RACA 1 YARM & EAGLESCLIFFE 0 (Attendance 253)

Albion got the new season off to a winning start with a narrow 1-0 win over Yarm & Eaglescliffe thanks to a 13th minute goal from stand in centre forward Joe Groves-Forbes. RACA dominated the early exchanges with some neat passing with the ball spending most of those early minutes deep in the Eagles’ half. What proved to be the winning goal was scored by Groves-Forbes when he raced into the opposition box, latching on to cross from the left flank, evaded a slide tackle & rounded keeper Ethan Landsell before slotting home into an empty net. The goal seemed to galvanise the visitors as the game became more even as Ryton were drawn into a more direct approach to the game which Yarm coped better with & looked like levelling on 36 minutes when a powerful header was directed towards the RACA goal, but Brogan Colquhoun pulled off a fine one handed save to deny the Teessiders & Albion went into the interval a goal up.

The second half was a more stop-start affair with referee Zak Logue’s whistle being kept busy with a number of niggly fouls & the visitors lost a man to a 10 minute stint in the sin bin on 72 minutes which helped Albion see out the game & make a winning start to the campaign. For what it’s worth we’re in joint 8th in the embryonic Second Division League table. A healthy attendance of 253 which was the third highest in the division today & Charlie Grieveson was nominated MOTM for Albion. Next up is the short trip to Prudhoe on Thursday night to face Newcastle University at Essity Park who suffered a 0-3 home reverse to Horden CW today.

RACA: Colquhoun, Grieveson, Ledger, Skivington (Walker 81), Errington (captain), Burrell, Lawson (Salim 46), Lynch (Craggs 60), Groves-Forbes, Bisset (Todd 78), McLeod (Symons 85).

ENL Pos: 8th