SUNDERLAND RCA 2 RACA 3

Albion clinched all 3 points at a drizzly Meadow Park with a stoppage time goal from Louis Calvert, twice coming from behind in a strange game they were a bit fortunate to win. Josh Skivington scored Ryton’s first at the end of a first half they barely had a sniff in, while Abu Saker converted an 89th minute penalty to what look like rescuing a point before Calvert’s fantastic winner in the 92nd minute, the win putting Albion up to 4th place.

In RACA’s first competitive game at Meadow Park since 2011 they found themselves under the cosh from the start & fell behind on 11 minutes when Alberto Dumba, whose pace was to give the Albion defence problems throughout the half, sped past two markers & slotted home past the advancing Brogan Colquhoun. It wasn’t far off being 2-0 just five minutes later when Luke McCormack took advantage of a defensive mix up & stabbed the ball goal-wards but Colquhoun was just able to scramble to it. McCormack was in the thick of the action again on the half hour mark, collecting a wayward Ryton header but his shot deflected just wide. From the resultant corners there was panic in the Albion box as the yellow wall of defenders tried desperately to clear the ball, finally getting it clear after a few scares. Sunderland came even closer to doubling the lead on 42 minutes when McCormack drilled a Dumba cross against the post, then Dan Maw saw his effort from the rebound hit the bar as Colquhoun got a foot to Maw’s shot. RCA would have felt short changed only going into the interval only 1-0 up, but out of nowhere Josh Skivington broke clear to fire home an equaliser on the stroke of half time racing past his marker to slot home past the hitherto under employed Joe Wilson to change the dynamics of the half time team talks.

The second half was a complete reverse of the first with RACA looking up for it & Sunderland RCA lacking a spark. Charlie Grieveson saw his 52nd header pushed over the bar by Wilson & Skivington also hit the bar in the 61st minute albeit from narrowly offside. Albion were camped in the RCA half, winning a succession of corners midway through the half but in a similar vein to Skivington’s first half goal, Sunderland’s Dan Maw, totally against the run of play, broke forward & made the most of a defensive slip on the wet surface & coolly drilled a low shot past the Albion keeper to restore their lead. Ryton pressed for the equaliser & it came courtesy of the penalty spot when referee Mr Cairney awarded a spot kick after a foul on Matthew Harrison. Abu Salim who’d recently came on as a substitute fired home high up in the net giving Wilson little chance of getting to it & it was parity restored at 2-2. A point salvaged? Not a bit of it as the Ryton players pushed on for a winner & in stoppage time Louis Calvert opened his account for RACA in stoppage time poking home from close range to claim the three points.

FT SUNDERLAND RCA 2 RACA 3 Attendance 80

RACA- Colquhoun, Grieveson, Ledger, Luke, (Craggs 50), Errington, Harrison, Skivington (Lawson 74), Lynch, Calvert, Bisset (Salim 73), Todd (53)

ENL Pos: 4th.