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Morpeth Town FC 3 Sunderland RCA FC 0

Submitted by Rob Jones on Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Monday, 25 August 2014

EBAC Northern League Division 1

Goalscorers: SRCA. None, Morpeth: Chilton (2), Taylor.

Whoever decided that a Bank Holiday derby match should be between RCA and Morpeth Town really need to get hold of a map or a SATNAV, there are certainly nearer first division teams who could be classed as a derby. 

Also, I keep hearing people talk about player commitment, but on Monday,  Lewis Woods travelled from Guisborough to Ryhope before boarding the team bus to Morpeth, played 90 minutes got back to Ryhope about 3.00pm before setting off for work in Brighton 340miles away. On Friday he will travel back after work in order to play on Saturday. This is true commitment to the club in my opinion.

RCA, once again with only one central defender to choose from, changed the back four to Coe, Jury, Horsman and McNab. Back into the fold after suspension was striker Gavin Barton with Chris Thompson starting on the right wing.

RCA started well forcing Morpeth onto the back foot.

The first real attack saw Coe send a great through ball into the path of Morris, inside the area, but Buchanan was on hand to clear the danger.

Then Callen picked up a loose ball and ran at the Morpeth defence skipping past two challenges before firing wide.

Morpeth's response was a long ball out of defence by Henderson which found Jewels, he squared the ball to Chilton, but his shot was blocked by Jury.

RCA continued to press forward and when Wood found Callen with an inch perfect pass inside the penalty area it looked odds on that RCA would go 1-0 up, but Callen slid the ball under the body of the advancing Dryden and inches wide of the post.

A minute later and Coe and Stanger combined to set up Morris, but the strike fired wide.

Morpeth were starting to get a grip of the game as RCA looked to run out of ideas. An RCA freekick was cleared by Jewels to Hiftle who sent a 40 yard pass across field to Chilton who managed to control the ball and fire his shot on target but Carmichael made and effortless save.

This was to be the pattern for the rest of the game. Morpeth defend, break quickly on both wings and pressure RCA.

Morpeth started to get their forward play moving and in the 20th minute a curling shot by Fry went narrowly wide with Carmichael scrambling to cover.

Almost immediately Chilton picked up a loose pass and ran at the heart of the RCA defence before being fouled on the edge of the area. Taylor fired the shot straight at Carmichael.

Morpeth took the lead in the 28th minute with a carbon copy of a goal scored last season. An RCA attack broke down, Henderson was given the ball in space and sent a long ball forward, Taylor controlled the ball before slipping it past Carmichael into the corner of the net.

This had the effect of lifting the RCA team who piled forward looking for an equaliser, in the space of three minutes Morris, Woods and Guthrie allhad  shots blocked by defenders.

In the 40th minute RCA were awarded a freekick on the edge of the penalty area. Morris struck a superb dipping shot which Dryden did well to tip over the bar.

In the final flurry of the halfa through ball by Stanger found Morris who fed the ball back into the path of McNab, but the full back curled his shot wide of the far post.

The second half was almost a complete reversal of the first with Morpeth attacking RCA defending. As early as the 47th minute Henderson was given forty yards to run at the RCA defence before crossing into the box for Chilton who headed over the bar from close range.

In the 55th minute RCA had a great chance to equalise when Jury sent a great ball forward to Thompson who slipped the bal inside to Morris, he found space for the cross into the path of Barton who from 12 yards out should have scored, but scuffed his shot and Dryden was able to make n easy save.

Almost from the goalkick Morpeth once again worked the ball to the right wing where Henderson was completely unmarked and this time his cross was met by Chilton, who made no mistake this time powering a header into the net.

On the hour mark it got even worse for RCA when Henderson again cut inside gave the ball to Taylor who dribbled into the box before being upended and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Chilton stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way.

Morpeth were now rampant and it took some good defensive work from Horsman and Jury, who both made crucial blocks to prevent further shots on goal.

RCA did have chances late in the game. Morris set up Barton in the 80th minute, but his shot was smothered by Dryden and a minute later Barton controlled a long defensive clearance before sliding the ball to Guthrie, but he fired wide of the target from a good position.

Morpeth is never a good place to go if you are an RCA supporter: 15 goals conceded in the last three matches there and only one scored.

Whilst we didn't play badly, we conceded goals easily and most of the damage was done by two wide players who we decided didn't pose a threat. It can and will get better so long as we can regain our composure in front of goal and stop giving poor goals away.