FT RACA 2 PRUDHOE YC 2 Attendance 135
For the second consecutive game RACA let a lead slip, this time in the Tyne Valley Derby played in horrendous conditions at the Oldhaulage Stadium. In the only Division 2 game on grass that wasn’t either postponed or abandoned due to the torrential rain, Louis Anderson’s 27th minute had the hosts 1-0 up at the interval. When he doubled the lead just after the break it looked rosy for Ryton but former RACA man, Jordan Plunkett scored a quick brace to salvage a point for Prudhoe & deny Ryton doing the double over their neighbours.
MATCH SUMMARY
With the Ernest Armstrong Cup tie between RACA and Prudhoe being postponed on Wednesday, the sides were keen to get this one on despite the forecast of heavy rain. Thankfully the expected arrival of the rain clouds kept getting deferred, ensuring the game would at least start, but by kick off, the skies were dark & the first of what were to be many raindrops began to fall on the already wet playing surface. The weather also had a major impact on the derby day attendance with only 135 hardy souls braving the elements which also included a stiff breeze, when three times that figure might be expected in more clement conditions.
The opening period of the game gave little for the soaked spectators to cheer, Prudhoe pumping decent crosses into the Ryton box, but keeper Callum Corkhill intercepting them with relative ease as the visitors had no-one to meet the ball. Albion hadn’t offered much up front until the 25th minute when Rhys McLeod picked up a stray ball following a tackle outside the Prudhoe box. He found Louis Anderson who slipped the ball past the advancing Seniors keeper Sam Wilson & it fizzed into the net. Anderson could have had a second goal just two minutes later when Ryton played a good move upfield, Louis Calvert laying the ball to Anderson, but this time Thomas was able to block the shot with his legs, the ball bouncing away to safety. Another chance for RACA to double the lead came on 37 minutes when following a period of pressure on the Prudhoe goal, Rhys McLeod on the left flank, drilled in a low cross that evaded everyone in the box and just went beyond the far post & it remained 1-0. Calvert and Anderson combined again in the 42nd minute, the latter breaking clear of his marker but again he was thwarted by the advancing Thomas in the one-on-one, the keeper getting his foot in the way of the shot. A minute after that & Prudhoe had Corkhill diving in the mud when Freddie Marr laid the ball off to James Simpson & his shot was scrambled past the post by the RACA keeper and the goal remained intact.
HT RACA 1 Prudhoe YC 0
In increasingly difficult conditions RACA took only two minutes to get on the scoresheet again,this time from a corner which Anderson powered home with his head to give his side a bit of breathing space. He wasn’t too far off getting his hat-trick on 55 minutes when his shot from distance skidded not far wide of the Prudhoe post with Wilson scrambling in his muddy box to block the effort. There was some sever goalmouth drama in the 58th minute when a McLeod free kick struck the Prudhoe post, the ball rebounding to an off balance Craig Scott whose shot crashed into defender Will Morris, the ball now striking the Prudhoe bar off Morris, bouncing downwards where Wilson could push the ball out to relative safety. And how Ryton were to rue those near misses as from nowhere the Seniors got back in the game. A 62nd minute Marr free kick was connected with by Jay Plunkett, the ball bouncing in the box & off into the corner of the net to make it 2-1. This spurred on the visitors & on 67 minutes they won a corner following a Morris shot. Marr’s ball in instigated some head tennis which ultimately saw Plunkett on target again with his header to equalise, the ex Albion player haunting his ex employer with a 5 minute brace. Prudhoe could well have gone ahead on 73 minutes when Elijah Berman found the unmarked Tom Wilson whose shot from a tight angle was only partially blocked by Corkhill the ball rolling towards the goal line until RACA captain George Hayton was able to scramble the ball clear. The last chance of note fell to Albion on 73 minutes when an intended Prudhoe clearance stuck in the surface water & McLeod fired in a decent low drive that was just wide of the post, though Wilson looked to have it covered. The players & officials were to be commended for being able to provide a competitive spectacle for the closing minutes even if there was no significant goalmouth action, the honours even in this drenched derby.
FT RACA 2 PRUDHOE YC SENORS 2
RACA will feel this as two points dropped having led by two goals, but the filthy conditions were a real leveller & Prudhoe came into their own midway into the second half & showed that from set pieces at least, they are more than capable of converting chances. This was Albion’s first point against the Seniors at Kingsley Park having lost the three previous encounters but that will be of scant consolation to the RACA management. It was also the first draw at home & the first score draw home or away this season.
RACA– Corkhill. Beesley, Fletcher, Lynch (Skivington 79), Scott, Hayton, Hyde (Lawson 79), Groves-Forbes, Anderson, McLeod (Parker 84), Calvert (Driver 90). Substitute not used Dodds
Saturday’s Other Division Two Result
Durham United 0 Alnwick Town 3 (Agostinho, Anderson 2)