Ton-up: Captain Greg Swansbury scores RCA's 100th goal of the season. Photograph: Simon Mears.
Sunderland RCA have scored one hundred goals in the current season. The milestone came when RCA captain Greg Swansbury reduced the deficit in the second half of the match at Marske United on 8 April.
This is the second successive season that RCA have topped a century of goals - last season RCA ended the season with 106 goals - 73 in the league and a remarkable 33 in the cup competitions.
Similar to last season, this season’s tally has been bolstered by good runs in the FA Vase and League Cup - including five-goal hauls at Esh Winning and Whickham, as well as the amazing ten goals at Washington in the league!
The last time RCA scored 100 goals in the league alone was the magnificent 2011-12 season when we finished 4th and came very close to winning the league - tiring in the final furlong, to use a horse racing analogy. In that 2011-12 season, RCA scored 106 league goals in a total of 131.
As would be expected, it’s the forwards who have scored the bulk of the goals - with RCA’s four main strikers this season netting 60 of the 101 goals scored to date: Colin Larkin leads the way (22), closely followed by Stephen Callen (19), John Butler (10) and Liam McBryde (9). The remaining 41 goals have been shared between 14 scorers (and one own goal!), with Michael Charlton (8) the top-scoring non-forward player.
RCA’s full list of scorers this season, upto and including Jarrow Roofing at home, is as follows:
Colin Larkin - 22
Stephen Callen - 19
John Butler - 10
Liam McBryde - 9
Michael Charlton - 8
Jonathan Davis - 5
James Cassidy - 4
Greg Swansbury - 4
Ross Preston - 3
Callum Hassan - 3 (now at West Auckland Town)
James Armstrong - 2
Clayton Davis - 2
Brad Forster - 2
Kieron Martin - 2
Mark Robinson - 2
Adam McGuinness - 1
Ross McNab - 1
Steven Stewart - 1
Own Goal - 1
Northern League: 40 matches - 79 goals
League Cup: 4 matches - 14 goals
FA Vase: 4 matches - 7 goals
DCC Cup: 1 match - 1 goal
FA Cup: 1 match - No goals
Total: 50 matches - 101 goals
I’m not great at maths, but it’s fairly clear from the above stats that RCA have averaged a very healthy two goals per match so far this season - including in the Northern League.
In those 50 matches, RCA have failed to score on just six occasions, and have kept a very respectable 12 clean sheets.
With only two matches of the season remaining, opportunities to add to the total are limited, but let’s hope Larks can reach 25, or Stevie can get to 20, or Charlo can reach double figures - all three would be brilliant!
See you at Consett.