Match reports

RCA goal scorer Ben Errington competes for the ball during the first half of the match.

We welcome newly promoted Crook Town to Sunderland LGV Park for today’s EBAC Northern League Div I fixture. The visitors have had a very good start to the season and would be no doubt tough opponents having beaten Penrith last Saturday.

The management team made two changes to the team that suffered defeat at Penrith, with Mark Davison and Jonathon Carr replacing Craig Hennis and Taylor Richardson. New signing Matthew Weirs was named as a substitute.

The teams lined up as follows:

Sunderland RCA: Ball, Burlace, Allen, Jakab, Errington, Hawkins ©, Carr, Coghlan, Davison, Annang-Colquhoun, Watts. Subs: J Croft, Weirs, Hennis, Richardson, Hunter.

Crook Town: Skelton, Fielding, Gavin, Hillerby, Johnson, Elgie, Nicholas, Hume, Hewitson, Reay, Hurworth. Subs: Eltringham, Webb, Smith, Tumilty, Thomas.

RCA captain Daniel Hawkins sets up a second half attack.

RCA made the short trip to Seaham Red Star for this re-arranged EBAC Northern League Div I fixture. The original game was due to be played on Boxing Day and supporters can be forgiven, given the weather conditions, for thinking that winter had arrived early. A cold wind and driving rain was the order of the day.

The management team made two changes to the starting eleven that played so valiantly last week at Consett. In came Ball for Marrs and Best replaced Swansbury who was injured in a freak accident in training on Tuesday when he collided with Davison and has bruised ribs. A reshuffle of the defence saw Jakab return to a central defensive role and Best came into the midfield.

Also back in the fold was Max Allen who took his place on the bench after a lay off with pulled hamstring.

The teams lined up as follows:

Seaham Red Star: Jennison, Baggs, Hailes, Kerr, Nelson, Patterson, Lawson, Heywood, Lennox, M Robinson, Sayer. Subs: J Robinson, Weldon, Hodgson, Anderson, Patton.

Sunderland RCA: Ball, Burlace, J Croft, Jakab, Errington, Hawkins, Best, Hennis, Davison, Annang-Colquhoun, Richardson. Subs: Allen, Carr, Watts, Coghlan, Marrs.

Taylor Richardson equalises for RCA with a lovely solo goal.

More photos from the match are here.

A week they say is a long time in politics, well I can tell you a week is also a long time in football while we waited to see what reaction we would get from the team after crashing out of the FA Vase at the first hurdle last week.

Newcastle Benfield were the visitors to Sunderland LGV Park for this EBAC Northern League Div I match.

Today was never going to be a walk in the park against a very strong Newcastle Benfield team who, despite losing on Tuesday to Seaham Red Star, have had a good start to the season.

The return of Carr and Annang-Colquhoun to the squad meant that the only players missing today were long term injuries to Hawkins (Fractured ankle 3-4 weeks), Andrew Johnson (Cartilage 4 months) and Allen (Hamstring 2-3 weeks).

The management team made a couple of changes to the squad for the match.

The teams lined up as follows:

Sunderland RCA: Marrs, Burlace, Carr, Swansbury ©, Errington, Jakab, Watts, Best, Davison, Annang-Colquhoun, Richardson. Subs: Hennis, Lawrence, Elcoate, J Croft, Ball.

Newcastle Benfield: Gordon, Glen-Ravenhill, Rennet, Slaughter, Thompson, M Turnbull ©, Haley, Kanda, Brayson, Walker, Walton. Subs: Leonard, Grainger, Gascoigne, Varga, J Turnbull.