Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup Final
Monday, 5 May 2008
RCA's season ended with another big disappointment as we lost fairly tamely in the Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup Final at Ryton on Bank Holiday Monday. It was a lovely day and Ozo's bus load of the Ryhope faithful turned up to cheer the lads on, but it was not to be. Hicker had a few problems naming a side, with Paul Wardle cup tied, Andy Middleton off to Hawaii and Lee Bell heading for Poland, while on the morning of the match Glen McCartney reported sick. So it was a thin bench but a reasonably strong first eleven, with Gary Shields slotting into right wing back.
RCA started brightly enough, with decent pressure and a couple of corners in the first ten minutes and half chances for Jon Newton and Andy Jennings, before Esh showed for the first time after ten minutes with a sharp header from a corner which Craig Shields gathered well.
Paul Stout was having a bit of trouble with the Esh wide left man, Chris Smith, and it was Smith who opened the scoring after 17 minutes with a great strike from wide which curled past Shieldsy into the goal, 1-0.
Esh grew in confidence with the goal as RCA, despite having plenty of possession struggled to create real chances. A Gary Shields effort close to the half hour mark was better, and lead to a series of corners from which Wayne Henderson finally blasted over, but all the time Esh looked lively with the ball. Coming up to the break Gary Shields stole the ball in midfield and made a great run and cross, which Jennings couldn't reach, and it seemed as if we were finally coming to life. Lets get to the break at just 1-0 and see how the second half goes. Right on the stroke of half time however Esh made it 2-0 with a fine goal from Craig Coates, a real killer as the Ref immediately blew for half time.
We desperately needed to start the second half well, and we did, with Andy Jennings shooting wide, then heading a great chance straight at the keeper from a Scott Richards free kick.
And that sadly was that, Esh broke immediately, Wayne brought a striker down, the Ref gives the pen, and i'ts 3-0 after 51 minutes, game over.
The game wandered from now to its end, David Wells came on for Stout and did well with some sharp passing and movement, Ash Davis got himself sent off for a rash stamp on an opponent, and Jennings had a number of attempts which didn't trouble the keeper. Esh knew the game was won and saw it through with few alarms for a deserved victory in which they took their chances and worked hard.
Well done to Esh Winning, off we go for the summer, before coming back to make next year a year of achievement, not nearly boys next time!