Tuesday, 1 February 2011
League Cup Third Round
Sunderland RCA travelled to Filtrona Park in the third round of the League Cup for their second of three meetings with neighbours South Shields scheduled in recent weeks.
RCA manager Neil Hixon made a number of changes to the line-up that won at Dunston UTS last week. In came Steve Jones, John Toft and Harrison Davies for Carl Beasley, Keith Graydon and Martin Smith, who did not travel, while Michael Dalton was given his debut with Scott Richards dropping to the bench.
It was a bright opening to the game with both sides looking to attack from the off. The first sight of goal fell to RCA in form Richie Logan who dragged his shot wide from just outside of the box.
RCA opened the scoring after 12 minutes with the first flowing move of the game. A slick passing spell moving the ball out of defence was orchestrated by Paul Talbot, Chris Smith and Davies on the left. Davies fed the ball inside to Logan who turned to face the South Shields back four. With the South Shields defence backing off Logan chose to carry the ball. Beating the first man and gliding into the box Logan squared the ball to Dalton on the 18-yard line and the midfield placed his shot into the bottom corner.
A fully committed challenge between Joe Walton and South Shields centre half Niall McArdle in the early stages had resulted in the RCA wide man picking up an injury. Walton had tried to run the knock off initially but after a period of restricted movement he was replaced by Paul Taylor.
RCA showed more of the attacking impetus of the two teams in the opening half hour, Logan in particular looking threatening, but neither side fashioned a clear opportunity.
South Shields should have equaliser when James Oates misjudged a long ball over the top. Chris Winn outpaced the centre half getting in behind the defence, but RCA goalkeeper Gary Hoggeth was quick to react, darting quickly off his line he dived bravely at the feet of Winn to protect RCA’s lead.
South Shields got back on level terms just before the interval. A perfectly floated corner from the right hung invitingly for ex-RCA defender Daryll Hall to head the home side level at the break.
South Shields came out the second half looking for a second goal pressing RCA for long periods, but some stoic defending from the RCA back four denied South Shields any clear goalscoring opportunities. South Shields did manage to hit the upright twice from long range in this period. First Winn, picking the ball up deep, shifted it onto his right and unleashed a 25-yard strike that clipped the top of the crossbar. Then, substitute Dan Olusoga shifted the ball past Talbot and fired a powerful strike towards Hoggeth’s nearside that the RCA keeper was able to deal with, tipping the ball onto the post.
RCA had played on the counter for much of the second half, but in the final stages, knowing one goal could win it, they began to attack with a bit more adventure. Looking comfortable in possession, as they had done for most of the game, RCA switched the ball out to Taylor on the right. With Steve Jones on the overlap Taylor brought Smith into play. Smith picked his pass, finding Jones’s run behind the defence, and the full back latched onto the ball in the box. Cutting back onto his left Jones curled a ball to the back post that had South Shield goalkeeper Josh Carmichael beaten, but was cleared away by the covering defender off the line.
RCA’s winner came in an extended spell of pressure in the final 10 minutes. After controlling possession on the edge of the South Shields box Davies, popped up on the right, picking up the ball. With the ball bouncing and a defender in close attention Davies wrapped his foot around it and his audacious attempt arched over the scrambling Carmichael into the top corner.
It was a poor tie with many periods of scrappy play, but RCA eventually got the win to move into their second Quarter Final of the season, knocking out the holders in the process.
