RACA make the trip to basement club Esh Winning today hoping to complete the double over the Stags following the 8-0 win at home in August. Esh are going through a torrid spell having lost their last thirteen games, not having scored in their last seven, resulting in Scott Oliver stepping down as manager with Jonny Swift taking charge again. Albion aren’t in great form themselves but will be buoyant following the midweek win over Prudhoe in the E Armstrong Cup & hattrick hero Louis Calvert will be hoping to add to his goals tally following his confidence boosting showing on Tuesday.

If you’re planning to head to the Deerness Valley the address for your satnav is West Terrace, Waterhouses, Esh Winning, County Durham, DH7 9BQ

Another date for your diary relating to the Ernest Armstrong Cup is 28/01/26 when we host Chester-le-Street Town in the 2nd Round

First Division Newcastle Blue Star have signed midfielder Craig Scott from the Albion. Signed very early in the season, he made four starts for Albion & came on four times as a substitute. Best of luck to Craig at Denton Road

Bradley Morns has left the club & joined West Allotment Celtic, where former RACA boss Tony Fawcett has taken temporary charge. Bradley was signed in the close season but was unable to break into the first team. We wish him well up at Craik Park

Wednesday’s Division 2 Result

FC Hartlepool 3 (Bayes 2, Smith) Billingham Synthonia 1 (Irvine)

FT RACA 4 PRUDHOE YC SENIORS 1 Attendance 145

A Louis Calvert hattrick and Nathan Beesley’s second cup goal put RACA through in this Ernest Armstrong Cup 1st Round tie with Prudhoe which saw both sides have a man sent off & each concede a penalty. Liam Dalton scored Prudhoe’s consolation goal.

MATCH SUMMARY

With both sides coming into this derby game in poor form, this was an opportunity to forget the league and enjoy the rough & tumble of a cup derby game under the lights on the coldest evening in the Tyne Valley for some time. A quiet opening 11 minutes didn’t indicate what was to follow, Sam Wilson the Prudhoe keeper getting his gloves dirty on 12 minutes cutting out a powerful Nathan Beesley cross, his parried ball eventually cleared to safety by his defenders despite the menacing presence of Ryton forwards. But Wilson could do nothing about Louis Calvert’s 17^th minute free kick as Albion capitalised on an infringement outside the box, Calvert curling the ball over the three man wall and right into the top corner beyond the reach of Wilson’s outstretched arm to open the scoring. Four minutes later & there was a chance of an action replay with RACA awarded another free kick in almost the dame place, but this time, although on target, the ball sailed into Wilson’s arms. Wilson was in full action again the the 26^th minute when his goal kick was headed forward to Callum Johnston who unleashed a piledriver that Wilson had to push out for a corner. The Seniors made a Horlicks of clearing the initial corner, conceding another one taken by Fergus Lynch whose kick was met by Nathan Beesley who tapped home to double the advantage. It was soon to get worse for the visitors in the 31^st minute when a Danny Driver throw in wasn’t dealt with properly, a weak clearance falling to Calvert who acrobatically spun in the air firing an overhead kick over Wilson & into the net for another eye-catching goal to make it 3-0 to RACA.

Finally Prudhoe woke up & started making incursions into the Albion goalmouth without causing Tom White, in for the injured Callum Corkhill, too many problems in the Ryton goal. That was until the 40^th minute when Prudhoe won a corner, Freddie Marr’s cross being met by Liam Dalton whose touch bounced into the net via the far post to put his side back in the game. Their task of getting on level terms became that much harder when Freddie Marr got his marching orders in first half stoppage time so much to ponder for Seniors manager Dean Walker at the break.

HT RACA 3 Prudhoe YC Seniors 1

RACA started the second half on the front foot, Lynch bringing an early save out of Wilson & Beesley not far off getting his brace following a Lynch corner on 49 minutes. Prudhoe’s salvage task began to look a hopeless cause when Jordan Plunkett, scorer of both the Seniors’ goals here in the league game put in a clumsy tackle to upend Calvert in the box on 57 minutes & referee Daniel Forbes awarded the spot kick. Calvert took the penalty himself and put his spot kick beyond Wilson to make it 4-1. Mr Forbes was pointing to the penalty spot at the other end when a 68^th minute James Simpson free kick was adjudged to have been handled by a combo of Beesley & George Hayton in the Ryton box. The restoral of thinnest of lifelines fell to captain Brad Rogers but to sum up Prudhoe’s night, he rolled the ball a foot wide of the post & the sliver of a recovery had gone. The game became a bit niggly thereafter and on 82 minutes Albion’s Joe Groves-Forbes was dismissed following an altercation with the Senior’s Shay Mulligan. Then on 86 minutes an Albe Fletcher break for Albion caught the Prudhoe defence expecting on offside call & only the intervention of Dalton on the line prevented a fifth Albion goal. Dalton brought a late save out of White following an 88^th minute Prudhoe corner but that was to be their last chance of a consolation & Albion progressed to the 2^nd Round
FT RACA 4 PRUDHOE YC SENIORS 1

Local bragging rights go to Albion who face Chester-le-Street Town at home in Round 2

RACA– White, Beesley, Oldfield, Lawson (Fletcher) 45, Driver, Hayton, Lynch, Skivington (Dodds 74), Calvert (Adotey 58), Anderson (Groves-Forbes 67 S/O), Johnston (Caygill 81).

Tuesday’s Division 2 Results

Chester Le Street Town 3 (Maw, Robson 2) Darlington Town 0

Yarm & Eaglescliffe 2 (Atkinson 2) Jarrow 1 (Cunningham 1)

Tuesday’s Durham Challenge Cup Result

Seaham Red Star 1 (Porritt) West Auckland Town 0

Just a reminder that our re-arranged Ernest Armstrong Cup game at home to Prudhoe is on Tuesday at 7:30pm, as opposed to our usual midweek day of Wednesday to avoid a clash with the Newcastle United v Fulham League Cup game being played. Hope to see you all then.

FT RACA 0 REDCAR TOWN 1 Attendance 135

A first half penalty from Redcar’s McCorie Carmichael was enough to condemn RACA to a sixth home defeat as the league leaders hung on for the three points in a game where chances were at a premium, partly due to the heavy pitch that had made a remarkable recovery from the Prudhoe game. Despite the visitors going down to 10 men, Albion just couldn’t make the breakthrough to salvage something from the game.

MATCH SUMMARY

Albion’s first December fixture couldn’t have been much tougher as table toppers Redcar Town, unbeaten on the road were the advent visitors. Nathan Beckham gave Dylan Lawson his first start of the season & in goal for his first league game was Tom White while Glenn Caygill made a welcome return to the bench following his lengthy injury. On an unsurprisingly heavy pitch it was a cagey start with neither side creating much up front. The first action to stir the 135 spectators was an 11^th minute shot from Ryton’s Louis Anderson having being set up by Louis Calvert that wasn’t too far wide but didn’t unduly trouble Town keeper Will Cowey. There was drama just outside of the RACA box on 15 minutes when White storming out of his box to intercept a ball, ploughed into his teammate Craig Scott leaving the latter needing treatment but fortunately both players were able to resume the game. Pretty much from the restart, Anderson chanced his arm from far out on the left flank but his powerful effort crashed into the side netting. Redcar had a half hearted claim for a penalty in the 27^th minute when McCorie Carmichael went down in the box & while he appeared to hurt his neck in the tumble, he went down rather easily & referee Matthew Davison waved play on. However Carmichael was to have his penalty on 39 minutes when he was brought down by Danny Driver on the edge of the box & Mr Davison awarded the spot kick. Carmichael dusted himself down & slotted his penalty home to score his 7^th goal of the season. There was some late action at either end, firstly on 44 minutes a Matthew Garbutt corner led to a shot from Mustapha Abdullahi being blocked by a sea of Ryton legs while at the other end, an Anderson cross caused panic in the Steelmen’s defence, Joe Bennett’s clearance going up vertically & when Cowey fumbled the ball as it came down, the referee deemed that was due to an infringement and blew for a free kick much to the annoyance of the home fans.

HT RACA 0 Redcar Town 1

Town were the first to create a chance in the second half on 51 minutes, when following a Carmichael lay off, Abdullahi fizzed a cross into the RACA box which got deflected to safety. A minute later and Albion’s Callum Johnston sped upfield on a break & unleashed a powerful shot that Cowey was pleased to see go just the wrong side of the post. Albion came so close to an equaliser on 56 minutes when Calvert saw his shot saved by Cowey, the ball then landing to Johnston whose shot was saved on the line by the head of Jayden Sekete who was down on all fours. Despite the loud claims for hand ball Mr Davison further endeared himself to the RACA faithful by awarding a corner, but the video evidence albeit from distance, did suggest it was the defender’s head that made contact with the ball. Albion were thrown a lifeline when Town defender Matthew Garbutt was dismissed on 67 minutes, given a straight red card following a dangerous tackle. Thereafter Albion huffed and puffed as they pressed for the equaliser but the Steelmen held firm as they collected the points & pulled three points clear at the top of the table as a result.

FT RACA 2 REDCAR TOWN 1

On the face of it a narrow defeat to the league leaders isn’t too bad a result but not fully capitalising on having a man advantage for a quarter of the game to at least grab a point left those of black & blue persuasion a little disappointed at full time.

RACA– White, Beesley, Oldfield, Skivington, Driver, Scott, Lawson (Hayton 74), Fletcher (McLeod 63), Anderson (Dodds 85), Calvert, Johnson. Unused Substitutes- Bailey, Caygill

Saturday’s Division 2 Results

Billingham Town 1 (W att) Jarrow 2 (Armstrong, Karim)

Darlington Town 0 AFC Newbiggin 1 (Smith)

Durham United 0 Newcastle University 3 (Morris, Pennington, Manning)

Grangetown BC 3 (O’Brien 2, Lambert) Billingham Synthonia 1 (Healy)

Prudhoe YC 0 Chester le Street Town 2 (Robson 2)

Seaham Red Star 4 (Wilds 2, Weirs, Porritt) Esh Winning 0

Sunderland RCA 1 (Guy) Boldon CA 1 (Humble)

Sunderland West End 4 (Hunter, Appleby, Davis, Deehan) Alnwick Town 2 (Clarke 2)

Tow Law Town 4 (Walsh 3, Shevells) Yarm & Eaglescliffe 0

Albion face a significant task on Friday evening when Division 2 favourites and current leaders Redcar Town visit the Tyne Valley. Although a dry Thursday is forecast, Friday is expected to bring some rain to NE40 so do please check the game is on before heading off as the pitch took a hammering off the Prudhoe game so we’re hoping groundsman Jems can work his magic.

Assuming the game goes ahead RACA will lock horns with a Redcar side joint top of the table with FC Hartlepool on 41 points, but The Steelmen have four games in hand over Pool. They are also unbeaten in thirteen league & cup games on the road this season so it would be a great early Christmas present for Nathan Beckham if that fine record was ended. Town won the reverse fixture at the inappropriately named Neeform Stadium, (though their home form isn’t quite as good as their away form) in August 3-1, Jack Salkeld getting our consolation goal while Kyren Clark bagged a first half brace & Connor Smith also scored before the interval. Clark has scored 20 goals this season for Redcar, 19 of them in the league so he’ll be a potent threat if he’s in the squad. On the plus side we did win this fixture 2-1 last season so a repeat of that would be one heck of a tonic & might well be the turning point of the season as we push for a play off place.

Kick off is at 7:30pm if you’re able to make it. Howay the RACA.

The re-arranged Ernest Armstrong 1st Round Cup tie against Prudhoe is expected to take place on Tuesday 16th December, not our usual Wednesday evening as Newcastle United are at home to Fulham in the Carabou Cup that night & we need to avoid clashing with them at all costs. Kick off will be the usual 7:30pm

Tuesday’s Division 2 Result

Sunderland RCA 0 Park View 2 (Boddy, Pye)

Tuesday’s Durham Challenge Cup Result

Shildon 4 Jarrow 0

This month’s lucky winners are-

1st prize No 77 D Muse who wins £100

2nd Prize No 98 A Armstrong who wins £75

3rd Prize No 89 S Oliver who wins £25

Next month’s draw is on 04/01/2026

Well done to our three winners, if you’d like to take part in this monthly fundraiser from just £5 a month, please contact us via the usual channels on the foot of the homepage or contact Kevin Wilkinson at the club. Thank-you

Red Star have contacted RACA to say the pitch has several areas of standing water and is highly unlikely to go ahead although this can’t be confirmed until referee Kevin McKitterick makes his inspection shortly. The weather forecast in SR7 is for persistent rain from 5pm so that will also add to the water problem. We will confirm the game is off or on on this site once we hear of a definite decision being made

*** MATCH CONFIRMED AS POSTPONED ***

Friday Night’s Division 2 Result

Billingham Synthonia 1 (Irvine) Darlington Town 1 (Bondarenko)

Saturday’s Division 2 Results

Billingham Town 3 (Mitchell 2, o.g.) Grangetown BC 3 (Urwin, Leka, Martin)

Boldon CA 4 (o.g. Humble, Kerridge, McGuinness) Tow Law Town 2 (Benjamin, Walsh)

FC Hartlepool 3 (Bennett, Bayes 2) Alnwick Town 0