Albion welcome new visitors to the Oldhaulage Stadium for the second time in three days as First Division Kendal Town come to the Tyne Valley for the first time following Grangetown’s debut in NE40 on Saturday.

This Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup game is being played on Tuesday instead of our usual Wednesday night slot as Newcastle host Liverpool then and they wouldn’t change dates & also the kick off is slightly later at 7:45pm to give ‘The Mintcakes’ a bit extra time to head over from Westmorland. This will be our first League Cup game for a few seasons with the competition being a victim of COVID and then being shelved due to a backlog of league fixtures so it’s especially nice to play opposition for the first time too. Kendal sit in 10th place in the first division with significantly better home form than on the road, but come into tomorrow night’s tie buoyed by a 4-0 win over Birtley at the Westmoreland Flooring Stadium. Hope a good few RACA fans can attend this tie as the black & blue finally got back to winning ways on Saturday. Howay the RACA!

RACA were back to their old self again beating Grangetown Boys Club 4-1 at the Oldhaulage Stadium this afternoon. The goals were shared around with Glenn Caygill, Louis Calvert, Dale Burrell and Matty Hayton all on target for Albion with Tyler Rowden scoring for the Teessiders.

MATCH SUMMARY

Albion stated the game brightly enough and a Rhys McLeod corner in the 6^th minute called Grangetown keeper Chris Elliot into early action having to scoop the ball away from danger only for the ball to end up at McLeod’s feet again & he curled a shot narrowly wide of the post. The reprieve was short lived however as from another corner just seconds later, Matty Hayton headed goalwards but his effort was blocked, the ball falling to Glenn Caygill who spun round and fired home to score RACA’s first league goal since October. The visitors managed to restore parity on 13minutes from an unexpected source when player manager Curtis Collantine took a throw in which Albion keeper Brogan Colquhoun looked to have intercepted & gathered safely. However Colquhoun uncharacteristically spilt the ball and Tyler Rowden was on hand to slot the ball home to make it 1-1. The remainder of the first half was a fairly even affair with neither keeper called into serious action & the sides went into the interval all square.

HT RACA 1 Grangetown Boys Club 1

 Albion almost restored their lead in the 49^th minute when Hayton set up Fergus Lynch whose shot looked bound for the top corner of the ‘Boysie’ net, but Elliot pulled of a fine acrobatic save to push the ball out for a corner. From the resultant corner, Ryton did get their noses in front again when Hayton’s shot bounced off two defenders’ legs & Louis Calvert was able to stab the loose ball home from close range. Just three minutes later Calvert had the opportunity to put daylight between the sides when he was adjudged to have been fouled by Grangetown’s Ben Bielby in the box & a penalty was awarded. Calvert opted to take the spot kick, however his weak strike was comfortably saved by Elliot who guessed rightly. Albion’s third goal on 56 minutes again came as a result of a corner. Hayton headed the ball on to the Grangetown bar, it rebounding nicely to Dale Burrell who side-footed home from close range to make it 3-1. The visitors did come close to pulling a goal back on 83 minutes when a Bielby free kick on the left wing curled into the box evading everyone save for a Ryton toe that nicked the ball out for a corner. It took until stoppage time for RACA to completely rubber stamp the win with a fine move finishing with a cross from Ben Tait, making his seasonal debut, landing at the feet of Hayton who nonchalantly tapped home to make it 4-1 and arrest the recent run of defeats.

FT RACA 4 GRANGETOWN BOYS CLUB 1 Attendance 220

RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington (Groves-Forbes 66), Ledger (Salim 63), Lynch, Caygill, Oldfield, Dart, Burrell, Calvert (Tait 75), McLeod (Lawson 70), Hayton.

Albion’s next scheduled game is a home game against struggling Grangetown Boys Club on Saturday afternoon. New Grangetown manager Curtis Collantine brings his troops north hoping to avenge the 2-1 RACA win on Teesside back in August, Dale Burrell and Abu Salim the men on target for the Albion that evening. Grangetown are on a run of eight successive defeats that has seen then drop to 21st place in Division Two, just one place above basement club Washington & are facing a RACA side on a run of five straight losses themselves, so something has to give!

The club are delighted to see Richie Hoggins signed on again after his enforced absence & also welcome back local lad Ben Tait as well as Jack Pickering who made one appearance for us last season.

Kick off on Saturday at the Oldhaulage Stadium is 3pm, hope you can get along to ideally see the black & blue get back to winning form again. Howay RACA!!

Tonight’s game at home to Sunderland RCA has fallen foul of the weather with parts of the pitch unplayable due to still being frozen. News of the date of the re-arranged fixture will be broadcast as soon as it has been arranged.

Update (24/11/2024): The match has been rescheduled for Wednesday 8th January 2025.

Albion have to get their season back on track starting under the lights on Friday night when we welcome Sunderland RCA to NE40 after a gap of 14 years. The clubs did meet at Meadow Park earlier this season where RACA edged out the Wearsiders 3-2 with goals from Calvert, Skivington and Salim earning the three points. Following relegation last season RCA have had a disappointing season this time round too, sitting down in 20th place in the table. On the road they’ve just won once, beating FC Hartlepool 3-2 at Grayfields Enclosure in September & picked up a solitary draw at Boldon but losing their other games away from SR2. Like us they were thumped by Billingham Town on their last away trip, but earned a credible 0-0 draw at home to Billingham Synthonia on Saturday. Ryton have drawn a blank in front of goal in the last three games so hopefully a fixture against a side who struggle away from home can re-ignite our season before we lose touch with the leading sides. Kick off is at 7:30pm & hopefully the cold snap expected doesn’t put the game in any jeopardy. Hope to see you there, howay the RACA!

Billingham Town handed out another thumping to RACA cruising to a 6-0 win at Bedford Terrace in what is Albion’s highest margin of defeat this season. RACA have now lost five league & cup games on the spin now & drop down to 7th place in the table having being overtaken by Prudhoe YC.

Match Summary

Albion faced a last minute goalkeeping crisis before the trip to Teesside with regular keeper Brogan Colquhoun having to withdraw at the 11^th hour for family reasons, a the manager’s cousin Ryan Beckham hurriedly signed on the Friday.       

The opening quarter of an hour was quite even but the Billingham began to dominate although it was the home keeper Matthew Wilkinson who was called into serious action first, in the 22^nd minute when Albion’s Matty Harrison drilled in a powerful shot from distance which Wilkinson dived down low to push to safety. Town did open scoring on 35 minutes when a log ball wasn’t dealt with by the RACA defence, the ball falling to Dale Hopson who fired the ball across the box & Kieran Stares tapped the ball home  to open his account for Town this season. Four minutes later and it was 2-0, Stares the provider with an accurate up and under to John Stephenson who shrugged off the attentions of two defenders to slot past  Beckham.

HT Billingham Town 2 RACA 0

The second half was only four minutes old when the Blues made it 3-0, Stephenson turned his marker inside out & crossed the ball to Stares who rose the highest to nod home.  Albion did create a half chance in 53 minutes when Matty Todd brought another save out of Wilkinson pushing the ball out for a corner. But it was more calamitous defending from Ryton on the hour mark, Lucas Pilling drilled the ball across the box & no-one in a yellow shirt could get a decisive touch. Hopson saw his shot saved by Beckham but the ball fell to Stares who tapped home to complete his hattrick. Harry Close made it 5-0 on 70 minutes, once again taking advantage of weak defending to slide his shot home. More comedy defending led the sixth goal for Town, Close picking up a stray ball played across the box for another tap in. So Town score six in consecutive home games while RACA put in one of their worst performances in a few seasons.

FT BILLINGHAM TOWN 6 RACA 0 Attendance 262

RACA- Beckham, Groves-Forbes (Craggs 66), Ledger (Lawson 65), Burrell (Cairns 70), Lynch, Oldfield, Dart, Todd, Hayton, Skivington, Harrison (Wilson 50).

Saturday sees Albion heading down the A19 to face Billingham Town for the second time this season having beaten the Blues 2-1 at home in August. Bedford Terrace hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Ryton over the years our last win there being in the 2016-17 season, & although Town have had a disappointing season so far currently in 16th place, they come into the game buoyed by a 6-1 win over Sunderland RCA at home last Saturday.

If you fancy the trip to Teesside the address for Bedford Terrace is- Bedford Terrace, Billingham, Cleveland, TS23 4AE. Howay the RACA!

Declan Bisset has left RACA and joined Chester-le-Street Town. He made 13 starts after joining us in the summer & came on 4 times as a substitute, scoring one goal for us, in the 2-0 County Cup win over Darlington Town. We wish Declan well at the Cestrians.

Albion’s unusually poor form against their Tyne Valley neighbours continued with a 0-2 defeat at home to Newcastle University. A 13th minute Ryan Redford penalty & a 33rd minute Jacob Milner goal was the difference in the sides as RACA went down to a fourth successive defeat.

Match Summary

 Newcastle University made the short trip to Albion hoping to extend their winning sequence over RACA to four games & in doing so inflict a fourth straight defeat in league and cup on Nathan Beckham’s out of form troops. They got a good chance to take the lead on 9 minutes when Jacob Milner was fouled on the edge of the RACA box but Ryan Redford’s free kick while going under the flimsy wall was an easy gather for keeper Brogan Colquhoun. Milner was again a key figure in the 13^th minute when what looked a good tackle in the box on the University number 11 by  Joe Groves-Forbes was deemed a foul by the referee Mr Tones & a penalty was awarded. Redford took the spot kick & while Colquhoun got a hand to the ball, the power took it into the back of the net. Albion’s first half chance came on 23 minutes when a mis-kicked clearance was seized upon by Matty Hayton but his weak effort from inside the box trundled wide. Albion had hopes for a penalty of their own on 28 minutes when there were strong claims that Scott Oldfield was pushed as he tried to latch on to a cross but after consulting with his linesman the referee declined to award anything. Hayton did test Uni keeper Leo Anderson a minute later with a powerful shot from the left flank that was palmed out for a corner which unfortunately for Albion came to nothing. Hayton was in the thick of things again on the half hour mark when Morgan Dart drilled the ball across the box from the left corner which landed at the feet of Hayton who looked sure to score with a tap-in but he got his legs in a tangle & by the time he sorted them out, there was a sea of red shirted defenders on hand to block his effort. Ryton were to rue that miss as they fell 0-2 down on 31 minutes when the Students broke quickly and a move involving Dominic Griffin, Joel Manning and Jacob Milnerhad the RACA defence back-pedalling & Milner had the simple task of slotting home past the exposed Colquhoun to give them a comfortable half time lead.

HT RACA 0 Newcastle University 2

If the first half was short of meaningful chances, the second was a positive desert with defences clearly on top. Ryton were having the bulk of the possession but it took until midway into the second half for a decent scoring opportunity, Glenn Caygill getting his head onto a corner, but he headed the ball down into the turf, losing its power & it ended up as an easy gather for Anderson. Colquhoun wasn’t called into action until the 83^rd minute when a move involving Theo Wong & Luca Cassidy saw the latter’s shot from an awkward angle blocked by the Albion custodian. In fairness there was little else to report so the game went the way of recent form between the two with another University victory.

FT RACA 0 NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY 2 Attendance 195

RACA- Colquhoun, Groves-Forbes, Ledger, Lynch, Caygill (Cairns 88), Oldfield, Dart (Lawson 75), Craggs (Harrison 55), Hayton (Adotey 85), McLeod (Armstrong 82), Todd

ENL Pos: 6th.

It will feel a bit like after the Lords Mayor’s Show on Wednesday night as we return to Northern League action against neighbours Newcastle University. It’s been a torrid November for RACA so far with that late defeat at Jarrow & being put out of both the Durham Challenge Cup & the FA Vase, and what we really don’t need just now is a fixture against a side who have a recent hoodoo over us. Since beating them in the E Armstrong Cup final in 2022, we’ve picked up just one point from a possible fifteen in games against them & already lost 1-3 to them this season at Essity Park in our first away game. The Students should be well rested by the time the game comes round as they won’t have played for 18 days since a 3-1 win over struggling Sunderland RCA on October 26th. Overall the Uni are having an in and out season, while in the bottom half of the table they can boast to defeating Blyth Spartans in the Northumberland Senior Cup last month. Let’s hope we can end this poor run against them & get the promotion push back on track. Kick off on Wednesday is at 7:30pm, hope you can make it. Howay RACA!!