Tuesday, 17 August 2010
skilltrainingltd Northern League Division 1
Sunderland RCA manager Neil Hixon gave new signing, goalkeeper Niki Lawson his (returning) début for RCA in a new look formation that saw Ritchie Hodgson operating behind lone striker Darren Kokes.
RCA got off to a dreadful start when Jarrow Roofing scored after just 82 seconds, David Malloy putting the ball past Lawson in an incisive attack. Worse was to follow for the goalkeeper, as a hip injury forced him off after only a few minutes with former Under 18s Graeme Pickering coming on to make his first league appearance of the season.
As the game settled RCA were dominant in possession, spreading the ball from left to right with relative ease as Jarrow Roofing sat back on their early goal advantage. RCA finally made their possession count after 22 minutes when, making use of the overlapping fullback Stuart Brightwell worked a neat interchange with down the left with Hodgson. Hodgson’s deft backheel around the corner freed up space in the Jarrow Roofing penalty area and, with a late run, Chris Smith found himself bearing down on goal with only the keeper to beat. Smith instead chose to square the ball to Tony Coe whose low drive was well defended by Roofing.
RCA were mounting up the corner count in the first half but were creating little from the opportunities. After a foul on Kokes on the edge of the area Brightwell stepped up and floated a free kick towards the top corner only to be denied by a wonderful save from Roofing keeper Gary Hoggeth, who moved across his line and tipped over from underneath the crossbar. RCA created another chance from the resulting corner, Coe finding himself in space in the area but his downward header was pushed away by Hoggeth.
Jarrow Roofing were looking exciting on the break with the game being played so deep in their own half. Kris Hughes, on the left of Roofing’s attack, cut inside at pace on a number of occations but the moves rarely troubled Pickering in the RCA goal.
After the interval the game followed the same course with RCA controlling possession on the edge of Jarrow Roofing’s box without creating any definitive chances. In the early stages of the second half it was Roofing who looked the more likely score. With RCA pushed forward the quick frontmen exposed the RCA defence on a number of occasions without finding a finish.
25 minutes into the second half and RCA finally threatened Hoggeth’s goal. From what must have been RCA’s 18th corner of the match, Hoggeth saved a goal bound header from in the midst of a melay of challenging players at the cost of an injury. After a goalmouth scramble Roofing finally got the ball clear and tried to hit RCA on the counter with Hoggeth still down clutching his leg. RCA won the ball back and planted siege on Roofing’s goal with the hobbling Hoggeth somehow managing to make a smart save to keep things at 1-0.
The ball eventually went out of play and Hoggeth received treatment ultimately deciding to carry on. 5 minutes later, a deep cross from the right found Hodgson who pulled off his marker and found himself in acres of space in the penalty area. Hodgson did everything right, heading the ball down and back across goal, but the bounce put the ball at a nice height for Hoggeth who, in his last involvement, scrambled across his line to push the ball away.
The injured Hoggeth was replaced in goal for Jarrow Roofing while Wayne Henderson came on for Kokes and Scott Richards replaced Smith for RCA. As RCA pressured in the final 10 minutes Jarrow Roofing always looked the more likely to score on the break with Kris Hughes again causing discomfort in the RCA defence. Jarrow Roofing held out the late pressure to rise to second in the table while RCA are still looking for their first points of the season.
