Northern League
Saturday, 21 April 2007
Sunderland RCA rounded off their season with a solid victory away at Crook Town.
The 3 2 margin makes it look closer than it really was, as RCA played most of the football and had gone into a well deserved 2 0 lead by the hour mark, and looked likely to cruise home. Andy Allen gave RCA the lead with a excellent header from a quality Jon Butler cross after half an hour, and that was enough for the half time lead. A great Flash Matthews break and cross on the hour was finished by Karl Jarvis with aplomb, with others queueing up for the goal.
The referee got himself in on the act when he inexplicably refused a cast iron penalty as second half sub Andy Middleton worked his way into the box and, as always seems to happen, Crook went down the other end and scored with a good finish past manager Steve Smith, who again found himself between the posts, as regular keeper Niki Lawson watched on crutches from the sidelines. Steve "The Cat" then endeared himself to the Crook fans as he slowed play with his astute use of the laws of the game, before Si Andrews restored the two goal advantage after 75 minutes. A last minute Crook goal put a gloss on proceedings for them but there was no dispute who were the better side, and two wins and an unlucky defeat in the last week of the season should put the club in good heart for next year.
The committee, staff and players are committed to fighting at the other end of the table next time around, and the squad have shown enough to make that a realistic target.