Matthew Wilkinson competes for the ball with Bishop Auckland goal scorer Louis Johnson.
Bishop Auckland’s AJS Stadium was the venue for RCA’s next Ebac Northern League Division I fixture. After a poor season by their standards last season, the Two Blues are having a very successful season under the leadership of Chris Hardy and Leon Carling.
A late fitness test declared Turns fit to play but with others missing through work and other commitments it left the manager with only 13 fit players to choose from.
Into the team for his debut came recent signing Alex Bruton, at the other end of the spectrum making his 150th appearance for the club was Craig Hodgson.
The Bishop squad included no less than six ex RCA players.
The teams lined up as follows:
Bishop Auckland: Catterick, Burlace, Risborough, Lay, McGoldrick, Hopson, Whitfield, Gott ©, Giles, Johnson, Patton. Subs: Thexton, Banks, Fairley, Weirs, Elcoate.
Sunderland RCA: Wilkinson, Davis, Turns, Lennox, Trewick, Hodgson ©, Ene, Goundry, Fenton, Bruton, Pinder. Subs: Bowmaker, Herdman, Callen, Larkin, Swansbury.
On cue the heavens opened at 3.00pm making the playing surface very slippy in a matter of minutes.
Bishops kicked off and were quickly on the attack, a defence splitting pass in the opening minute by Burlace fell to Johnson who cut the ball back to Patton but his first time effort was blocked by Trewick and the danger was averted.
RCA’s first attack came when Pinder dispossessed Burlace before slipping the ball to Fenton who hit a low curling shot which was palmed round the post by Catterick for a corner. The corner taken by Turns was headed out for a second corner by Lay this time the home defence cleared the ball easily.
The home team picked up the pace of the game taking it to the visitors who were defending in numbers. A through ball from Whitfield was met by Giles but he hit his shot wide of the target.
A minute later and Wilkinson was called into action when Risbrough pounced on a loose ball and fired in a shot which was destined for the bottom corner until the RCA keeper intervened diving to his right.
Bishop’s were building up a head of steam in the opening 10 minutes and only a great block by Hodgson denied Hobson and Trewick hooked the loose ball away from the danger zone.
RCA’s resistance was eventually broken in the 17th minute when, after a spell of possession, Hobson played a lovely through ball to, a suspiciously offside looking, Patton who controlled the ball before rounding the keeper and slotting home.
It all went horribly wrong for the visitors two minutes later when Johnson picked up a forward ball from Lay and was allowed to run unopposed across the face of the penalty area before unleashing and unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net to give Bishop Auckland a 2-0 lead and leave a mountain to climb for RCA.
The home team took control of the match for a short period as RCA looked to regroup.
A long ball forward by Davis was picked up by Ene who cut inside before playing the ball to Hodgson who drove the ball into the opposition box for Fenton but McGoldrick was able to get a foot to the ball and the chance was lost.
RCA were defending well with Trewick and Lennox able to deal fairly comfortably with the high balls being played in by the Bishop wingers.
Gott in the centre of midfield picked up a loose pass and moved forward before hitting a dipping shot which struck the base of the post and rebounded to safety.
As the game entered the final five minutes of the half RCA were finding it increasingly difficult to get the ball forward and Bishops were picking up all the loose balls. A ball forward for Burlace was flicked on by Giles into the path of Johnson who fired in a first time effort which Wilkinson saved at the second attempt.
Wilkinson’s throw out went to Hodgson who played it forward to Goundry and the ball was then played to Turns who broke forward at pace before cutting inside and hitting a good shot which was well blocked by Lay, the rebound was stabbed away towards Fenton but he was not quick enough to react and Whitfield cleared.
The second half started with a bang, the home sides first attack saw Hopson skip through two challenges before hitting a shot which was deflected off Trewick and fell to Patton who fired the ball across the goal line where Trewick was on hand to hook off the line.
Within minutes RCA gave themselves a life-line; Turns played the ball forward to Fenton who directed the ball into the path off Bruton who raced forward before cutting inside, rounding the keeper and smashing the ball home for his debut goal.
It didn’t take long for Bishop’s to restore the two goal cushion, four minutes later a poor clearance fell to Giles who took the ball to the touch line before firing in a cross which struck Trewick and flew into the net.
An injury to Davis forced him out of the game to be replaced by Bowmaker.
Just past the hour mark and another wonderful through ball from Hopson found Gott in acres of space and he was able to pick his spot from 10 yards out.
With 20 minutes to go the home side went 5-1 up and it was an almost identical goal as the fourth, a Hopson through ball split the RCA defence on the left and Johnson was unmarked in the area and able to fire in a shot which went into the net despite Wilkinson getting a hand to it.
With the weather conditions worsening and the ground starting to cut up the game became a little scrappy, Bishops trying to control the pace while RCA were reduced to counter attacking moves.
A good move down the right by Ene was halted when he was dragged back by Whitfield, the RCA youngster picked himself up before firing in a tremendous 35 yard freekick towards the top right hand corner of the net but Catterick managed to get a hand to it and palm it away for a corner.
This had the effect of waking up the home side who finished the game with three efforts - a curling shot from Weirs hit the crossbar, then a curling effort by Hopson which cleared the bar and in the last minute Weirs was clean through but his shot was saved by Wilkinson’s foot.
Writing this report it was difficult to express how much effort was put in by the RCA players as they were forced at times to chase the ball down time after time, Bishops are a very good team and if you give them time on the ball they will hurt you.
Whilst on paper this was a heavy defeat, for the younger players this was a learning curve and an indication of how hard they need to work to get to this level. They will have undoubtedly learnt from the experience and will improve as a result.
Next up is a little trip through the Tyne Tunnel to play the three times postponed match against Whitley Bay on Tuesday, 28th March 2023. Kick off 7.30pm.