RACA 1 ESH WINNING 1
For the third successive home game, Albion let a 1-0 lead slip & had to settle for a point with another 1-1 draw. Tonight, Louis Calvert’s 22nd minute goal had the hosts a goal up at the interval having also spurned several chances, but the Stags came out much stronger in the second half & Cobi Jones got a deserved equaliser on 65 minutes to share the spoils.
MATCH SUMMARY
Ryton welcomed regular opponents Esh Winning to the Oldhaulage Stadium for this the 40th meeting between the sides, both with play-off ambitions but both with jittery form in recent games. It was the Stags who created the first meaningful chance in the 7th minute when the ball was lumped forward to Kobi Jones who ran between two defenders but couldn’t get a clean contact on the ball which trundled just wide of Brogan Colquhoun’s right hand post. Colquhoun was called into action four minutes later when Joe Bates found a stray ball landing next to him & his reflex shot had the Ryton stopper smothering the ball on the ground. Louis Calvert had Albion’s first goalbound attempt on 13 minutes but he fired narrowly wide from distance & was similarly close on the quarter hour mark, spinning round to connect with a knock on in the box to put it just wide of Harry Alderson’s left hand upright. Matty Hayton was next to test Alderson, latching on to a blocked 17th minute clearance but the Esh keeper dived down low to block the shot. The Stags’ resistance was breached in the 22nd minute when Mogan Dart played a great ball forward for Calvert to run on to & he notched his 20th goal of the season, running past a ponderous Esh defence to fire high into Alderson’s net. 1-0 should have been 2-0 a minute later when the visitors were carved open again, Hayton ending up in a one on one with the keeper, but Alderson was able to push the ball from the RACA man’s control as he tried to round him. Esh were looking vulnerable at the back & another break on 24 minutes saw Hayton burst free again & instead of shooting, he unselfishly squared it to the unmarked Calvert but the ball was just behind the scorer and the chance was lost. Albion were in full attack mode & only an brilliant acrobatic save from Alderson on the half hour prevented Calvert from scoring his second of the game, powerfully heading a Dart cross before being foiled by the Esh goalie. The chances kept coming for Ryton, Joe Groves-Forbes heading over a Fergus Lynch cross on 34 minutes, but in the 45th minute it was the visitors who created the last chance of the half, Tom Merryweather finding himself in space and with enough time to steady himself before unleashing a shot which Colquhoun could only parry into a crowd of players but the ball was cleared to safety & the Albion goal stayed intact.
HT RACA 1 Esh Winning 0
The visitors started the second half brightly, Joe Bates coming close to a 47th minute equaliser, heading a Reece Brown shot towards the goal which Colquhoun had to tip over the bar, then Sam Haynes found himself in space with the ball in the 50th minute but chose accuracy over power, giving Colquhoun time to dive low and stop his shot. It was end to end stuff but Esh were looking the more dangerous, Brown bringing another save out of Colquhoun in the 57th minute. It came as no surprise when the Stags scored a leveller on 63 minutes, Bates floating over a pinpoint cross for Cobi Jones to head home to make it 1-1 to the groans of most of the 175 crowd who were witnessing yielding a lead for the third consecutive home game. Esh Winning’s defensive frailties re-appeared in the 67th minute when a routine ball wasn’t dealt with, Hayton nipping in to nick the ball but he was crowded out by a combination of Andy Taylor’s fine defensive tackle and the advancing Alderson before he could unleash his shot. At the other end Merryweather pumped forward a fine cross which evaded the RACA rearguard, dipping at the far post where Bates had advanced to, but the ball was a fraction in front of the Stags number 9 and the 70th minute chance went begging. Alderson was in the thick of things on 72 minutes when Albion substitute Rhys McLeod powered a shot that look destined for the top corner of the net before the keeper tipped the ball out for a corner. The match’s most controversial incident occurred on 82 minutes when Calvert was fouled more than once on a run towards goal, finally being chopped down by Taylor what looked a good three feet inside the box, but the referee only awarded a free kick from just outside the box much to the derision of the home fans in line with the edge of the penalty area. Esh’s own yellow wall did their job from the free kick & that was it for drama save for the floodlights going off in stoppage time but the referee was set to blow for full time anyway so after a minute’s wait he called time on this game in the darkness. So a point that Esh would be happier with, though both sides received a small boost when the news that Thornaby had lost at home to West End, though the current form of both sides will be giving concern in both camps. That said, the point does move Albion up a place into 6th.
FT RACA 1 ESH WINNING 1
RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington, Ledger, Page, Oldfield, Caygill, Dart (Hoggins 76), Lynch (Fletcher 48), Calvert, Groves-Forbes (McLeod 46), Hayton (Baxter 78)