Ryton & Crawcrook Albion were held to a 1-1 home draw by neighbours Winlaton Community in their final pre-season friendly on Friday evening.

Winlaton – coming off a crushing 17-0 home defeat to Whickham six days earlier – took the lead at a packed Kingsley Park as an unmarked Tumas headed the Vulcans in front after 20 minutes.

Damien Stevens managed to find an equaliser for Albion with a lovely lob just before the half time interval.

Despite pushing in the second half, neither side could find a winner as the game ended all square.

The draw means its been a mixed bag of results for Daniel Iredale’s side this pre season. A draw with Alnwick Town (1-1) was followed by a 2-1 win at Edinburgh United, then back-to-back defeats at Sunderland RCA (0-2) and at Burradon & New Fordley (1-2) before today’s match.

Goals from all the matches will be available to watch on RACA TV on YouTube with match photos available on the official RACA Facebook page.

The new Ebac Northern Football League Division 2 season begins next weekend with RACA scheduled to visit Easington Colliery on Saturday 30 July.