FT DARLINGTON TOWN 0 RACA 2 Attendance 68
Albion kept up their unbeaten record at the Eastbourne Sports Complex thanks to two late goals from Rhys Hutchinson & Charlie Grieveson, that moved them to within a point & a place of the play-offs
MATCH REPORT
RACA made only their third ever visit to the Eastbourne Sports Complex to face mid-table Darlington Town with Charlie Grieveson back in the starting XI following his one match suspension.
While Albion had the better of the early exchanges, inaccurate shooting meant that Tyler Smith in the Town goal was largely untroubled. Albion did have the ball in the Darlo net on 19 minutes when Grieveson floated in a cross which Louis Calvert & Smith both went for, the RACA no11 winning the duel & nodding home but the linesman had flagged for a foul on the keeper. In a largely uneventful first half, Albion had the ball in the net again in the 44th minute following a Calvert cross that Smith took the sting out of but he could only palm it to Kyle Atkinson who just beat Darlo’s Brandon Mallaburn to the ball & tapped in, only for the linesman to flag for offside this time. The hosts had barely laid a glove on Ryton but the sides went into the interval all square.
HT Darlington Town 0 RACA 0
Three minutes into the second half saw Darlington create their first chance of note. A fine ball from Jim Wilson in defence picked out Joel White running up the right wing. He cut in & unleashed a shot that Callum Corkhill got a hand to, & the loose ball was knocked out for a corner that came to nothing. The hosts came closer to opening the scoring on the hour mark when recently introduced substitute Will Maddison went on a run beating three Ryton defenders, firing the ball just in front of the goal line but there wasn’t a black and white shirt to get on the end of it, once again the ball being knocked out to the relative safety of a corner. RACA responded on 67 minutes when a Corkhill punt upfield found Calvert who got the better of his marker Jamie Harwood. Calvert tried to lob the advancing Smith but the keeper just got a hand to the ball to push it out for a corner. Finally after 87 minutes, the deadlock was broken by Ryton when a Nathan Beesley cross from the right was met by Rhys Hutchinson who reacted quicker than the Town defence & tapped home his second goal of the season. A minute into stoppage time Albion wrapped up the three points when from a corner, Joe Groves-Forbes took full advantage of hesitant Darlington defending, tapping the ball to Grieveson who had time to compose himself then pick his spot to make it 2-0. In the rest of the extended stoppage time, Darlo plugged away looking for a consolation goal, but never really looked like troubling Corkhill and RACA went home with the three points
FT DARLINGTON TOWN 0 RACA 2
A perfect tonic & confidence booster after Wednesday’s blip that leaves the play-offs in touching distance. The squad can put the league to one side for now as the next two fixtures are both cup games, Durham United away in the County Cup on Wednesday & the big one on Saturday when we host Billingham Town in the FA Vase.
RACA– Corkhill, Beesley, Grieveson, Plunkett (Groves-Forbes 76), Caygill, Hayton, Fletcher, Atkinson, Anderson (Gascoigne 90+8), Hutchinson (Craggs 87), Calvert (Bewley 80). Substitutes Not Used- Ajavon.