Saturday, 20 March 2010
Durham County Youth League
Sunderland RCA moved to second place in the league with a resounding win at home today. The result was never in doubt after early break through goals with the only concern being the heavy rain which poured heavily right on kick off time.
The home side were quick out of the traps and after five minutes Nathaniel Crinson made great progress down the right beating the full back he sent in a cross shot which keeper Joe Gillis palmed upwards and when the ball bounced on the 6 yard line, Kieran Stokoe raced in to nod home. The visitors were defending frantically and it was no surprise when the second came after 10 minutes, a ball was half cleared to defender Peter Deary who hit a great effort from 30 yards which the keeper could only push upwards and into the net. Dezze’s first of the season.
Witton Park settled down now and began to play good football in the central midfield area through Jamie Beecham and Ryan Carter, however RCA who have the best defensive record in the Youth Leagues were proving strong again and dealt with threats very comfortably. The game was all over as a contest before half time with James Alston drilling a great effort into the top corner from the edge of the box on 35 minutes after being played in by Lee Andrews. On 40 minutes Witton Park conceded a free kick which was delivered to the back post by Deary onto the head of Liam Dunn who made no mistake from 5 yards. Half time 4 – 0.
The visitors defended resiliently in the second half and were much more organised in their approach with a game plan to reduce damage limitation. RCA introduced substitutes Lewis Hatcher and 16 year old Sam Wigham for his debut on the hour mark. Wigham nearly made a dream start breaking down the right he played a one two and on beating the final defender he hit across the keeper who dove well to save on the goal-line. Consecutive corners were won by RCA and when the second one fell to James Alston on the corner of the 6 yard box he rocketed the ball back across the goal and just inside the post. 5 – 0.
Many chances were created in the latter stages and Alston rounded off a man of the match performance with a great finish when played clear he raced on to slot past the keeper for his second hat-trick in a week. RCA keep themselves in touching distance with league leaders Lumley and with 5 games left hope to push the challenge all the way.