The league have re-arranged Saturday’s postponed game at Bedford Terrace to Tuesday 12th March with a 7:30pm kick off

Weather permitting it’s a trip to South Tyneside on Tuesday evening to face Boldon CA. We beat ‘The Villa’ 2-1 at Kingsley Park in the reverse fixture in September, Michael Baxter and Daniel Craggs got the goals for us that day winning against ten men with a stoppage time goal. We were also due to face Boldon in our defence of the Ernest Armstrong Cup before the tournament was scrapped due to the fixture backlog. After a good start to the season, Boldon have slipped down the table, not helped by numerous postponements, but did win their last game against Redcar Town 3-0. If the game goes ahead & you’re planning to head down, the address is Boldon Colliery Welfare Ground, Boldon Colliery, NE35 9AN. Kick off is 7:30pm

Former Albion favourite Harry Outterside has signed for 1st Division Crook Town according to the Northern League website. Harry had been in the USA but returned to Blighty just before Christmas and had subsequently featured in Tony Fawcett’s Consett squad.

Today’s game at Billingham Town has been called off. The Town twitter account has confirmed as expected that the Bedford Terrace pitch is waterlogged & failed the 9am inspection

Albion’s next game is another trek down the A19 to face Billingham Town tomorrow, Saturday 10th February. However the game is in great doubt & the Blues have arranged a 9am inspection at Bedford Terrace. RACA beat Town 3-1 at Kingsley Park in early September in the reverse fixture & would be hopeful of beating 17th place Town taking into account current form. If the game goes ahead & you want to head down to cheer on RACA, the address is Bedford Terrace, Billingham, Cleveland, TS23 4AE. News of the result of the inspection will be put on this website and/or on Twitter so keep an eye out for updates.

RACA made it four wins in a row with a 6-1 win at Easington Colliery in a game played in grim conditions. The first half saw Albion play with the strong wind whipping off the North Sea & horizontal rain behind them & they took maximum advantage of the conditions racing to a 5-0 lead by the interval. It took until the 23rd minute for the deadlock to be broken, Rhys McLeod firing home a low shot past Easington ‘keeper Ant Lowerson, who was to pull off a top class save amid the barrage of first half shots. It was 2-0 just two minutes later as Scott Oldfield opened his account for Ryton with a goal scored from the edge of the box, & Aaron Costello was inevitably on the scoresheet on the half hour mark to increase the advantage. Oliver Symons also got his first goal of the season to make it 4-0 on 35 minutes & Kristian Sands rounded off a five star first half show, netting in stoppage time. While it looked cosy with such an advantage, Albion would face the challenges their hosts had in the first half with no real sign of the wind & rain abating. However Easington were unable to master the conditions as well as RACA, frequently overhitting passes & shots, & while dominating the second half it took until the 66th minute to start the comeback when James Fairley scored directly from a corner to make it 5-1 which was greeted with a bizarre total silence around the Welfare Ground which made the small band of Albion fans wonder if the goal had been chalked off. Any hopes of the Colliers making a comeback were quashed when Costello grabbed his second & RACA’s 6th goal on 68 minutes. For the rest of the game the Albion defence dug deep & held out against constant Easington pressure but that’s 18 goals scored in the last four games with just the one conceded & move back into the top ten with those play-off positions inching closer. For Easington it was a fourth straight loss & they remain just outside the play-offs in 6th place.

FT EASINGTON COLLIERY 1 RACA 6 Attendance 63

One for your diary- Saturday’s postponed game at home to Division 2 leaders Blyth Town has been rescheduled for Wednesday 28th February at Kingsley Park with a 7:30 kick off

Next up for RACA is a trip to Easington Colliery on Thursday evening. While we’ve won our last three games, the promotion chasing Colliers have had a mini slump losing their last three, most recently a 0-3 home defeat to Newcastle Blue Star. Easington beat us on penalties in the Brooks Mileson League Cup at Kingsley Park in November but we’ve not met in the league yet this season with our home game against them scheduled to be our final game of the regular season.

Kick off is at 7:30pm on Thursday 8th February and if you’re planning on heading down the A19 to cheer on the black & blue, the address of their ground is Welfare Park, Memorial Avenue, Easington Colliery SR8 3PL and if you’ve been there before you’ll know you can’t park right next to the stadium.

The draw for February’s RACA 100 Club was held on Saturday.

The winners are:

•  No.44 C Robertshaw £100
•  No.25 C Armstrong £75
•  No.11 K McDevitt £25

Congratulations to the lucky winners! The next draw is scheduled for March 2, 2024.

To join the RACA 100 Club or for more details, please contact Mr Paul Le-Patourel on 07720413390.

Laquan Esdaille has left the club and joined Chester-le-Street Town.

Esdaille, who signed from Heaton Stannington in September 2022, made 51 appearances for Albion.

He was voted as the RACA Supporters’ Player of the Season last term after helping the team to safety in the Northern League 2.

The club would like to put on record our thanks to Ezzy for his leadership, commitment and dedication and wish him well for the future.