Match reports

Take cover! RCA captain Greg Swansbury clears the ball during the second half of the match.

For more photos from the match please click here.

Goal scorers - Consett: Cornish; Mackay. Sunderland RCA: Larkin; Davison.

After three successive victories - including last Saturday's narrow Buildbase FA Vase win over Bridlington Town - second-placed Sunderland RCA made the trip to league leaders Consett for this afternoon's mouthwatering top-of-the-table Northern League match.

RCA named an unchanged starting XI and substitutes bench from the win over Bridlington Town last Saturday.

The two sides lined up as follows:

Consett: Hayes; Green; Holden; Smith; Purewal; Wilkinson; Craggs (c); Lawrence; Sweet; Dowson; Mackay. Subs: Lavery; Male; Gray; Colling; Cornish.

Sunderland RCA: Tsapalos; Lilley; McNab; Preston; Swansbury (c); Hodgson; Charlton; Elliott; O'Neill; Page; Larkin. Subs: Davison; Moan; Kyle Davis; Armstrong; Kokoska.

What a performance! Colin Larkin caused Bishops any amount of problems and set up both Nathan O’Neill’s goals.

Please click here for some photos from the match.

For Peter Jackson’s photos please click here.

Bishop Auckland’s match recap, including video, is here.

Bishop Auckland: Liversedge; Hoganson, Marshall, Gibbons; Kyle Patton, Fryatt, Callum Patton, Salmon, Richardson; Johnson, Winn. Subs Robinson, Hart, Twinn.

Sunderland RCA: Tsapalos; Jury, Preston, Swansbury, McNab; Charlton, Elliott, Hodgson, Larkin; O’Neill, Moan. Subs Davison, Kokoska, Page, K. Davis, Armstrong.

An interesting game this looked in prospect. We have had a bit of an Indian sign over Bishop Auckland over the past few seasons, but they looked likely to be a stronger proposition than recently for today’s game. The appointment of Ian Chandler and Brian Rowe as the management team looked a very sound move, and results so far have been much improved, certainly on last season, when for a while relegation looked a real threat.

A decent day if a bit chilly, a pitch which looked an absolute picture and a good crowd in promised well for the match. For RCA the only change saw Colin Larkin start at wide left midfield in place of Clayton Davis. The game started with both sides working hard, but mostly better at stopping the opposition than getting their own attacking game going. Having said that Bishops were clearly edging things in the first twenty minutes and had a number of good positions without finding much to bother Dimi Tsapalos in goal. Dimi dropped one effort early on which excited the crowd, but after that was flawless.

Craig Hodgson clears under pressure. Photograph © Amanda Scaife - @ShildonAFCsup. Thanks very much to Amanda for permission to use her photograph.

Amanda Scaife's photo set from the match is here.

Martyn Tweddle's match photos are here.

Martin Emmerson's photos from the match can be seen here. This was Martin's daughter Astrid's first football match in the Northern League. Come again Astrid and see us win!

Sunderland RCA: Tsapalos; Lilley, McNab, Preston, Swansbury; Hodgson, C. Davis, Page, Moan; O’Neill, Davison; subs Elliott, Kokoska, K. Davis, Jury, Armstrong.

Shildon: Newbrook; Harwood, Curl, Moore, Hall; Carling, Duell, Trotter, Earl; Blackford, Robson; subs Turnbull, Wood, Hird, Hudson, Ellison.

This looked an interesting match up, Shildon are well up the league, but had been on a bad run, with only one win in their last nine games, and RCA were coming off the back of a disappointing and surprising defeat by our local rivals. Both sides with something to prove on the day.

The game started in good conditions, bright sunshine and a decent, but not unmanageable breeze, and at a frantic pace that hardly let throughout the game. RCA were soon on top, but finding it difficult to create good chances. A couple of headers from corners and a decent shout for a penalty for a push on Nathan O’Neill were the highlights of the first 30 minutes, with the game played mainly in midfield and RCA finding the big and strong Shildon back line determined to stand firm. On the break Shildon were always dangerous, with Dan Earl running hard into the corners.

Alex Ramshaw readies himself to shoot late in the second half of the match.

Sunderland RCA: Tsapalos; Lilley, Swansbury, Preston, McNab; C. Davis, Elliott, Page, Ramshaw; O’Neill, Moan. Subs Armstrong, K. Davis, Robinson, Richardson, Kokoska

Hebburn Town: Hubery; Groves, Wallace, Kerr, Storey; Tumilty, Fairley, Stephenson, Dibb-Fuller; Armstrong, Richardson. Subs Spence, Jennison (GK), Sullivan, Gilhespy, Shaw

This looked like a real good game in prospect, as the resurgent Hebburn Town, just off the top of the table at this early stage in their first season back in the First Division, came to Meadow Park to meet an in form, but still a bit disrupted RCA, who had secured two top notch away wins in the last ten days. RCA went into the fixture with Craig Hodgson serving the last game of his suspension, Michael Charlton missing with a injury picked up last week, Mark Davison, Scott Pocklington, Jonny Davis and John Jury unavailable, and Steve Callen now looking like a long term absentee with his stomach muscle problem. On the positive side, Nathan O’Neill, Dylan Elliott, and James Armstrong were back and available as was young Sam Robinson and new signings Kyle Davis and goalkeeper Dimitrios Tsapalos. So a number of changes in the team and on the bench were to be expected, and RCA fans were entitled to be a little nervous as to how things would work out, on a beautiful day in sunny Ryhope.