Thomas Goundry clears the ball during the first half of the match.
RCA welcomed Crook Town to Sunderland LGV Park for this afternoon’s EBAC Northern League Division I fixture. After an early morning pitch inspection the pitch was deemed playable.
The management team were forced to make three changes to the starting 11 with Callen (previous engagement), and both Trewick and Brown (work commitments) unavailable for selection. Into the team came Goundry, Fenton and Hodgson.
The teams lined up as follows:
Sunderland RCA: Wilkinson, Davis, Turns, Lennox, Goundry, Hodgson ©, Leonard, Larkin, Pinder, Fenton, Ene. Subs: Bowmaker, Herdman, Robinson (Foster), Yusef.
Crook Town: Makepeace, Garritty, Pascoe, Mitton ©, Lazenby, Gardiner, Moody, Havelock-Brown, Hewitson, Brown, Bewley. Subs: Walker, Boughey, Armstrong, Pilling, Lee.
The game kicked off in lovely sunshine with the home team attacking the Cemetery end of the ground.
Crook started the game well and had an early chance when a long ball forward by Lazenby was picked up by Hewitson who drove forward but his shot went wide of the target.
This should have been a wake-up call for the newly formed RCA defence, but in the 6th minute another long ball forward by Gardiner caught out the RCA defence and a suspiciously offside looking, Hewitson ran through to slot home past Wilkinson in the RCA goal.
RCA looked to get back in the game and a good move up the left by Larkin and Hodgson released Ene on the touchline, he cut inside his marker before crossing into the box where the ball was cut out before it reached Pinder and the danger was cleared.
Crook responded immediately through Moody on the right, he took the ball outside of his marker before hitting a low shot which was blocked by Goundry and the ball went out for a corner. The corner was cleared but only as far as Gardiner who hit a long range effort straight into the arms of Wilkinson.
Crook increased their lead in the 16th minute when a clearance by Mitton looked to be easy for Hodgson to head clear but he was barged into by Gardiner and as they fell to the ground Hodgson sustained a cut to his head, the referee allowed play to continue and the ball was crossed into the box where Hewitson was on hand to shoot past Wilkinson.
Despite being 2-0 down RCA looked to push forward and when Hodgson played the ball out to Leonard the winger found space on the right to cut the ball back into the penalty area but Gardiner was able to cut out the cross before it reached Fenton. The resulting corner was met by Pinder but he could only direct his headed wide of the target.
The game became very scrappy with the game bogged down in a midfield battle, Crook despite their advantage were making hard work of creating any clear cut chances while RCA were finding it difficult to keep hold of the ball.
There were only two further incidents in a fairly non-descript first half, a snap shot from distance by Bewley which had Wilkinson scrambling to make a save diving to his left and in the final minutes of the half a break by Larkin ended with a tame shot on target which was easily saved by Makepeace.
Hopefully the second half would produce something better in the way of attacking football from RCA.
Whatever was said at half time worked with RCA pressing forward from the opening minute of the second half, Ene and Leonard had swapped positions and the transformation was immediate. An Ene through ball was picked up by Leonard and although his shot slid past Makepeace it drifted wide of the post.
Within minutes a long ball forward from Hodgson was flicked on by Larkin and Leonard latched onto the loose ball but scooped his effort over the bar.
Leonard in his new position was causing problem and on the hour mark he beat his marker to cut inside before striking a ferocious shot which hit Lazenby on the side of the head and it went out for a throw in.
Turns, who was having a good game at left back, created Leonard’s next chance with a skillful through ball which Leonard picked up about 25 yards out and again hit a low shot which Makepeace did well to keep a hold of.
Against the run of play Crook almost went 3-0 up, a clearance out of defence was flicked on by Brown into the path of Hewitson who was free and one on one with Wilkinson, the Crook striker slotted the ball past the advancing keeper only to see Lennox hook the ball off the line denying him his hat-trick.
The rain which had started to fall just after half time was causing problems with neither side able to control the ball or put together any meaningful attacking moves.
Ene came close for RCA when he picked up a through ball from Davis but his final shot flew over the bar.
As the game entered the final five minutes Moody had a chance to seal the match but from a good position on the right he hooked his shot wide of the far post.
In the 86th minute RCA were reduced to 10 men when Substitute Robinson (Foster) slid in with a late challenge and the referee produced a straight red card.
Crook saw out the remaining minutes without any problems.
Next up we play Bishop Auckland away on Saturday, 25th March 2023: Kick off 3.00pm.