Albion make the short trip to Essity Park on Boxing Day to kick off the Ebac Northern League’s festive calendar with a 10:30am kick off against Prudhoe YC Seniors. RACA’s record against the Seniors since they joined the Northern League in 2022 makes grim reading, with us picking up a solitary point in the five games we’ve played to date & the men in red and black have already beaten us 2-0 on our own patch this season so we’re well overdue putting one over former Albion stalwart Mark McMeekin who is Prudhoe’s current manager. The Seniors are on a decent run in the league at least, having gone eight games unbeaten since losing at home to Darlington Town in October, but their upward trajectory has been tempered a little with the last three games being drawn. There’s precious little to separate the clubs in the league table, both on 46 points and only a superior goal difference of one keeping Ryton ahead of Prudhoe but we do have a game in hand.

It will be interesting to see how the early kick off influences the attendance, hopefully a few neutrals planning on taking in two games will be present, but it would be great to see plenty of black and blue scarves in the ground as there always is on this occasion. If you’ve never been to Essity Park, the post code for your sat nav is NE42 5EH. Have a great Christmas & hope to see lots of you at the game. Howay the RACA!