FT RACA 0 JARROW 2 Attendance 301

RACA’s mini slump continued as they were comprehensively outplayed by a strong Jarrow side, Lutfur Karim bagging a first half brace in which his side were in complete control. Albion put up a much better fight in the second half but never looked really like recovering the situation, and have now gone three games without scoring.

RACA– Corkhill, Skivington, Dart, Salkeld, Driver, Hayton, Groves-Forbes, Anderson, Calvert, Bisset, Johnston. Substitutes- Whittaker, Craggs, Dodds, Emmerson

MATCH SUMMARY

On a glorious autumn afternoon RACA faced in form Jarrow watched by 301 spectators at a sun- kissed Oldhaulage Stadium, hoping to end the blip in form that has seen the goals dry up following the fine run that started in early September. Jarrow were on a fine run themselves, not losing a game in all competitions since August so this was always going to be a tough ask.

Defences and assistant referee’s offside flags scuppered any chances on goal in the opening minutes and it was RACA who created the first half chance when keeper Callum Corkhill launched a kick upfield on 15 minutes, the ball bouncing over the defence where Louis Calvert nipped past them but Jarrow keeper Jak Wells just beat him to the ball, punching it out but only as far as Joe Groves-Forbes who struck his shot cleanly but it met the head of Jarrow defender Luke Hudson & away the ball went to safety. Jarrow really should have scored on 18 minutes when a cross fell to the feet of Jay Barber but from three yards out he managed to blast his shot high over the bar. Albion responded on 20 minutes when Declan Bisset curled a dangerous looking free kick into the Jarrow box, but as has been frequently been the case of late, no-one was able to get a telling touch on the ball which ran out for a goal kick. The visitors showed how it should be done a minute later when a Barber corner was floated to the far post where Lutfur Karim outjumped everyone to head home and deservedly put his side ahead. Jarrow continued to press & on 31 minutes, Joe Bates found Kieron Beattie who broke away down the left before cutting in & trying to chip Corkhill but the Ryton keeper plucked the ball from out of the air. Beattie was instrumental in Jarrow’s second goal on 33 minutes when he laid the ball to Karim who cleverly side footed the ball past two defenders & out of the reach of Corkhill to make it 2-0. It was role reversal minutes later when Karim found Beattie totally unmarked, & he bore down on goal but his shot while beating Corkhill this time crashed off the post. The 38^th minute saw another half chance for RACA when Callum Johnston laid off Louis Anderson whose shot while slightly off balance wasn’t too far wide. Corkhill was on hand to prevent a third Jarrpow goal with his defence left trailing the visiting forwards again, blocking a Bates shot with his legs to ensure the deficit remained at two goals,

HT RACA 0 Jarrow 2

After Albion being decidedly second best in the first half, the second half was a much more even affair, although Corkhill had to block another shot from Beattie in the 51^st minute with his feet when the Jarrow player had his customary run down the left flank & cut in, Overall the second period turned out to be a stalemate which obviously suited Jarrow more & while Ryton created a few chances, keeper Wells was to have an easy afternoon in the sun as the home strikers didn’t greatly trouble him. Jarrow weren’t offering much themselves either, Hogan tried to catch Corkhill out when he fired a 44^th minute free kick in his own half while everyone else was still taking up their positions but the Albion keeper was able to shepherd the ball wide. He was called into action again in stoppage time, this time denying Bates with his legs after the Jarrow number 9 took advantage of the Albion defence’s high line as they pushed up for a consolation goal. While not conceding any more goals after the interval, Ryton didn’t really look like scoring which will have the RACA management somewhat concerned. Jarrow meanwhile go 11 games without defeat in all competitions, a perfect preparation for their Vase tie at Ramsbottom United.

FT RACA 0 JARROW 2

Albion drop down to 9^th place and a glance at the records reveals haven’t picked up a single point against the sides in the top 7 places. Fortunately the next game is against a team in the lower reaches of the table against whom RACA have, not surprisingly, significantly better form, in the shape of Northern League newcomers Durham United currently sitting in 18^th place.

Saturday’s Other Division 2 Results

Billingham Synthonia 2 (Irvine, Healy) Yarm & Eaglescliffe 3 (Stewart-Titchiner, Atkinson, Williams)
Billingham Town 1 (Stares) Alnwick Town 4 (Clark 2, Hoggins 2)
Boldon CA 2 (Appleby, Gateshill ) Darlington Town 3 (MacMahon, Beauchamp 2)
Esh Winning 1 (Salim) Chester-le-Street Town 3 (Nelson, Munro, Robson)
FC Hartlepool 3 (Smith, Mcgee 2) Prudhoe YC Seniors 1 (Bickerton)
Newcastle University 1 (Redford) Park View 1 (Siyanbola)
Redcar Town 2 (Taylor, Garbutt) AFC Newbiggin 1 (Cooper)
Seaham Red Star 1 (Weirs) Durham United 2 (Kay 2)
Sunderland RCA 3 (Lukeman, Stanton, Thompson) Grangetown Boys Club 1 (Dixon)
Sunderland West End 2 (Hunter, Barker) Tow Law Town 1 (Adams)

RACA face a tough opponent in Jarrow at the Oldhaulage Stadium on Saturday as they look to return to the free scoring form of September following two blanks in front of goal. The Jarrovians come into the game after dispensing with 1st Division Easington Colliery in the Durham Challenge Cup on Wednesday, having already sent Hartlepool United packing in the preliminary round. In the league they have crept up the table & moved ahead of us following a long unbeaten run throughout all of September, not having lost since a surprise 2-1 reverse to Prudhoe at Perth Green at the tail end of August. Our form against the South Tyneside outfit isn’t great either having only won four of our fifteen encounters since their promotion from the Wearside League in 2017, and more recently have lost the last four games in which we’ve met including a 0-3 at home in the final game of last season. So Nathan and the management team will be under no illusion how difficult a fixture this will be against last season’s play off qualifiers.

Kick off is at the usual Saturday time of 3pm if you fancy heading to NE40 & with neither Newcastle United or Sunderland playing, and a dry sunny day forecast, there should be a decent crowd there.

FT CROOK TOWN 0 RACA 0 (Crook win 5-4 on penalties) Attendance 217

Albion were knocked out of the Durham Challenge Cup by the narrowest of margins at Millfield losing 5-4 on penalties. There was little between the sides in the 90 minutes, RACA the better side in the first half, Crook the stronger in the second, but goalmouth action was in short supply & there was an air of inevitability that it remained goalless at full time. So on to the shoot out with 9 very well taken spot kicks & one not far of the mark, rattling the bar, but that was enough for Crook to progress & Albion are out of a second cup tournament at the first hurdle.

RACA– White, Cairns, Dart, Salkeld, Driver, Hayton, Bisset, Anderson, Calvert, Whittaker, Johnston. Substitutes – McLeod, Fletcher, Dodds, Emmerson, Craggs

MATCH SUMMARY

For this County Cup tie Albion handed seasonal debuts to keeper Tom White and George Hayton while Luca Cairns and Charlie Whittaker made their first starts to add to several substitute appearances. The 5 man bench included new signing Oliver Emmerson from Newcastle Chemfica & Daniel Craggs who’d make his seasonal debut as a second half substitute. So a few changes as RACA locked horns with their first division opponents on a pleasant evening at Millfield.

In a first half where chances were at a premium, Albion had the first chance on 5 minutes following a Danny Driver cross where Louis Calvert got the goal-side of the home defence but just couldn’t make contact with the ball with only Crook keeper Ryan Johnson to beat. Ryton continued to create more shots but the shooting boots were left firmly in the changing rooms as nothing was threatening the home side’s goal. Crook for their part had plenty of possession but were creating nothing to concern the debutant White between the sticks for the visitors although Aaron Hardy did at least trundle a 23^rd minute shot on target, but it was an easy gather for White. The only other goalmouth action in a forgettable first half came on 25 minutes when a Driver throw in was flicked on by Louis Anderson forcing Johnson to palm the ball out for a RACA corner which unfortunately came to naught.

HT Crook Town 0 RACA 0

The 217 spectators were hoping for a more exciting second half & it was RACA who created the first chance on 53 minutes when White launched a free kick up into the Crook box where Calvert volleyed the ball sweetly but over the bar. A shot on goal from Crook’s Jack Wallace went the same way on the hour mark as everyone waited for the spark to ignite the game. The Black & Amber fans finally found their voices on 64 minutes when Liam Goldborough had two bites of the cherry following a cross from the left, his second effort forcing White to push the ball out for a corner. The first division side were beginning to assert & their best chance of the game came on 67 minutes when a cross from Goldborough was laid off by Hardy to Wallace who struck the ball well but it was always rising & cleared the bar. Ryton replied with a good move that saw Calvert strike a low shot from an awkward angle which Johnson was able to dive low to block though he momentarily spilt the ball before gathering it again before Rhys McLeod could pounce on it. With defences on top, the game reached its inevitable goalless conclusion meaning the fans would be treat to a penalty shoot out.

FT CROOK TOWN 0 RACA 0

For all the lack of accuracy in the match proper, there were some very well executed penalties in the shoot out and even the missed one wasn’t too bad. Here’s how it panned out-

Rhys McLeod with a low drive 1-0 RACA

Joey Smith makes it 1-1 with a high strike

Louis Anderson makes it 2-1 to RACA

Nathan Smith puts his shot into the top corner 2-2

Daniel Craggs makes it 3-2 & does a bit of badge kissing in front of the Crook fans who were trying to put him off!

Kurt Matthews makes it 3-3

The unfortunate George Hayton strikes the ball well but it crashes off the bar. Still 3-3

Jack Raper scores to put Crook 4-3 up

Albe Fletcher scores RACA’s last penalty. 4-4

Nathan Stephenson just needs to convert which he does, 5-4 to Crook & the Division One side progress.

Positives for Ryton as they more than matched their opponents & you couldn’t tell from this encounter who was the higher ranked side was, but back to League action with the visit of Jarrow on Saturday.

Wednesday’s Other Durham Challenge Cup 1st Round Results
Billingham Synthonia 0 Seaham Red Star 1 (McGeorge)
Brandon United 1 Billingham Town 0
Darlington RA 4 FC Hartlepool 6 (Smith, Miller, Bayes 2, Lamb 2)
Gateshead 3 Durham United 2 (Boothroyd 2)
Jarrow 3 (Bates, Armstrong, Norvell) Easington Colliery 1

On Wednesday evening, Albion make the journey to Millfield for the first time since the 2019/20 season to face Crook Town in the Durham Challenge Cup 1st Round. The Black & Amber sit in 18th place in Division One but recently went on a four game winning run including a win over Northern Premier League Newton Aycliffe in the Preliminary Round of this competition to haul themselves off the bottom of the table, but were brought back down to earth in their last game, a 6-1 home thumping off Penrith.

We’ve faced Crook four times in cup competitions before- a 3-1 home defeat in the League Cup 1st Round back in 2005/06 swiftly followed by a 2-1 home defeat in the FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round in the same campaign. In the 2009/10 season we also met in two separate cup ties, Crook winning an FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round match 1-0 at Kingsley Park, but Ryton had the last laugh, winning a Durham Challenge Cup Semi-Final game 1-0 in Crook, a win that sent us to the County Cup final against Billingham Synthonia.

The last time the sides met in any capacity was in the aborted 2020/21 season when Crook won a Division 2 fixture 5-2 at RACA, Callum Turnbull and Matty Slee on target for Albion that October evening.

Kick off on Wednesday is at 7:30pm & the address for the sat nav is The Sir Tom Cowie Millfield, West Road, Crook, County Durham, DL15 9PW if you fancy your cup fix.

Tuesday’s Durham Challenge Cup Results

Chester-le-Street Town 0 Birtley Town 3

Sunderland RCA 1 (Ward) Shildon 3

Sunderland West End 0 Horden CW 6

Whickham 0 Tow Law Town 1 (Prudhoe)

Tuesday’s Northumberland Senior Cup Result

Newcastle Benfield 2 AFC Newbiggin 2 (Smith, Higgins) Benfield win 5-4 on penalties

Today’s Ebac Northern League fixture at AFC Newbiggin has been postponed following a referee’s pitch inspection this morning.

The referee deemed it to be unsafe for both players and spectators due to Storm Amy bringing high winds across the region.

The fixture has been rescheduled for Wednesday 22nd October 2025.

Saturday’s Division 2 Results

Alnwick Town 2 (Benjamin, Patterson) Newcastle University 4 (Manning 3, Iversen)
Billingham Town 5 (Watt , Hopson, Mitchell 2, Stares) Boldon CA 1 (McBryde)
Chester-le-Street Town 0 Redcar Town 0
Darlington Town 4 (McMahon 2, Beauchamp, Brown) Esh Winning 1 (Ellis)

Durham United 2 (Kay, Boothroyd) Sunderland RCA 1 (Simpson)
Grangetown Boys Club 0 Sunderland West End 1 (Robinson)
Jarrow 1 (Hudson) Seaham Red Star 0
Park View AFC (o.g. x 2) FC Hartlepool 1 (Bennett)
Prudhoe YC Seniors 2 (Wilson, Lowes) Yarm & Eaglescliffe 1 (Atkinson)

FA Vase Re-arranged Tie

Billingham Synthonia 1 (Connolly) Tow Law Town 1 (Marsden) Synners win 4-3 on penalties

Albion make the trip to the South Northumberland coast to face AFC Newbiggin for the second time in a fortnight with the first competitive game between the sides at Holcim Park. RACA will be keen to shake off the heavy defeat to Chester-le-Street Town on Saturday while the Biggin will be buzzing following the 1-0 win at Boldon CA on Tuesday, Ethan Smith scoring a stoppage time goal to pinch the three points that move them up to 11th place in the table. Hopefully the conditions will be drier than the reverse fixture in Crawcrook where Albion won by the odd goal in five in heavy rain, Johnston & Bisset (2) on target for RACA, Matthew Nelson & Ethan Smith scoring for AFC Newbiggin.

If you’re travelling up to watch the boys, the address for your Sat Nav is Newbiggin Sports and Community Centre, Woodhorn Rd, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea NE64 6HG

Tuesday’s Second Division Results

Boldon CA 0 AFC Newbiggin 1 (Smith)
Yarm & Eaglescliffe FC 4 (Dalton 2, Jones, Conway) Sunderland West End 0 

FT RACA 0 CHESTER LE STREET TOWN 4 Attendance 297

Albion’s fine winning streak was blown out the water by Chester-le-Street Town at the Oldhaulage Stadium this afternoon. Although undeservedly trailing 0-1 at half time to a Ryan Wright goal, Ryton were decidedly second best after the interval, Wright getting a second goal before a late collapse from the hosts in which Owen Kingsland & Scott Robson got a late goal each within two minutes of each other. RACA’s biggest home defeat to the Cestrians see us drop to 6th place, Chester being one of the clubs to leapfrog us.

MATCH SUMMARY

Nathan Beckham was faced with the late news that Louis Calvert would be unavailable for this top of the table clash due to illness adding to the absence of Declan Bisset who was on holiday meaning having to put walking wounded on the bench to face in form Chester-le-Street Town. In an afternoon where the Ryton match day camera misfired due to moisture in the works from last week (hence the truncated match report), Albion’s players followed suit in the second half with a meek performance after putting in a decent first half.

In front of a healthy attendance of 291, Albion had plenty of efforts in the early period but the shooting boots were left firmly in the changing rooms as shots were high wide & handsome. So it came against the run of play when the Cestrians took the lead on 18 minutes when Ryan Wright received the ball from the left flank and shot home from close range for his first goal of the season. Albion responded with the usual classy approach play but no-one getting on the end of crosses in the Chester box. The shots kept coming but were mainly well off target with Town keeper Alexander Lawrence only having to dirty his shirt once, making a comfortable save low to his right and after a scrappy 45 minutes Ryton were in the recently unfamiliar situation of going into the interval behind.

HT RACA 0 Chester-le-Street Town 1

The second half saw Albion’s influence on the game gradually ebb away and it was the visitors who went close to extending the lead on 64 minutes when Flynn Martindale headed a Daniel Marriott free kick on to the top of Callum Corkhill’s bar. RACA pressed on for the leveller but found the red wall of the Cestrians defence hard to penetrate & were restricted to shots from distance. Instead Chester extended the lead on 72 minutes from a breakaway, Marriott and Wright combining & via a deflection from a defender, Wright was able to tap home. The visitors wrapped the game up in the 89^th minute from another break when substitute Owen Kingsland had the legs to beat his marker and fire home for 3-0. Albion’s Jack Elliott and Louis Anderson made keeper Lawrence earn his corn in the closing stages forcing a fantastic double save from him, but instead Ryton conceded a fourth goal in stoppage time when the experienced Scott Robson who had also come on as a substitute, outpaced his marker & dinked the ball wide of the advancing Corkhill before firing home into an empty net to make it 4-0 and complete the rout.

A bit of a setback on the upward trajectory, hopefully just a blip but a whole week to wait to try and rectify with the trip to AFC Newbiggin on Saturday.

RACA- Corkhill, Fletcher, Skivington (Bailey 84), Lynch, Dodds, Driver, Elliott, McLeod, Anderson, Johnston (Whittaker 65), Dart. Substitutes Not Used- Adotey, Craggs, Hayton

Saturday’s Other Division 2 Results

Esh Winning 0 Billingham Town 4 (Watt 2, White, Robinson)
FC Hartlepool 5 (Stott 2, Close, Green, McGee) Grangetown Boys Club 0
Newcastle University 0 Boldon CA 0
Redcar Town 2 (Harrison, Abdullahi) Darlington Town 1 (McMahon)
Seaham Red Star 2 (Burton, Appleby) AFC Newbiggin 0
Sunderland RCA 1 (Stanton) Jarrow 3 (Bates, Barber, Cunningham)
Sunderland West End 3 (Benali 2, Robinson) Durham United 1 (Duggan)
Tow Law Town 0 Prudhoe YC Seniors 3 (Berman, Wright, Rogers)
Yarm & Eaglescliffe 2 (Wild, Conway) Park View 0

RACA are looking for a sixth win on the spin against Chester-le-Street Town at the Oldhaulage Stadium on Saturday following the novelty of not having a midweek game. The Cestrians are level on points with us following their 1-0 win on Tuesday night over Sunderland West End at Moor Park with identical wins, draws and losses to us, but with them having an inferior goal difference. Chester have been regular opponents over the years having met 32 times in our Northern League era with the highest profile game arguably being the Ernest Armstrong Cup final of 2018 at Consett which Chester won 2-0. Albion did however do the double over the Cestrians last season winning this corresponding fixture 1-0 with Jack Errington the man on target.

Kick Off is at the usual 3pm slot if you’re up for it.

Tuesday’s Second Division Results

Billingham Town 3 (Watt 3) Seaham Red Star 1 (Rutherford)
Boldon CA 0 Park View 1 (Wilkinson)
Chester-le-Street Town 1 (Norris) Sunderland West End 0

Northumberland Senior Cup Result

Alnwick Town 4 (Anderson, Agostinho, Clark 2) Prudhoe Town 0

Wednesday’s Second Division Results

Esh Winning 1 (Tones) Yarm & Eaglescliffe 3 (Marshall, Roberts, Harrison)
Jarrow 2 (Hudson, Barber) Tow Law Town 0

Thursday’s Second Division Latest

Durham United 3 (Dixon, Kay, Bell) Grangetown BC 0

Defender Scott Oldfield is back at the Albion. The 35 year old re-signed for the club again today, having already made 72 appearances for us & scoring one goal to date. Welcome back Scott. Going the other way is James Blakey who has returned to Heaton Stannington ‘A’ having made three starts & three substitution appearances in his brief time at RACA.

RACA 3 AFC NEWBIGGIN 2 (Attendance 140)

RACA made it five straight wins with a narrow win over AFC Newbiggin in a pulsating game at the Oldhaulage Stadium despite falling behind to an early Matthew Nelson goal. Callum Johnson’s equaliser had the sides level at half time & a second half brace from Declan Bissett either side of an Ethan Smith goal for Biggin ensured another three points for Ryton, though the fine sequence of clean sheets has ended. Both sides are to be commended for providing the drenched spectators with such a good game in grim conditions with heavy rain & an easterly breeze picking up in the second half to make it a difficult playing and viewing experience.

MATCH REPORT

AFC Newbiggin made their debut at the Oldhaulage Stadium amid a steady downpour of rain, but such was the extent of the dry summer, the pitch soaked up the water without issue & even at kick off the surface was still firm. Still these were challenging conditions for players & spectators alike & perhaps predictably it was a mistake that led to the opening goal on 6 minutes. Fergus Lynch having helped win the ball from a Biggin attack then played it across the box, but it didn’t reach its intended target. Instead Matthew Nelson picked up the stray ball & struck it sweetly first time past Callum Corkhill and into the corner of Ryton net to put Newbiggin ahead and end a run of 367 minutes of Albion not conceding a goal. The visitors created another good chance from a break in the 10^th minute when Bradley Higgins outpaced the Albion defence & crossed from the right, the ball going over Corkhill but it was too far ahead of Ethan Smith who would have had a simple tap in, but instead the ball skidded out for a goal kick. At the other end, Callum Johnston went on a fine solo run to the edge of the Biggin box before unleashing his shot but it went over the bar. Johnston was to have better fortune on 31 minutes when he picked up a Josh Skivington ball launched upfield, then cut into the box, lobbed keeper Robert Hodgson, and slotted home past the despairing slide of defender Brendan Balmbra to ensure RACA would go into the interval all square

HT RACA 1 AFC Newbiggin 1

Albion got their noses in front following a fine 54^th minute move involving Louis Calvert, Rhys McLeod and Declan Bisset, McLeod playing an accurate defence splitting pass to Bisset who struck the ball first time curling it past Hodgson to score his fifth goal of the season. The old adage of being at your most vulnerable when you’ve just scored, was endorsed when within two minutes AFC Newbiggin drew level. Nelson crossed the ball into Ryton box, reaching Smith who had time to control the it & while it wasn’t the cleanest of strikes, the ball ended up in its intended location, the back of the Albion net to restore parity. Johnston brought a fine save out of Hodgson on 69 minutes when he picked up a stray ball on the edge of the ‘D’ following a tackle, He struck it well but the Biggin keeper was able to push the ball out for a corner. Unfortunately for Hodgson, it was a spill from him that gave RACA what was to be the winner. McLeod crossed into the box & Hodgson dived down to smother the wet ball which slipped from his grip right to the feet of Bisset who had the easy task of tapping home to make it 3-2. Albion kept pushing for another & Johnston’s speed on 80 minutes saw him outpace the Newbiggin defenders & with just Hodgson to beat, tried the chip but it had insufficient height & the goalkeeper comfortably plucked the ball out of the air. Newbiggin pushed up for an equaliser, a scramble in the Ryton box was followed by a last second free kick with Hodgson also joining in up front. With the last touch of the game, Cody Short jumped up to get his head on to the ball, but he put it wide & Albion had their fifth win in succession to close up on the top three.

RACA– Corkhill, Skivington, Dart, McLeod (Whittaker 85), Lynch, Driver, Bisset, Fletcher, Calvert, Johnston, Anderson, Anderson. Substitutes Not Used, Cairns, Luke, Bailey, Dodds.

Saturday’s Other Division 2 Results

Alnwick Town 1 (Cherry) Esh Winning 0
Prudhoe YC Seniors 3 (Baty, Wilson, Berman) Durham United 2 (Kay, Bramwell)
Seaham Red Star 0 Chester-le-Street Town 1 (Marriott)
Sunderland RCA 0 Darlington Town 1 (McMahon)

FA Vase Results Involving Division 2 Sides

Barnoldswick Town 10 Sunderland West End 1 (McCabe)

Billingham Synthonia 4 (Hodgkinson, Grey, Evans, Connolly) Tow Law Town 2 (Tomlinson, Dominic)
Eccleshill United 1 Park View 1 (Wilkinson) Eccleshall win 2-0 on penalties
FC Hartlepool 1 (O’Gorman) West Allotment Celtic 2
Grangetown Boys Club 1 (Leka) Tadcaster Albion 4
Newcastle Benfield 3 Boldon CA 0
Pickering Town 0 Yarm & Eaglescliffe 1 (Roberts)
Thornaby 0 Jarrow 1 (Beattie)
Whickham 1 Redcar Town 5 (Carmichael 2, Robinson-Coley 2, Harrison)