John Jury shows the determination found throughout the side in the second half come back.
Saturday, 23 November 2013
EBAC Northern League Division 1
Goalscorers: SRCA: Patton, Barton: Benfield: Stephenson, Bowey.
Please click here for photos from the match.
With a number of players unavailable for various reasons the management team were forced into team changes for the visit to Newcastle Benfield for this EBAC Northern League match. The late withdrawal of Daniel Wray due to a family bereavement was unforseeable and meant a phone call to Wayne Henderson, who confirmed his attendance immediately. Further calls to Hassan and Shields meant that we at least had a full bench.
Benfield started well and as early as the second minute full back Riley sent a long diagonal ball through the RCA defence and into the path of Brayson who controlled the ball brilliantly, but fired wide of the target.
However in the eighth minute a through ball from Luccock once again split the RCA defence and this time it fell to the feet of Stephenson and he made no mistake from 12 yards blasting the ball past Carmichael.
RCA looked to get on the front foot through Patton and Barton and the combination set up the visitors first chance of the half as a loose ball fell to Patton but he shot straight at Grainger.
Benfield started to dominate and when Clough completely missed a defensive header the ball fell to Stephenson who tried to square the ball to Brayson but Jury was alert to the danger and cleared up field.
Two minutes later and another defence splitting pass from Riley found Luccock in acres of space. The winger took the ball forward before firing in a shot which Carmichael managed to block. The ball fell to Horsman who, in clearing the ball up field, hit his own team mate Stanger full in the face. Although he continued for a few minutes, it was clear he was not fully fit and was replaced by Morris.
As the half hour approched RCA had their best spell of the first half. First, Patton's cross into the box was intercepted by Grainger with Barton bearing down on the goal. Then a minute later a quick throw in by Wilson was flicked on by Barton into the path of Fryatt who fired into the side netting, then, moments later, the little winger latched onto a loose ball from Carr but could only watch as his chipped shot fell onto the roof of the net.
Back came Benfield with a spell of sustained pressure which resulted in a string of freekicks being given away. In the 38th minute a freekick on the edge of the box was taken by Bowey, Carmichael produced a great save at the foot of the post, the ball rebounded to Luccock who fired in a shot which the keeper saved from point blank range, unfortunately the ball looped up in the air and Bowey was the first to react heading home from close range.
RCA started strongly in the second period. Fryatt, in trying to go past his marker, was fouled and the resulting freekick from Wilson caused panic in the Benfield defence and only a block from Carr stopped Patton from scoring.
In the 53rd minute Morris intecepted a poor pass, crossed the ball into the area where Patton laid the ball off for Barton to thunder in a shot which went narrowly wide.
Two minutes later and RCA were back in the game. This time Brown broke down a Benfield attack before sliding the ball to Morris who produced a defence splitting pass to Patton. The RCA striker deftly chipped the advancing Grainger to make it 2-1.
The tide was starting to change in RCA favour and Benfield were restricted to the odd breakaway with Stephenson still looking dangerous.
Another great tackle from Brown won the ball in midfield and he again gave it to Morris who crossed into the area for Fryatt who's deft flick was picked up by Patton and the striker was denied his second goal by a good save from Grainger.
As RCA exerted more pressure it took some good defending to keep the score at 2-1 to the home team.
In the 65th minute a ball into the box by Wilson was won by Barton who headed teh ball into the path of Jury and he fired in a low shot across the face of goal but wide of the upright.
RCA didn't have to long to wait for the equaliser which had been threatening for the last 10 minutes. A long clearance up field was not defended by Carr and the ball landed at the feet of Barton. RCA's leading scorer made no mistake from 10 yards blasting the ball past Grainger.
Two minutes later and Benfield could have retaken the lead. A cross into the box was headed away by Preston and cleared out by Brown, but it fell invitingly to Slaughter who fired in a cracking 35 yard screamer which rebounded off the crossbar and away from danger.
In the final minutes of the game RCA nearly snatched victory when Patton fired in a shot which was saved by Grainger, the ball rebounded to Fryatt who tried to hammer the ball into the net, but it was blocked on the line by Turnbull.
The remainder of the game got a bit scrappy with no real chances for either side.
After a very poor first half RCA produced one of the best performancs of the season in the second half. The transformation was almost unbelievable as they took charge of the game and almost won it.