RACA overcame the challenge of Darlington Town to advance to the 1st Round of the Durham Challenge Cup with a 3-0 at the Oldhaulage Stadium. In an entertaining game for the neutral, Ryton lead 1-0 at the interval thanks to an Abu Salim lob & two late goals from Noah Adotey & Declan Bisset from the penalty spot gave the full time score a slightly lopsided look as the game was closer than the scoreline suggests, but it’s RACA in the hat for the next round,
In the second match between the clubs in five days it was Town who created the first chance when some intricate play by Liam Jarvie in the 5th minute saw him beat two defenders then square the ball across the Albion box but Lewis Walton was just a yard or two off making contact to what would likely have been a quick opener. However it was RACA who got their noses in front on 37 minutes in a frenetic fist half when a punt forward saw Abu Salim run between two defenders & lob the ball over the advancing Darlington keeper Tyler Dickinson to score his 10th goal of the season.
The second half understandably lacked the energy of the first & Albion were the better of the two sides although Darlington brought two fine saves out of Brogan Colquhoun in quick succession. Firstly Ryan Coles 68th minute header from a corner forced Colquhoun into a fine save, pushing the ball past his post & a minute later he had to flick Jarvie’s powerful drive over his bar. But it was to be RACA who’d put the result beyond doubt in the 83rd minute when two substitutes combined to make it 2-0, Matty Todd finding Noah Adotey who rounded Dickinson & slotted home for his first goal of the campaign. The icing on the cup tie cake came on 87 minutes when Ryton were awarded a penalty for a clumsy foul on Todd & another substitute, Declan Bisset stepped up to open his account from the spot kick which had to be pin-point accurate as Dickinson guessed correctly & almost got his hand to it.
FT RACA 3 DARLINGTON TOWN 0 Attendance 120
RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington, Ledger, Craggs, Lynch, Oldfield, Lawson (Burrell 73), Walker (Mitchell 63), Salim (Todd 72), McLeod (Adotey 80), Groves-Forbes (Bisset 63)