25 March 2013
Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup 4th Round
Scorer: Spennymoor: Ruddy
Both teams had a depleted look to them with Spennymoor looking to rest some players ahead of their FA Vase Semi-final 2nd leg match on Saturday and RCA with no fewer than six players cup tied.
The eventful plane journeys to and from Guernsey were the main topic of conversation prior to the match with a few players and management staff still feeling the after affect of the horrendous landings encountered.
Captain Brian Close declared himself fit to play and RCA started with two debutants, Mark Foden in goal and Ian Redman partnering Marron in the centre of defence.
RCA opened well with Gorden making a good run down the left before slipping the ball to Monson who was fouled just outside the area. Clarke stepped up and fired the freekick straight at Knight who saved easily.
Close picked up the goal keeper's clearance and played a quick one-two with Marron before setting up the RCA defender, but his tremendous drive went well wide of the target.
A quick breakaway by Spenny saw Ruddy interchange paases with Peacock and only a well-timed challenge from Redman blocked Ruddy's shot at goal.
In the 10th minute Ryan was booked when he hauled Monson to the floor following a long ball out of defence from Marron. Once again Clarke took the freekick, this time sending it high over the bar.
Guering-Lokonga was causing all sorts of problems on the left wing and when he skipped past Ellison into the box it looked likely that he would test the keeper, but Laws came across and cleared the danger with a well timed tackle.
At the other end Ruddy was causing similar problem to the RCA defence with his direct running and he was unlucky with a shot which cleared the bar.
Spennymoor took the lead in the 16th minute. A corner for RCA was cleared up field where Peacock picked up the ball and ran at the RCA defence before passing to Ruddy who made no mistake from 12 yards out giving Foden no chance.
RCA responded through Guerin-Lokonga who continued to take on the Spenny defenders at every opportunity; in the 25th minute he beat two players before cutting the ball back for McGuinness who unleashed a terrific shot which Knight did well to save.
Both young keepers where doing very well in this match and Foden was once again called upon to save from Boyd, manageing to get a hand to a shot and then recovering to dive at the feet of Peacock.
Guerin-Lokonga then had a shot which went into the side netting just before the half time break.
Within five minutes of the restart RCA were forced to bring on Shields to replace the struggling Close and reshuffle the team to accommodate.
Almost immediately Moors almost scored as Moore stepped inside Preston's challenge before firing hard and low towards goal, but Foden was able to get down and save at the foot of the post.
The game became a very scrappy affair as players started to vent their frustrations and a few mistimed tackles were duly rewarded with yellow cards.
RCA started to push forward more and more as the half wore on, but never really tested Knight in the Moors' goal and for all their possession could not find a way through a well organised defence.
It was Moors who were getting the most joy as they countered at speed and it was only some superb saves by Foden that kept the score at 1-0. One memorable one when Peacock set up Ruddy in a carbon copy of the goal: this time the keeper stood firm and produced a truely sublime save send the ball over the bar.
With a howling wind and sleet causing the conditions to worsen by the minute it was a relief to the players, officials and supporters when the referee blew the whistle to end the match.
Good wishes to Spennymoor in their endeavours in the FA Vase and also in the semi final of the League Cup against Dunston FC.
RCA showed that they can compete at this level and the position they hold in the league looks to be false, however the table doesn't lie and we now need to start turning performances into points.