Shildon AFC 4 Sunderland RCA FC 3

Saturday, 14 August 2010

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Sunderland RCA made a spirited fightback to push Shildon all the way in this FA Cup tie. At 4 - 1 down RCA rallied and Shildon had to dig deep at the end to secure the victory.

RCA started really brightly taking the game to Shildon who were looking to control the ball at the back, but were being harried by RCA.

In the third minute a shot from Hodgson went narrowly wide after some good work by Smith. Two minutes later a shot from Andrews was pushed over the bar by Shields.

Finch was called into action twice in as many minutes making a great save from Hodgson before blocking a drive from Kokes.

RCA were having the better of the play and ex-Shildon player John Butler was running the midfield. Against the run of play Andrews hit a speculative shot from 35 yards which dipped but went just over the bar. Kokes, latched onto a through ball from Hodgson and looked certain to score, but once again Finch pulled of a great save. This seemed to galvanise Shiildon and they started to pass the ball with more purpose; in the 33rd minute a header from Harwood went just wide of the post

The killer blow came in the 42 minute when Shildon went 1 - 0 up. RCA did not deal with a through ball from Price and Steve Johnson turned and stabbed the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

Within a minute of the start of the second half Shildon were 2 - 0 up when a cross from Garvie was converted by Harwood. The home side were playing really well and the pressure was building on the RCA defence, both Garvie and Brown had good chances to increase the lead, but it wasn't until the hour mark that Shildon made it 3 - 0 when Garvie was alleged to have been brought down in the box and Andrews made no mistake from the penalty spot.

Within a minute RCA had pulled one back when a corner was headed down by Hodgson and Keegan sliced the ball into his own net.
The three goal cushion was restored five minutes later when Brown rose unchallenged to head home an Andrew's corner.

The RCA fightback started when they were awarded a penalty when Coe was alleged to have been brought down in the box on 78 minutes and Hodgson scored from the spot.

Five minutes later Coe once again burst into the box and this time fired low into the net giving Finch no chance. In the last minute Henderson sent a looping header inches over the bar with Finch beaten.

Good Luck to Shildon in the next round against Bridlington Town FC.