Match reports

Thomas Best scores RCA's third goal of the match.

For more photos from the match please click here.

Sunderland RCA welcomed Thornaby to a very blustery Sunderland LGV Park for this EBAC Northern League Div. 1 match.

Thornaby have had an indifferent season with some good performances where results have gone against them including our meeting earlier in the season. They did, however, have a very good FA Cup run early in the season.

The RCA ground staff worked wonders to get the pitch ready for today’s match and it was a relief when the referee pronounced the match was on despite the high winds which would undoubtedly spoil what promised to be a competitive match.

After three matches with an unchanged team the management team was forced to make changes with Preston and McNab injured in Wednesday’s match and O’Neill pulling up during the warm-up so into the starting eleven came C Davis, Hodgson and Hennis.

The teams lined up as follows:

SRCA:  Dean, C Davis, Hodgson, Allen, Swansbury ©, Best, Hennis, Lawson, Davison, K Davis, Elliott. Subs: Leonard, Ezard, Slack, Moan, Dorward.

Thornaby:  Dawson, Johnson, Howes, Green, Guru, Posthill, Scaife-Wheatley ©, Rowe, Preston, Ward, Cooke. Subs: Bailey, Jackson, Chapman, Drummond, Foley.

Dylan Elliott scored RCA's third goal with a terrific strike.

For more photos from the match please click here.

Sunderland RCA travelled up the A19 to North Shields’ Daren Perssen Stadium for the first match of 2020. Having won their last two matches and with players returning to full fitness the New Year looks full of promise.

However their opponents, North Shields, have only lost once in the last 14 matches and that was by an in form Shildon team.

The RCA management team decided to stick with the same starting line-up that was successful in last weekend’s derby victory.

The teams lined up as follows:

North Shields: Purvis, Cassidy, McDonald, Ormston, New, Buchanan, Robinson, C Patton, McCarthy, Carr ©, K Patton. Subs: Campbell, Smith, Christensen, Hall, Williams.

SRCA:  Dean, Allen, McNab, Preston, Swansbury ©, Best, Elliott, O’Neill, Davison, K Davis Lawson Subs: C Davis, Ezard, Leonard, Hennis, Moan.

Match winner Stephen Callen in action during the first half of the match.

For more photos from the match please click here.

The weather gods shone for a while on “Sunderland LGV Park” and the efforts of the ground staff over the last couple of days was rewarded with a match.

RCA, without a League win since beating Thornaby on 3^rd September, were without the services of both Swansbury and C Davis who are suspended, while, Hodgson, Allen, Charlton, and Davison were all unavailable through injury. The Management team made wholesale changes to the side beaten by Spennymoor in mid-week.

It was therefore a much changed team who faced bottom of the league Northallerton Town, in came Ramshaw for his debut alongside Lawson and Hennis while Dorward moved to right back.

The teams lined up as follows:

SRCA:  Dean, Dorward, McNab, Preston ©, Lilley, Hennis, Ramshaw, Lawson, Callen, O’Neill, Leonard. Subs: Elliott, Ezard, Moan, Green, Croft.

Northallerton Town: Dawson, Hillerby, Hudson, Cheeseman, Jones ©, Pattison, Smith, Shepperd, Lowes, Murphy, Martin. Subs: Walker, Short, Howe, Coulson.

Stephen Callen, who scored RCA's equaliser, attacks late in the match.

Please click here for more photos from the match.

The RCA management team was forced into making two changes to the team who played in the mid-week defeat to Stockton Town, into the starting eleven came Lilley and Callen replacing the injured Swansbury and Davison. 

This was the fourth local derby between the two teams this season with both teams winning one, the other being a draw, so a close match was expected.

The teams lined up as follows:

Ryhope CW: Harkess, Woods, Weirs, Walker, Jones, Trewick ©, Wallace, Hotchkiss, Rae, Skidmore, Bird. Subs: Winter, Ellis, Robson, Vincent.

SRCA:  Dean, Davis, Allen, Preston ©, Lilley, Elliott, Dorward, Hodgson, Callen, Hennis, Leonard. Subs: O’Neill, Ezard, Moan, Lawson, Croft.