Friday, 25 March 2011
STL Northern League Division 1
Sunderland RCA took a bit of a battering at West Auckland on a dismal Friday night. With a number of forced changes Neil Hixon's men were outclassed by a far superior West Auckland team.
It had all started quite well for RCA when a cross from Walton went fractionally over Logan's head with the forward unmarked in the box.
West then took the lead on ten minutes when Nicholls played a one-two with Moffat which saw the winger in space behind the backline and he fired past Gary Hoggeth to make it 1 - 0.
They could have been two up within a minute when Banks' effort was parried wide by the keeper. Hoggeth was called upon five minutes later making a superb one-handed save to turn Moffat's shot over the bar.
RCA were level in the 20th minute when Walton beat the full back to cross into the box and the ball was headed into the far corner by Michael Dalton.
Nicholls came close to restoring that lead seeing an effort flash narrowly over the bar. RCA continued to hit on the break and should have taken the lead when Graydon was sent clear by Logan, but he shot high and wide from inside the box. Further West possession saw Banks denied by Hoggeth and then Mark Stephenson fired a free kick inches wide.
West came close to leading at the break when in the 44th minute a good spell of possession resulted in a shot from Brown which went wide of the target.
RCA’s usual failings were evident once again at the beginning of the second half when they failed to clear a corner and Maddison was on hand to scuff a shot in off the post. RCA responded with a header over the bar from Dalton after some good work between Walton and Graydon.
West started to dominate possession and when Moffat latched onto a through ball it looked all over a goal, but he fired just off target. Nicholls was twice denied by Hoggeth in the next five minutes as West looked to seal all three points.
In the 80th minute West made it 3-1 when Brown found Banks and he rifled a lifting ball over Hoggeth and into the roof of the net, from 25 yards.
RCA had the chance to pull one back 60 seconds later when Logan was brought down in the box. After a discussion between the two officials a penalty was awarded, but Graydons’s well struck spotkick was brilliantly saved by Bell.
West completed the wrought in the 85th minute when a ball from Banks to Lunn was inexplicably left by Carling and this allowed Lunn to go clear before squaring the ball to Moffat to control and tap in his 35th goal of the season.
In the dying seconds RCA had an opportunity to redeem themselves when Dalton broke into the box, but couldn’t quite find the finish he was looking for and the ball trickled wide of the target.
