Alan Thompson Memorial Trophy
Tuesday, 1 August 2006
This was an excellent competitive match before a good and enthusiastic crowd for the Alan Thompson Memorial Trophy. Sunderland RCA had the better of the first half, passing the ball well, hitting the bar and missing a couple of other good chances, while Niki Lawson in the RCA goal also had to be alert on a couple of occasions as Ryhope CW pressed on the break.
At half time the game was goalless, but John Butler opened the scoring for the RCA early in the second half. Ryhope CW pressed hard after this and when it looked as if their efforts were going to be in vain, Gavin McGuinness came up with an excellent lob over the keeper ten minutes from the end. There was still time for RCA to make a couple of good chances to win the game but it was not to be and it finished all square, with the trophy shared for this year, and more importantly £300 raised for local charities.