Thomas Goundry clears a Newcastle Benfield corner during the second half of the match.
A trip across the Tyne to the Sam Smith's Park to play Newcastle Benfield in tonight’s EBAC Northern League Division I fixture.
The Management team was forced into making several changes to the team with Tait, Turns, Grainger and Evans replacing Lennox, King, Henderson and Johnson.
The teams lined up as follows:
Newcastle Benfield: Gordon, Errington, J Green, Robson ©, Varga, McNamara, Noble, Watts, Dibb-Fuller, Walker, Guy. Subs: Brayson, Gascoigne, Leech, N Green, G Richardson.
Sunderland RCA: Chappell, Tait, Goundry, Paul, Bowmaker ©, Hubbard, Turns, C Richardson, Grainger, Robinson, Evans. Subs; Martin, Demirep, Bell, Surtees.
A calm evening awaited the players at the start of this match.
Benfield started the game well attacking with purpose but were met by an equally purposeful rearguard action from the visitor's defence.
The first real chance of the half fell to Benfield, a long ball forward by Varga was allowed to bounce forward and was met by Dibb-Fuller but his lobbed volley was well saved by Chappell.
Two minutes later and RCA were on the back foot again this time an attack down the right, Noble switched the ball out to Watts who drilled a low shot toward goal but Chappell got down well to save comfortably.
RCA's first attacking move saw the ball played forward to Turns who played a one-two with Richards before crossing into the middle for Grainger but the youngster was well marshaled by Robson and the chance was lost.
A minute later and a good through ball from Hubbard caused a panic in the Benfield defence as Grainger moved onto the ball and this time Robson was forced to concede a corner. Robinson took the corner which he hit to the far post where Bowmaker made contact heading toward goal but Gordon collected the ball easily.
This flurry of activity was followed by some intense pressure from the home team as they poured forward. A flowing move down the right saw Green feed the ball to Walker but he mishit his shot way over the bar.
A foul 35 yards out was taken by Guy but sailed harmlessly over the bar.
The attacks from Benfield kept coming but RCA were defending excellently as a unit with the attacker constantly drifting offside. Another good move down the left by Watts almost opened the scoring as he cut inside and curled a lovely shot toward the top corner by Chappell managed to get a hand to the ball and tip it over the bar for a corner.
RCA fell behind in the 36th minute when a well weighted through ball was picked up by Guy who beat the offside trap this time and was left one-on-one with Chappell and he coolly placed the ball beyond his reach and into the bottom corner of the net.
Within five minutes it was 2-0 when a well rehearsed corner was taken short by Guy to Walker who had time to turn a drill the ball low into the six yard area where Dibb-Fuller was on hand to stab home from close range.
2-0 at half time.
The second half started with RCA on the attack through Robinson, picking up a long ball from Paul, he laid the ball into the path of Turns who fired in a low shot which was well saved by Gordon in the Benfield goal at the expense of a corner.
The game then became a little scrappy as both teams got bogged down in a midfield battle with few chances.
A good tackle by Goundry set RCA up with a chance when he played the ball forward to Robinson who squared the ball towards Evans but he mistimed his shot and the ball was cleared by Errington.
Benfield increased their lead on the hour mark when they were awarded a freekick 25 yards out; Guy drilled the ball low, through the wall and into the bottom corner of the net.
Two minutes later and it was 4 – 0. Noble found Guy free on the left, he crossed into the box for Dibb-Fuller who chested it down into the path of Watts who made no mistake from eight yards out.
Benfield were rampant at this point and it was only a matter of time before they increased their lead, a lovely through ball by G Richardson was collected by Dibb-Fuller inside the penalty area and he had time to steer the ball past Chappell for his second.
RCA continued to defend well with Goundry putting in a commendable performance along with the rest of the back four. An excellent ball forward from Goundry split the Benfield defence and when Evans crossed into the box Robinson flicked the ball towards the far corner of the goal but Gordon managed to get both hands on the ball to deny RCA a goal.
The hosts made it 6-0 with six minutes to go when a good move on the right involving G Richardson and Leech playing the ball forward to Dibb-Fuller who found Watts on the right edge of the box and his cross was slid home by Guy for his second of the night.
RCA’s Goalkeeper Chappell was injured in trying to save the shot from Guy and was unable to continue.
This was another difficult game for the young lads but some positives to take away from the game. There was some solid defending for 35 minutes only undone by some clever play by the opposition. The learning curve continues and the squad is developing slowly.
The spectator’s man of the match was Thomas Goundry who worked hard throughout until late in the game he tired. He looks like he is adapting quickly to life in the first division.
Next up is another away trip this time to Heaton Stannington on Saturday, 18 February 2023. Kick off 3.00pm.