Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Ebac Northern League Division 1
Goalscorers: SRCA: None North Shields FC: Morris, Wrightson, Holmes.
Only one change for this ENL First Divison match against newly promoted and highflying North Shields. Into the team came leading scorer Barton replacing Kyle Morris.
RCA were undeafeated under the new management team of Swaz and Gee, before tonight's match and optimism was high for the run to continue. North Shields have set the first division alight with their start to the season and the fans were expecting an easy three points tonight.
From the start both teams looked to attack, RCA in the opening minutes created the first chance when a ball from Jury found Barton in space but the RCA striker fired over the bar.
North Shields first attack came when Morris latched onto a long ball from Parker, passed inside to Walker who fired in a low drive which Carmichael did well to save low down to his left before Brown cleared up field.
Morris was causing problems for the RCA defence with his pace and in the 15th minute he dribbled his way into a shooting position, but Carmichael was quickly off his line to smother the shot.
RCA were back on the attack in the through Callen, the winger picking up the ball on the half way line before slipping inside past two defenders and unleashing a wickedly dipping shot which Bannon saved brilliantly, tipping the ball onto the bar. In the goalmouth scramble that followed both Hughes and Charlton had shots blocked before Walker cleared the danger.
Once again Shields moved the ball forward and a quick one two between Morris and Luccock resulted in the latter firing in a shot which Carmichael saved.
Minutes later and RCA rattled the Shields bar again this time Gary Wood won the ball in midfield before crossing into the box where Barton rose above everyone to head onto the bar and the rebound was cleared by Elliot.
In the 38th minute Hughes had to leave the field with a groin/hip injury and he was replaced by Austin-Wilson.
Within a minute Austin-Wilson had a great chance to open the scoring when a cross cum shot from Callen struck the bar and the ball fell to the substitute, but his shot was blocked and cleared, the resulting cross from Callen was collected under pressure by Bannon.
The second half saw North Shiedls raise the pace of the game and RCA seemed to struggle to come to terms with it.
A long ball to Luccock seemed to be cut out by Carmichael but his clearance fell straight to the Shields winger who managed to fire the ball over the bar with an empty net beckoning.
However it wasn't long before the home team took the lead, a slick move through midfield saw the final ball slipped through to Morris who broke past the RCA defence before firing past Casrmichael.
North Shields increased the pressure and Luccock was now causing problems on the right and it was his cross which Carmichael could not hold andthe ball fell to Wrightson who volleyed home from two yards out.
RCA's only response was from a corner which Barton headed over the bar. However there were signs that RCA were getting a foothold into the game with 20 minutes to go.
Unfortunately in the 75th minute, RCA lost the ball deep in Shields half and the ball was played forward quickly to Holmes who broke forward before slotting the ball into the bottom corner finishing the match as a contest.
North Shields continued to break forward quickly and although they had the ball in the net again it was ruled offside and the game ended 3-0.
This was a wake-up call for RCA. Although they played well for 45 minutes and auguably could have been 2-0 up they were completely over run in the second half by a very pacy North Shields team.
Next up Bedlington Terriers which is going to be another hard match against a high flying team.