Goalscorers: Larkin, Callen, Hope, Hughes.
RCA opened the scoring in the 30th second of their opening friendly of the season at Richmond. Larkin latching onto a through ball from Armstrong to steer the ball over the head of the sdvancing keeper.
RCA continued to press in the opening 15 minutes but found themselves on equal terms after 17 minutes when a mix up in defence saw Scott put into his own goal.
This gave impetus to the home team who started to look the better team.
The pre match arrangement to play 3 x 30minute periods paid dividends for the home team when early in the second period they took the lead, another mix up in the RCA defence allowed the Richmond striker in on goal and he made no mistake.
The final 30 minute period saw RCA back on top and the re introduction of Callen and Hughes caused the Richmond defence all sorts of problems.
In the 75 minute Callen equalised stabbing home from close range after a goalmouth scramble. 3 minutes later and an Armstrong freekick caught the home defence napping as he played the ball forward to Hope who fired into the far corner of the net.
Joe Hughes completed the scoring with a late goal steering the ball into the net.
All in All a decent work out, not a lot to take from the first game, periods One and Three we dominated but we were a little lacking in the second period. However there were some notable performances today from Johnnie Carr, James Armstrong and Luke Proctor with the usual reliable performances of Larkin, Jury and Callen. Match fitness is what it is all about at this stage of the season and getting minutes on the pitch.