Wednesday, 14 April 2010
skilltrainingltd Northern League Division 2
RCA failed to take their chances in an entertaining match against Newton Aycliffe and left empty handed despite having the lion's share of the match.
Newton Aycliffe scored just before half time and despite being reduced to 10 men, when Riatt was dismissed for a second bookable offence, held on for the win.
RCA started slowly and allowed Newton Aycliffe to get on top in the opening 10 minutes and only some desperate defending stopped Gardner from opening the scoring when he was sent clear by Raitt.
Hoggeth was called into action to stop a shot from Woodhouse just before a splendid ball from Jones found O'Riordan in the box, but instead of taking his time he lashed the ball well wide of the target. RCA started to get into the game more after this and Aycliffe were forced to defend deep and break quickly. A cross from Stewart found Davison unmarked but his header went straight to Richardson in the Aycliffe goal.
Within a minute RCA should have been 1 - 0 up when an exquisite ball into the box from Stewart found Taylor inside the six yard box with an open goal but he mis-hit the ball wide of the target. A succession of poor corners followed and set the tone for the rest of the night.
Taylor was guilty of another glaring miss as the game neared half time and the pendulum swung in Aycliffes direction on the stroke of half time when they were awarded a freekick on the edge of the area. After a delay while the referee spoke to Richards, Riatt fired the ball into the top corner giving Hoggeth no chance.
RCA started the second half by upping the pace of the game and almost equalised when Aycliffe failed to clear their lines and a shot from O'Riordan went narrowly over the bar.
A mistimed tackle saw the dismissal of Riatt for a second bookable offence and hearalded the start of an avalanche of chances for RCA. However the luck was obviously with Aycliffe as time after time their defenders cleared dangerous crosses into the box. Both Close and Stout were outstanding.
With time ticking away a cross from Stewart found Davis at the far post but he fired against the post.
Davison had the ball in the net with 5 minutes to go but was adjudged to have used his hand to control the ball.
Richardson was called upon to pull off the save of the game in the last minute hurling himself at a shot from McLeod and tipping it away for a corner.
RCA probably deserved something out of this game, but at the end of the day their finishing let them down.
Four points from three games: looks like it is going down to the wire unless Marske get beaten.
