Pre-season friendly
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Sunderland RCA were playing their fourth game of the week and were severely depleted yet again. Niki Lawson, Mark Lawton, Wayne Henderson, Karl Jarvis, Nathan Dodd, Phil Hall and Paul Robinson were all absent due to injuries and holidays had robbed the squad of Steve Thomas, Simon Hanlon, Marcel Lundy and Willie Crew.
The last thing the home side needed was to concede after three minutes, however due to some dreadful decision making by the referee, that's exactly what happened. Chester ran the ball out down their left hand side, the assisstant referee awarded the throw to RCA, however when a Chester player took a quick throw, the ball was crossed into the box for the unmarked forward to roll home. This resulted in long and loud protests from the home players, however to the consternation of all in the ground, the referee allowed the goal to stand.
Worse was to follow on 10 minutes when the Chester number 10 left Laidler floundering on the edge of the box, ran through unchallenged, and calmly slotted past the exposed Hall.
Hall then suffered a hip injury when colliding with a Chester forward as he came to collect a low cross into the box. After lengthy treatment, although obviously struggling, he managed to continue.
At the other end Hembrough cut in from the left, unleashed a shot which beat the Chester keeper, only for it to hit the post and bounce to safety. Butler also had a great chance to reduce the arrears, but failed to test the keeper with a free header from six yards. Further knocks to Dixon and Moss on 25 minutes saw them both replaced, and a complete reshuffle of the side as numbers were stretched to the limit.
Chester increased their advantage when Andrews and Hill were totally out-foxed inside the box, and again unchallenged the Chester forward scored past the exposed Hall. RCA were still attacking and had two great chances when Matthews was released, however on both occassions, heavy first touches allowed the Chester keeper to race off his line and smoother the ball.
The second period started with Hall giving way to injury, and full back Barry Massey taking over between the sticks for the home side. With Andrews playing at the back, RCA only had one defender on the pitch, and their sporadic possession was being wasted and given away cheaply.
Chester increased their options by introducing March, Draper and Shields into the fray - three experienced first division players. RCA were now looking a tired side both physically and mentally, and Chester dominated the rest of proceedings.
With some swift and flowing football Chester went on to score three more unanswered goals to record a deserved and comfortable 6-0 victory. RCA now have a week to nurse their walking wounded back to fitness, see the return of players from holiday, and get ready for a tough opening fixture away to last season's relegated side Horden CW.