saw a great strike rubbed out a few minutes later for a marginal hand ball call, but that was the end of the good news as Stokesley hit back with three goals in eight minutes to take a 3-1 lead into the break.

Within 10 minutes of the restart the game was all over as sloppy defending let Stokesley in twice more to take a decisive 5-1 lead in the game. A couple of changes at the back saw things settle down, and a scrambled Willie Crew effort gave the scoreline a slightly better look, but it was still a miserable visit to North Yorkshire, as our bad start continues.