RACA added more pressure on basement club Washington with a comfortable 5-0 win under the lights at the Northern Area Playing Fields. Three goals in five minutes midway through the first half did it for Albion plus two penalties converted by Louis Calvert made absolutely certain of the three points that move us back into a play off berth, for a few hours at least.
MATCH SUMMARY
The Northern League fixture computer threw up four consecutive games against the bottom four sides in Division Two, theoretically giving RACA a chance to get their season back on course & closing on the leading pack again. While Grangetown were duly despatched 4-1, the weather claimed the Sunderland RCA and Boldon fixtures making claiming all three points at Washington all the more important.
So on a heavy pitch under the lights Albion set out to do the double over The Mechanics & should have taken the lead on 10 minutes when a ball was fired upfield to Louis Calvert who had the pace to leave his markers behind but was thwarted by Washington keeper Andrew Coulson who advanced to narrow the angle and Calvert could only shoot straight at the stopper. Despite creating a few chances, RACA had to wait until the 20th minute to break the deadlock, Matty Hayton tapping home a Joe Groves-Forbes pass from the left flank, a goal which heralded an amazing 5 minutes for the Tyne Valley outfit. Two minutes later & it was 2-0 to RACA when this time on the right wing, Groves-Forbes was the creator, beating four Washington defenders before crossing into the box where Fergus Lynch was on hand to slot home. 2-0 became 3-0 on 24 minutes when Rhys McLeod’s free kick into the Mechanics’ box wasn’t properly dealt with by Washington’s rearguard & the ball fell to Glenn Caygill who after a few ricochets around the six yard area, blasted into the net from close range to all but put the game beyond the hosts. Washington steadied the ship after that blitzkrieg without ever threatening Brogan Colquhoun in the Ryton goal but wouldn’t quite see out the first half without conceding a fourth goal as in stoppage time the Mechanics’ number 3, MacKenzie Stores, was deemed to have pulled back Calvert in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. Calvert stepped up to take the spot kick a sent Coulson the wrong way to make it 4-0
HT Washington 0 RACA 4
The second half wasn’t to be as eventful as the first although Caygill brought a save out of Coulson, heading a Ryton corner goalbound in the 51st minute. There was to be a second penalty for Albion though, this time Joe Bengochea was the offender, bringing Calvert down in the box. This time Coulson guessed right but couldn’t prevent Calvert from scoring his second and RACA’s fifth of the evening. Ryton pushed on for a 6th goal, another Caygill header on 63 minutes had Coulson diving low to push the ball out for a corner, while Matty Todd shot narrowly wide on 77 minutes, but that was it for meaningful chances & the game drifted to a relatively quiet end. Albion move up one place to 5th and back into the last play off spot with back to back victories while Washington continue to be cut further adrift from the other strugglers in Division 2. Albion have the Indian sign over the Mechanics in recent years with this being the 10th successive win over the Wearsiders.
FT WASHINGTON 0 RACA 5 Attendance 93
RACA- Colquhoun, Groves-Forbes, Ledger (Tait 53), Grievson, Caygill, Oldfield, Dart, Lynch (Lawson 56), Calvert, McLeod, Hayton (Todd 59)