Sunderland RCA welcomed, Northern Premier League, Shildon to Sunderland LGV Park for this pre-season friendly.
The Management team would be looking for a positive reaction from the players after the midweek defeat at Willington.
RCA lined up as follows:
Ball, Carr, Thompson, Carling, Errington, Hawkins, Coghlan, Hennis, Davison, Annan-Colquohoun, Johnson Subs from: Fairley, Best, Wilson, Lennox, Taylor, Partridge, Moncur and Herdman.
RCA took advantage of the slope in the first half but it was the visitors who started the better pinning the RCA defence back with their slick intricate passing game.
As the game settled down Hawkins and Hennis were starting to get to grips with Shildon’s midfield system and RCA started to create more.
The home team took the lead when Johnson cleverly intercepted a pass with his head, ran on to the loose ball before sending a cross-field pass to Davison, who controlled the ball before drilling in a low shot which took a slight deflection on its way into the net.
Shildon responded and were level within 10 minutes when a neat ball forward on the left was crossed into the box and although the RCA defence looked to have cleared the danger the ball bounced out to Greulich Smith who smashed the ball through a crowd of players into the far corner of the net.
It remained 1 – 1 at half time.
Best and Fairley joined the fray at the start of the second half replacing Annang-Colquhoun and Coghlan.
The visitors took the lead in when Moore played a delicate ball forward and it was helped on into the path of Thexton who clipped the ball over the advancing Ball and into the net.
RCA started to play a more direct style of football as they looked for the equaliser and it duly came when a lovely weighted ball forward from Carling was headed on by Davison to Hawkins who outpaced the Shildon defence before crossing into the box where Johnson was on hand to guide the ball into the net from inside the six yard box.
Inside the last 20 minutes and both teams made changes bringing on fresh legs and giving players minutes on the pitch.
RCA took the lead with the best move of the match and possibly the season. Hawkins broke up a promising Shildon move intercepting a cross on the edge of his own box, chesting the ball forward he glided past two challenges before carrying the ball into the oppositions half, he then switch play with a wonderful cross field pass to Fairley who cut inside his marker before returning the ball back to Hawkins who had continued his run towards the Shildon penalty area where he laid the ball into the path of Johnson who curled a sublime shot into the top corner of the net to make it 3-2.
This was a much better performance than the one witnessed on Wednesday at Willington. Consistency in performances is what should be aimed for now and results will surely follow.
The season starts next week with a local derby against Ryhope CW at Sunderland LGV Park kick off 3.00pm.