Tuesday, 31 March 2015
EBAC Northern League Division 1
Goalscorers: SRCA: Charlton (2), Hughes. Marske: Kelly, Gott, Brunskill
Injuries sustained in Saturday’s defeat against tonight’s opponents Marske United FC meant that both Larkin and Bogie were unavailable for selection and were replaced with Hughes and Charlton.
Once again the players were met with challenging weather conditions as the Meadow Park ground was battered with rain, sleet and a very strong wind.
Unlike Saturday, RCA had the advantage of the wind and the slope in the first half but it was the visitors who had the first attack when Owens slipped the ball to Brunskill from a long thow by O’Sullivan, but the Marske striker fired wide.
From the goal kick, Carmichael launched RCA’s first attack, the long kick was controlled eventually by Callen who fired in a 25 yard shot which Dean held comfortably.
As with the meeting on Saturday, Marske utilised the long throw of O’Sullivan to good effect and in the seventh minute were unlucky not to capitalise on the indecisiveness of the RCA defence when he launched the ball into the box but it evaded everyone and went straight through for a goal kick.
RCA took the lead in the 12th minute when they were awarded a freekick for a foul on Woods. Bythway took the kick steering it over the wall, Dean produced a great save low down to his left but Charlton pounced onto the loose ball and from an acute angle squeezed the ball home via the far post.
Within a minute Carmichael was called upon to make a terrific diving save from a header by Brunskill. Then minutes later the Marske striker was deemed to have fouled Carmichael before slotting into an empty net and the goal was disallowed.
In the 24th minute Marske were awarded a freekick 35 yards out. O’Sullivan’s kick was defended by Preston and the long clearance was picked up by Hughes, he cut inside beating his marker before exquisitely curling a 20 yard shot into the top corner of the net out of the reach of Dean.
Bouyed by this goal RCA started to put even more pressure on the Marske defence and it took some magnificent saves from Dean to keep the score line down.
On the half hour Wood picked himself up, after being fouled yet again by Johnston, to take the resulting freekick and it took a superb save from Dean to tip the ball round the post for a corner.
A minute later and Johnston was booked for a crunching tackle on Wood. Bythway took this freekick and played the ball in to Callen who blasted in a shot which was tipped round the post for yet another corner.
With the pressure mounting it looked likely that RCA would increase their lead as Marske seemed unable to get the ball clear in the high wind.
A quickly taken throw in from Brown sent Hughes clear of the Marske defence but his well struck shot hit Dean on the shin and went behind for another corner.
Having weathered the storm, if not the windy conditions, Marske started to play some good football and in the 40th minute Gott played a lovely ball through to Owens but the Striker hit the ball hopelessly wide under pressure from Jury.
In the final minute of the half an off the ball incident between Jury and Wheatley resulted in them both being booked. The score-line was a complete reversal of the half time score on Saturday.
With the advantage of the wind in the second half Marske started strongly and within a minute Owens fired over the bar after some good work down the left by Wright.
Five minutes later and Gott picked up a loose ball in midfield before sending it forward to Owen who hit it first time on the volley but Carmichael was able to make the save.
A poorly timed tackle by Woods on Bott started another tussle in which both players were cautioned.
Marske made immediate substitutions replacing their two cautioned players while RCA replaced the injured Brown with Rowe.
Within a minute of these changes RCA went 3 – 0 up, a throw-in on the right was flicked forward by Megran into the path of Charlton who sprinted past the Marske defence before slotting the ball past the advancing Dean and into the bottom corner of the net.
More was to follow, in the 70th minute RCA were awarded a penalty when Hughes raced into the box and a Marske defender made a rash challenge on the striker. RCA’s usual penalty takers were not on the pitch and so it fell to Megran to step up to take this one, Dean produced a great save diving to his left to push the ball round the post for a corner.
Marske seemed to take heart from this and once again went on the attack, this time a shot from Owen was on target and looked to be easily saved by Carmichael under pressure from Kelly. As the keeper got to his feet the Assistant Referee signalled that the ball had crossed the line and awarded a goal. This instigated a stormy protest from the RCA players and Carmichael received a caution for dissent.
From the kick off RCA mounted a good attacking move with Rowe feeding the ball to Charlton who cut inside before shooting straight at Dean. The Marske keeper wasted no time in sending the ball forward toward Brunskill who flicked the ball on; inexplicably Bythway used his arm to stop the ball and a penalty was awarded to Marske. Gott made no mistake with the spot kick and with 15 minute to go it was 3 – 2 and game on again.
RCA from being comfortably in the lead were now on the back foot and having to defend in numbers, however Marske were not able to produce any meaningful attacks instead pumping balls forward which Preston and the rest of the RCA defence looked fairly comfortable with.
Disaster struck in the final minute of normal time when Butterworth picked up the ball on the right wing, cut inside and hit a shot which hit the inside of the post and rebounded into the path of Brunskill who hammered home from close range.
It could have gotten even worse a minute later when Marske were awarded a freekick on the edge of the box but the cross into the area was cleared by Richardson and the game ended all square.
RCA could not be faulted for their effort in this match, they were the better team for 70 minutes, but this is a hard league and teams will punish the slightest mistake. Tonight luck was on the side of Marske especially with the second goal.
RCA’s manager Martin Swales was philosophical after the match “Obviously I am gutted for the whole team, they really put a shift in tonight. Until Marske’s disputed goal we looked the better team. If we hadn’t conceded to second goal so quickly I think we would have gone on to win the match. Having said that I have to be honest and say I would have taken a point before the game started. This result puts more pressure on Synners and West Allotment, they need to get results in their final games now.”
Next up the crunch match against Billingham Synthonia FC on Saturday.