FT BIRTLEY TOWN 2 RACA 0 Attendance 78

Albion’s League Cup campaign ended with a 2-0 defeat at Birtley, with a RACA side missing some key players putting in a flat performance appropriate for Pancake Day. Birtley did the damage in the first half with a Joe Hailes penalty & an Owen Lancaster goal putting the Hoops out of reach of the visitors.

MATCH SUMMARY

Albion finally got to play a competitive game after a hiatus of 24 days, this at 1^st Division Birtley Town in the League Cup, & it was a slightly unfamiliar looking starting XI with Harrison Borley handed his debut while the bench featured Callum Oldfield, recently signed from Barnard Castle, Dan Ord, back after his lengthy injury & new goalkeeper Zamo Khalil

On an understandably heavy pitch, it was the hosts who kicked off and went straight on the offensive, the move finishing with Reece Havelock-Brown drilling a low shot past the Ryton post. The game went through a tranquil period until in the 21^st minute when Town were awarded what looked a very soft penalty when James Proctor was adjudged to have been pulled back by Glenn Caygill as he advanced into the box. Joe Hailes stepped up to take the spot kick & fired it into the roof of the net giving keeper Callum Corkhill no chance. Three minutes later and Proctor was a key figure in Birtley’s next chance of scoring when he was brought down a few yards outside the Albion box & a free kick was awarded. Reece Harrison fired in a dipping shot that just went wide but Corkhill looked to have it covered. Careless defending from RACA on 26 minutes could have proved costly when an uncharacteristically weak ball to Corkhill from Scott Oldfield was intercepted by Hailes but the man who scored the penalty could only hit the post. From a corner a minute later, Corkhill had to pull off a couple of saves from close range to keep Ryton in the game. Birtley were on the offensive again on the half hour mark, Proctor raced down the left flank, cut inside & played a ball across the box which Kyle Wharton couldn’t make contact with, the ball running to Hailes whose shot was well blocked by Dylan Lawson. The Hoops got the second goal their dominance deserved on 36 minutes when Owen Lancaster took a long range shot which didn’t look to have much venom in it but it somehow foxed Corkhill and the ball ended up in the net to make it 2-0.

HT Birtley Town 2 RACA 0

Albion had barely laid a glove on their opponents & needed to up their game in the second half & they looked more lively post interval. On 57 minutes they might well have had a penalty when Louis Calvert went on a solo run evading the challenge of a defender & then taking a tumble when trying to round Birtley keeper Ryan Hammer but the referee wasn’t interested in awarding a spot kick. A minute later and RACA were back to sloppy passing and were nearly made to pay when Proctor found himself bursting between two defenders & with just Corkhill to beat, tried to lob the keeper but didn’t get enough height on the ball and Corkhill was able to palm the ball down. At the other end Josh Skivington had half a chance to halve the deficit when a free kick was lofted towards him, but he could only find the side netting with his shot. The game petered out thereafter as Town ran down the clock to ease through to the 3^rd round while Albion still have the Ernest Armstrong to look forward to

FT BIRTLEY TOWN 2 RACA 0

For the second time this season RACA have been eliminated from a cup competition by a first division side but the absence of key players played a part in the performance. It’s back to league action with a home game against Darlington on Saturday as the quest to reach the play-offs resumes

RACA– Corkhill, Beesley, S Oldfield, Borley (Bailey 45), Caygill, Driver, Lawson, Skivington (C Oldfield 71 Ord 82), Calvert, Fletcher (Groves-Forbes 63), Dart. Substitute not used Khalil

Other Tuesday League Cup Results

Carlisle City 2 Boldon CA 2 (Watts, Williams) Boldon win 4-2 on penalties

FC Hartlepool 3 (McGee, Bayes 2) Shildon 4

Grangetown BC 2 (Urwin. Jones) Seaham Red Star 1(Shodeinde)

Newcastle Benfield 4 Sunderland West End 2 (Dionicio, Appleby)

Newcastle Blue Star 1 Tow Law Town 0

West Auckland 6 Durham United 0

Wednesday Night’s League Cup Result

Easington Colliery 2 AFC Newbiggin 1 (Elliott)

Wednesday’s E Armstrong Cup Result

Esh Winning 0 Yarm & Eaglescliffe 6 (Bulmer, Roberts 2, Atkinson 2, Dalton)

Tuesday night hopefully sees Albion travel to first division Birtley Town for the Brooks Mileson League Cup 2nd Round tie. This will be the first competitive game against the Hoops since their 2022/23 promotion season when they did the double over us winning 4-1 at Birtley & 5-1 at the Albion. We have met Town once before in this competition, also in the 2nd Round way back in the 2008/09 season when Ryton FC as we were then, won 2-0 at Kingsley Park. More recently, Birtley’s schedule has been hit almost as much as our own by the weather, but they did get to play at Boro Rangers on Saturday & despite a 3-0 defeat on Teesside, remain in the top half of Division 1. RACA haven’t played a competitive game since 24th January so will we be fully rested or ring rusty on Tuesday night? Kick off is at 7:30pm at the Arrowmark Home Improvements Stadium, Newtown Industrial Estate, Birtley, DH3 2QW but keep an eye out on this site & social media for the possibility of this game being postponed too.

Unfortunately our game at Billingham Town this afternoon has fallen foul of the weather. We’re building up a backlog of games that need to be rescheduled in midweek & we’ll let you know once this one has been re-arranged. Next up is a trip to Birtley Town in the League Cup on Tuesday but that is very much dependent on the weather.

Saturday’s Division 2 Results

Darlington Town 2 (Mallaburn, Brown) Seaham Red Star (Shodeinde)

Durham United 2 (Bedson-McMann, Williams) Tow Law Town 1 (Walsh)

Another ‘copy & paste’ but again news that tonight’s game at home to Boldon CA has been called off due to a waterlogged pitch. Details of the re-arranged date will be announced as soon as we get it. Thanks

Wednesday’s Division 2 Result

Redcar Town 8 (Smith 2, Carmichael 3, Robinson-Coley 2, Rowe) Esh Winning 0

This month’s lucky winners are-

1st prize No 34 R Cunningham who wins £100

2nd Prize No 8 K Thompson who wins £75

3rd Prize No 83 C Stygal who wins £25

Next month’s draw is on 01/03/2026

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 Paul le Patourel on 07720 413390. Thank-you

The persistent rain has not surprisingly resulted in today’s game at Essity Park against Newcastle University being called off & no doubt it won’t be the only Northern League casualty today. The new date for the fixture is Thursday 26th March.

Saturday’s Division 2 Results

Billingham Synthonia 0 Redcar Town 1 (Carmichael)

Sunderland West End 0 Chester-le-Street Town 2 (Robson 2)