RACA extended their unbeaten run to six games with a narrow 1-0 win over Chester-le-Street Town at the Oldhaulage Stadium. Jack Errington’s 49th minute goal was the difference in a game which saw a drab first half followed by a pulsating second period. Despite the win, Albion stay in 5th place though have put daylight between them & 6th place Cestrians.

Two sides in fine form met at a blustery Oldhaulage Stadium, but the sides cancelled each other out in a first half devoid of much excitement. In the 5th minute, Albion’s Louis Calvert found himself in a 1on 1 with Chester keeper Alex Lawrence having been set up by Rhys McLeod but the stopper’s outstretched leg diverted the ball out for a corner. Town’s nearest thing to a goal came following a 27th minute corner when Matt Soulsby fired across goal, his shot cannoning off teammate Kealan Huddleston, the ball spinning over the bar. RACA did have the ball in the net on the 30th minute when a Josh Skivington free kick looked to be fluffed by Lawrence & Jack Errington was there to stab home but referee Mr Alexander harshly disallowed the goal for a foul on the Chester keeper. There was little else to enthuse the 222 spectators as the teams went into the interval goalless.

The second half was a different affair, only 4 minutes old when Ryton opened the scoring, a Daniel Craggs corner stabbed home by Errington to make up for the disappointment of having his first half effort chalked off. Rhys McLeod brough a fine save from Lawrence in the 52nd minute, his free kick forcing the Cestrians’ keeper to dive low to save. It was Chester-le-Street’s turn to come close in the 55th minute, a mazy Aaron Hardy run culminated in a cross which William Cornish crashed against the RACA post. Back at the other end, in the 61st minute Abu Salim laid the ball off the Calvert whose powerful shot was just deflected wide by the Chester defence. Town’s top scorer Michael Gray had a good opportunity to drew his side level in the 65th minute when a deflected ball forward landed at his feet, he raced forward with just keeper Brogan Colquhoun to beat, but perhaps the attention of an Albion defender in his slipstream caused him to fire high & wide. Chester sub Josh Akal made Colquhoun work much harder as he saw his low drilled 82nd minute shot well saved by the RACA No1. That was to be the Cestrians’ last chance of note, but Albion weren’t finished, McLeod bringing a carbon copy save from Lawrence on 84 minutes as he did in the 52nd, & then in stoppage time following a breakaway, Dylan Lawson poked the ball under Lawrence, but backtracking defender Luke Collins was there to clear the ball off the line to ensure Albion would only win by the narrowest of margins.

Six unbeaten for RACA now as we look forward to Wednesday night’s home game against Redcar Town

FT RACA 1 CHESTER LE STREET TOWN 0 Attendance 222

RACA– Colquhoun, Skivington, Ledger, Burrell (Lawson 78), Oldfield. Errington, Craggs, McLeod (Symons 90), Calvert, Salim, (Mitchell 81) Groves-Forbes (Todd 67).

ENL Pos: 5th.

Albion have yet another home cup draw, this time as a reward for beating Darlington Town on Wednesday, we have been drawn at home to in the 1st Round (last 32) of the Durham Challenge Cup against recent bogey side Horden CW in a tie likely to be played on October 9th

Tomorrow we welcome Chester-le-Street Town to the Oldhaulage Stadium in the second in a run of four home games. The Cestrians sit one place & four points behind us in 6th place & have kept a clean sheet in their last three games, winning four & drawing one of their last five league games, where as RACA have won four & drawn one of our last five games in both league & cup. Chester are one of our most regular opponents over the years & this will be our 31st competitive game against Town in our Northern League era, the highest profile game probably being the 2018 E Armstrong Cup final which Chester won 2-0. On to more recent games, last season we lost 2-3 at Moor Park & drew 1-1 here & another close game is expected tomorrow. They haven’t been too prolific in front of goal this season however, having spread their 18 goals around the squad with Michael Gray their top scorer with four goals.

Abu Salim reached double figures on Wednesday with his goal against Darlington & with RACA scoring 17 times in the last five games pitted against the Chester-le-Street Town’s mean defence, it should lead to an intriguing game.

If you fancy taking in this clash of two in-form sides, kick off at the Oldhaulage Stadium @ Kingsley Park is 3:00pm. Look forward to seeing you there

RACA overcame the challenge of Darlington Town to advance to the 1st Round of the Durham Challenge Cup with a 3-0 at the Oldhaulage Stadium. In an entertaining game for the neutral, Ryton lead 1-0 at the interval thanks to an Abu Salim lob & two late goals from Noah Adotey & Declan Bisset from the penalty spot gave the full time score a slightly lopsided look as the game was closer than the scoreline suggests, but it’s RACA in the hat for the next round,

In the second match between the clubs in five days it was Town who created the first chance when some intricate play by Liam Jarvie in the 5th minute saw him beat two defenders then square the ball across the Albion box but Lewis Walton was just a yard or two off making contact to what would likely have been a quick opener. However it was RACA who got their noses in front on 37 minutes in a frenetic fist half when a punt forward saw Abu Salim run between two defenders & lob the ball over the advancing Darlington keeper Tyler Dickinson to score his 10th goal of the season.

The second half understandably lacked the energy of the first & Albion were the better of the two sides although Darlington brought two fine saves out of Brogan Colquhoun in quick succession. Firstly Ryan Coles 68th minute header from a corner forced Colquhoun into a fine save, pushing the ball past his post & a minute later he had to flick Jarvie’s powerful drive over his bar. But it was to be RACA who’d put the result beyond doubt in the 83rd minute when two substitutes combined to make it 2-0, Matty Todd finding Noah Adotey who rounded Dickinson & slotted home for his first goal of the campaign. The icing on the cup tie cake came on 87 minutes when Ryton were awarded a penalty for a clumsy foul on Todd & another substitute, Declan Bisset stepped up to open his account from the spot kick which had to be pin-point accurate as Dickinson guessed correctly & almost got his hand to it.

FT RACA 3 DARLINGTON TOWN 0 Attendance 120

RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington, Ledger, Craggs, Lynch, Oldfield, Lawson (Burrell 73), Walker (Mitchell 63), Salim (Todd 72), McLeod (Adotey 80), Groves-Forbes (Bisset 63)

Cup action returns to the Oldhaulage Stadium on Wednesday evening as we welcome Saturday’s opponents Darlington Town to the Tyne Valley for the first time to play our Durham Challenge Cup Preliminary Round tie. The tie will be settled on the night with a penalty shoot out should the scores be level pegging after 90 minutes as they were on Saturday, with no extra time being played.

Albion have a mixed record in the tournament reaching the final in 2009/10 losing 2-0 to Billingham Synthonia but have also endured a few preliminary round exits too.

The biggest win for us was not too long ago, a 6-0 win over Sunderland West End in the preliminary round in 2021/22, though we also beat Chester-le-Street Town 6-2 back in the 2009/10 quarter finals. We’ve also lost 0-6 on two occasions, to Sunderland West End in 2010/11 & more recently at home to Newton Aycliffe two seasons ago.

Kick off on Wednesday is at 7:30pm so if you want some midweek cup action we’d be glad to see you at the Oldhaulage Stadium to see if RACA can go five games unbeaten.

This month’s lucky winners are-

1st prize No 9 V Wilkinson who wins £100

2nd Prize No 43 G Pointer who wins £75

3rd Prize No 94 E Watson who wins £25

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. Thank-you

Goals from Louis Calvert and Glenn Caygill weren’t enough as Ryton & Crawcrook Albion were held to a 2-2 draw at Darlington Town on Saturday.

Albion faced Darlington Town for the first time, while on a fine run of three consecutive wins without conceding a goal. The opening period was fairly even, the nearest to trouble either keeper was a 16th minute speculative effort from distance by RACA’s Fergus Lynch which wasn’t far off the target. However it was Darlington who took the lead on 29 minutes when James Beauchamp held up the ball from a Town goal kick before laying it off to Jim Wilson who managed to score from a tightish angle for his third goal of the season. Wilson brought a save out of Ryton keeper Brogan Colquhoun on 33 minutes following a fine solo run through the visitors’ defence, but but while his shot was powerful enough & on target, it was a comfortable stop for Colquhoun. Just when it looked like RACA would be going into the break a goal down, they took full advantage of some sloppy defending from Darlington. Matty Todd intercepted Town keeper Phil Pentony’s clearance, laid the ball off to Declan Bissett who in turn found Daniel Craggs who set up Louis Calvert who fired home an equaliser to ensure it was all square at the break.

RACA started the second half as they finished the first by scoring again in the 47th minute. Matthew Harrison crossed the ball into the Darlington box, but although it was intercepted by a Town defender, unfortunately for him he scuffed his attempted clearance, the ball landing at the feet of Glenn Caygill who just had to slide in to push the ball into the net from close range. The lead only lasted for six minutes though as in the 53rd minute Liam Jarvie scored after Beauchamp laid the ball to him after speeding past the Albion defenders. The hosts were reduced to 10 men on 61 minutes when Ryan Coles was dismissed when the referee adjudged him to be last man when he brought down Calvert following an up and under. However, RACA were unable to make the extra man count although in an action packed stoppage time, Dylan Lawson brought a fine save out of Pentony, there was a strong claim for a Ryton penalty following a possible hand-ball in the box, and there was a mad scramble in the Town penalty area which was finally cleared by the hosts. Albion had to settle for the draw but it’s four unbeaten & the sides cross swords again on Wednesday in the Durham Challenge Cup.

FT DARLINGTON TOWN 2 RACA 2 Attendance 135

RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington (Groves-Forbes 63), Ledger, Lynch, Caygill, Harrison. Craggs (Walker 75), McLeod, Calvert (Lawson 67), Bisset (Mitchell 57), Todd (67 Salim)

ENL Pos: 4th.

Ryton & Crawcrook Albion are back on the road on Saturday as they travel to Darlington Town for the first time in their latest Ebac Northern League Division Two fixture.

In-form Albion sit 4th in the table and go into the match following three consecutive wins and clean sheets.

Nathan Beckham’s side have beaten Washington 3-0 and Billingham Synthonia 2-0 on home soil before crushing Boldon 7-0 on Tuesday night.

Newly-promoted Darlington have had a decent start to life in the Northern League. They’ve won four of the 10 games so far and sit mid table. However, they suffered a 2-1 defeat in their last home match against Chester-le-Street Town and will be looking to bounce back.

Hope you can join us at the Eastbourne Community Stadium for a 3pm kick off.

Don’t forget, RACA will turn hosts on Wednesday when Darlington Town visit Crawcrook in the Durham County FA Challenge Cup.

Ryton & Crawcrook Albion recorded an emphatic 7-0 win on the road at Boldon on Tuesday evening.

A brace each for Louis Calvert and Abubaker Salim, and strikes from Daniel Craggs, Matthew Todd and Rhys McLeod secured Albion’s biggest win of the season.

The victory is a third consecutive win and clean sheet for Nathan Beckham’s side who move up to third in the Ebac Northern League Division Two table.

RACA: Colquhoun, Skivington (Grieveson 56), Ledger, Lynch, Errington (Caygill 56), Harrison, Craggs (Mitchell 57), McLeod, Calvert (Todd 57), Bisset, Salim (Lawson 56).

Attendance: 89.

ENL Pos: 3rd.

Ryton & Crawcrook Albion kick off September by travelling to Boldon on Tuesday in the Ebac Northern League Division Two.

Albion – 4th in the table – go into the match following back-to-back home wins and clean sheets, and are looking for three straight wins for the first time this campaign. Nathan Beckham’s side beat Washington 3-0 last Wednesday and Billingham Synthonia 2-0 on Saturday.

Boldon – who sit second-from-bottom – are still looking for their first win of the season, with 5 draws and 5 defeats so far. However, they are the only side to stop league leaders Jarrow from winning all their games so far, picking up a 1-1 draw at Perth Green last month.

RACA won both encounters last season. A 2-1 comeback win on home soil last September thanks to goals from Michael Baxter and Daniel Craggs was followed by a handsome 5-2 win at the Ford Hub in the rescheduled “return” fixture in April. A hat-trick from Aaron Costello and second half strikes from Lucas Lowery and Rhys McLeod secured the three points. Hopefully more of the same tonight!

Join us at the Boldon Colliery Welfare Ground from 7.30pm.