Match reports

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Ashington was our next away trip up the A1 to play an inform team.

Further Covid problems meant that we were without Dean, Elliott, Callaghan, Griffith and Ward: while missing were Fairley, Hope and Davis adding to the problems was the fact that Errington and Agnew were recalled by their club.

Good news was that Swansbury and Preston were available as were Allen, and Best and all four started tonight.

RCA gave a debut in goal to recent signing Matthew Wilkinson.

The teams lined up as follows:

Ashington: McHugh, Kalthoeber, Gaffney, Emmerson, Coppen ©, Bramley, Taylor, Ross, Harmison, Briggs, Cowburn. Subs: Scott, Slater, Anderson, Cranston, Grant.

Sunderland RCA: Wilkinson, Allen, Carr, Preston, Swansbury ©, Hodgson ©, Leonard, Best, O’Neill, Watts, Callen.

Subs: Davison, Forster, Armstrong, Larkin, Davis.

The start of the match was delayed due to an injury to one of the assistant referees, the referee after consultation agreed to play the game with two officials.

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Tonight we welcomed our Cumbrian friends from Penrith to Sunderland LGV Park.

With mounting injuries and unavailability on the night the management team only had 14 fit players to choose from.

Injuries to Preston Davison and Hodgson and the unavailability of Elliott, and Callaghan meant there were a number of changes to the squad.

The teams lined up as follows:

Sunderland RCA: Dean, Davis, Carr, Forster, Swansbury ©,T Best, Fairley, Hope, O’Neill, Callen and Leonard.

Subs: Watts, Armstrong, Bell, Davison, Preston.

Penrith: Miller, Harker, Metcalfe, May, Hewson, Davidson ©, Storey, Law, Brown, Williamson and Errington.

Subs: Clarke, Forrester, J Best, Grandison

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Sunderland RCA welcomed Prescott Cables of the Northern Premier League to Sunderland LGV Park for this 1^st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

This is the first time that the clubs have met and unfortunately the circumstances surrounding the playing of the game meant that we were not able to offer our usual standard of hospitality especially as our visitors had travelled over three hours to get here.

The RCA management team included Nathan O’Neill in the starting lineup after a number of weeks out through injury. James Fairley, nursing a slight injury was on the bench.

The teams lined up as follows:

Sunderland RCA: Dean, Forster, Callaghan, Preston, Swansbury ©, Hodgson, Leonard, Elliott, O’Neill, Watts, Hope;

 Subs: Best, Davis, Armstrong, Ward, Fairley, Bell

Prescot Cables: Allen, Edgerton, Johnstone, McCulloch, Cooper, Jackson, White, , Korie-Butler ,Monaghan, Hamilton ;

Subs: Van-Aston, Myler, Corness, McMilan, Fleming, Staunton.

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After a week full of uncertainty surrounding football at all levels and our specific injury problems off the pitch we were finally attending a much rejuvenated Teesdale Park for this FA Cup Preliminary round match against a much changed Thornaby team who have started a massive rebuilding exercise both on and off the park in the close season.

There was a crowd of 300 to watch the match and it was brilliant to see so many familiar RCA supporters at the ground with around 50 making the trip down the A19.

The ever growing injury list has been compounded by the withdrawal of loan players and work commitments which left 11 players unavailable for selection.

This meant that the side selected was one of, if not, the youngest team ever selected for RCA with an average age of 25. The management team brought Thomas Bell into the squad. Tom played in the under’17s team which won the league cup last week.

The teams lined up as follows:

Sunderland RCA: Dean, Carr, Callaghan, Forster, Swansbury ©,Hodgson, Dorward, Elliott, Leonard, Hope, Fairley; Subs: Watts, Ward, Bell, Armstrong.

Thornaby: Konstantopoulos, Roddam, Flounder, Drummond, Frazer, Taylor, Beddows, Kenny, Murphy, Hopson © Robinson; Subs: Hannah, Gardener, Foley, Rye, Carter, McGukin.

The teams took to the pitch on a gloriously sunny day to warm applause from both sets of supporters.