Albion put in a workmanlike performance to see off Alnwick Town, Louis Calvert scoring a goal in each half to clinch the points. Town had their chances but couldn’t find the net, & as a result RACA kept a third consecutive clean sheet in the league & move into the top half of the table for the first time this season.
MATCH SUMMARY
Both sides came into this game on the back of away defeats in the the FA Vase & with the exception of the Esh Winning game, with RACA struggling to find the net of late, while Alnwick’s early season goalscoring fairy dust looked to have worn off. On a pleasant evening at the Oldhaulage Stadium, Ryton boss Nathan Beckham was able to field new signing Charlie Whittaker and returnees from injury, Morgan Dart and Callum Johnson on the bench.
A quiet start to the game saw headers by Albion’s Jack Salkeld & Alnwick’s Euan Potts go narrowly wide without giving either keeper too much concern, but on 9 minutes Albion’s Louis Calvert opened the scoring following a fine solo run after receiving the ball from Davy Luke beating four defenders before slotting home past former RACA keeper Aaron Carr from not the easiest of angles. Wick came close to levelling on 24 minutes when another former Ryton player Ryan Smith received the ball from a Joe Egglestone throw in. He spun and lobbed the ball over the approaching defenders & keeper Callum Corkhill the ball hitting the bar although Corkhill might just have got his fingertips to it. And that was it for meaningful efforts in the first 45 minutes with Calvert’s goal lighting up an otherwise fairly uneventful half.
HT RACA 1 Alnwick Town 0
Albion created the first decent chance of the second period when in the 47th minute the ball spun to Fergus Lynch following a coming together of Calvert & Alnwick’s Yannick Aziakonou. The captain for the night sweetly struck a first time volley that whistled over Carr’s bar though the keeper looked to have it covered had the ball dipped further. The visitors had a fine opportunity to equalise from a 58th minute Egglestone corner that somehow evaded everyone in the Ryton box, eventually coming to the unmarked Aziakounou on the far post, but he too was unable to make any contact with his head on the ball which continued to safety, leaving the Alnwick number 8 with his head in his hands instead of being on the end of a cross. Two minutes later and Wick were on the offensive again as Egglestone went on one of his runs, firing in a shot that took a slight deflection causing Corkhill to spill the ball which was picked up by Jaymie Shell, but with two Alnwick teammates on the RACA goalline waiting for a tap in, Corkhill was able to block then smother Shell’s shot and the danger was averted. The 67th minute gave Alnwick the best chance yet to restore parity when an up and under from Jamie Clark caught the Albion defence flat footed & Potts raced through with just the keeper to beat and the unmarked Max Anderson also goal side of the defenders, but Town’s top scorer went for goal but managed to put his effort wide. RACA looked to have wrapped up the points on 79 minutes following a punt upfield. Wick defender Evan Wilkinson aware of the presence of Louis Calvert, tried to head the bouncing ball back to Carr but got nowhere near enough power on it, and Calvert nipped in and dinked the ball past the advancing goalie to make it 2-0. Wick weren’t quite done with yet and when an 88th minute RACA attack broke down Daniel Cherry raced forward with the ball and found Anderson on a run with a fine pass, but in keeping with his side’s profligacy in front of goal on the evening, Anderson fired his shot over the bar & with that went any change of a comeback. Three very satisfying points for Albion considering the number of unavailable players, and no doubt pleasing for the management team that both Dart & Johnson were able to make second half appearances & the side kept another clean sheet.
FT RACA 2 ALNWICK TOWN 0
RACA– Corkhill, Blakey, Skivington, Lynch (Cairns 86), Scott, Dodds, Salkeld (Whittaker 75), Luke, Calvert (Adotey 89), Bisset (Dart 65), Groves-Forbes (Johnston 72)
Wednesday’s Other Division 2 Results
Darlington Town 2 (Wilson, England) Grangetown BC 1 (Dixon)
FC Hartlepool 1 (Bayes) Newcastle University 1 (o.g.)
Prudhoe YC 1 (Symington) Esh Winning 0