Calling all budding hacks- RACA are after a match reporter to write up the match reports & with today’s technology you don’t even have to attend the games as the full Veo match recording will be sent to you so you can re-watch incidents over & over again to get the full facts.

Anyone interested or requiring further information, please contact the club on info@racafc1970.com or racafc@outlook.com

Thank-you

RACA were put out of the Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup by 1st Division Kendal Town at the Oldhaulage Stadium. Trailing 0-1 at the interval, the visitors went 2-0 up on 49 minutes only for Rhys McLeod to haul Ryton back into the game on 51 minutes with his 5th goal of the season. However Kendal wrapped up the tie on 82 minutes when they scored their third goal of the game.

MATCH SUMMARY

Kendal nearly marked their first visit to RACA with a goal inside the first minute, Matt Flynn just putting his shot from a cross into a crowded box just over the bar. In a half where serious chances were at a premium, the visitors took the lead on 16 minutes when a Ryan Winder free kick was knocked back to Matt Dudley who headed past the despairing dive of Brogan Colquhoun in the Ryton goal to put his side 1-0 up. The nearest Albion came to scoring in the first half was almost straight after the Town goal, Matty Todd on a rare start sped down the left flank & cut in leaving his markers in his wake, but could only fire into the side netting

HT RACA 0 Kendal Town 1

Kendal didn’t take long to double their lead when in the 49^th minute a Ryan Winder cross found the head of Thomas Kilifin who headed home from close range. To Albion’s credit they hauled themselves back into the cup tie just two minutes later, Joe Groves-Forbes’ accurate pass between two Town defenders reached Rhys McLeod who shrugged off the attentions of another defender to fire past the advancing Chris Cheetham to make it 1-2. The Mintcakes probably should have put the tie beyond RACA on 65 minutes when a slick 5 man move culminated in the unmarked Josh Winder receiving the ball at the edge of the box, but his shot, while having enough venom in it, was straight at Colquhoun who blocked the effort. There was real drama at the other end in the 69^th minute when many in the ground thought Albion had levelled things up. Matty Hayton on as a sub laid the ball to Morgan Dart whose shot struck the underside of the bar then rattled against the post & out to Hayton whose shot was blocked. The 78^th minute saw Kilifan denied a second goal for Kendal, his shot charged down by a joint effort from Colquhoun and Dale Burrell as Ryton hung on in this cup tie. But Kilifan was to get his second & Kendal’s third to ensure passage to round two on 82 minutes picking up a loose ball from a tackle to slot past Colquhoun and Albion bowed out of the League Cup at the first hurdle.

FT RACA 1  KENDAL TOWN 3 Attendance 115

RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington, Dart, Grieveson, Caygill, Oldfield, Todd (Salim 35), Burrell, Calvert (Hayton 62), McLeod, Groves-Forbes (Tait 56).

Albion welcome new visitors to the Oldhaulage Stadium for the second time in three days as First Division Kendal Town come to the Tyne Valley for the first time following Grangetown’s debut in NE40 on Saturday.

This Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup game is being played on Tuesday instead of our usual Wednesday night slot as Newcastle host Liverpool then and they wouldn’t change dates & also the kick off is slightly later at 7:45pm to give ‘The Mintcakes’ a bit extra time to head over from Westmorland. This will be our first League Cup game for a few seasons with the competition being a victim of COVID and then being shelved due to a backlog of league fixtures so it’s especially nice to play opposition for the first time too. Kendal sit in 10th place in the first division with significantly better home form than on the road, but come into tomorrow night’s tie buoyed by a 4-0 win over Birtley at the Westmoreland Flooring Stadium. Hope a good few RACA fans can attend this tie as the black & blue finally got back to winning ways on Saturday. Howay the RACA!

RACA were back to their old self again beating Grangetown Boys Club 4-1 at the Oldhaulage Stadium this afternoon. The goals were shared around with Glenn Caygill, Louis Calvert, Dale Burrell and Matty Hayton all on target for Albion with Tyler Rowden scoring for the Teessiders.

MATCH SUMMARY

Albion stated the game brightly enough and a Rhys McLeod corner in the 6^th minute called Grangetown keeper Chris Elliot into early action having to scoop the ball away from danger only for the ball to end up at McLeod’s feet again & he curled a shot narrowly wide of the post. The reprieve was short lived however as from another corner just seconds later, Matty Hayton headed goalwards but his effort was blocked, the ball falling to Glenn Caygill who spun round and fired home to score RACA’s first league goal since October. The visitors managed to restore parity on 13minutes from an unexpected source when player manager Curtis Collantine took a throw in which Albion keeper Brogan Colquhoun looked to have intercepted & gathered safely. However Colquhoun uncharacteristically spilt the ball and Tyler Rowden was on hand to slot the ball home to make it 1-1. The remainder of the first half was a fairly even affair with neither keeper called into serious action & the sides went into the interval all square.

HT RACA 1 Grangetown Boys Club 1

 Albion almost restored their lead in the 49^th minute when Hayton set up Fergus Lynch whose shot looked bound for the top corner of the ‘Boysie’ net, but Elliot pulled of a fine acrobatic save to push the ball out for a corner. From the resultant corner, Ryton did get their noses in front again when Hayton’s shot bounced off two defenders’ legs & Louis Calvert was able to stab the loose ball home from close range. Just three minutes later Calvert had the opportunity to put daylight between the sides when he was adjudged to have been fouled by Grangetown’s Ben Bielby in the box & a penalty was awarded. Calvert opted to take the spot kick, however his weak strike was comfortably saved by Elliot who guessed rightly. Albion’s third goal on 56 minutes again came as a result of a corner. Hayton headed the ball on to the Grangetown bar, it rebounding nicely to Dale Burrell who side-footed home from close range to make it 3-1. The visitors did come close to pulling a goal back on 83 minutes when a Bielby free kick on the left wing curled into the box evading everyone save for a Ryton toe that nicked the ball out for a corner. It took until stoppage time for RACA to completely rubber stamp the win with a fine move finishing with a cross from Ben Tait, making his seasonal debut, landing at the feet of Hayton who nonchalantly tapped home to make it 4-1 and arrest the recent run of defeats.

FT RACA 4 GRANGETOWN BOYS CLUB 1 Attendance 220

RACA- Colquhoun, Skivington (Groves-Forbes 66), Ledger (Salim 63), Lynch, Caygill, Oldfield, Dart, Burrell, Calvert (Tait 75), McLeod (Lawson 70), Hayton.

Albion’s next scheduled game is a home game against struggling Grangetown Boys Club on Saturday afternoon. New Grangetown manager Curtis Collantine brings his troops north hoping to avenge the 2-1 RACA win on Teesside back in August, Dale Burrell and Abu Salim the men on target for the Albion that evening. Grangetown are on a run of eight successive defeats that has seen then drop to 21st place in Division Two, just one place above basement club Washington & are facing a RACA side on a run of five straight losses themselves, so something has to give!

The club are delighted to see Richie Hoggins signed on again after his enforced absence & also welcome back local lad Ben Tait as well as Jack Pickering who made one appearance for us last season.

Kick off on Saturday at the Oldhaulage Stadium is 3pm, hope you can get along to ideally see the black & blue get back to winning form again. Howay RACA!!

Tonight’s game at home to Sunderland RCA has fallen foul of the weather with parts of the pitch unplayable due to still being frozen. News of the date of the re-arranged fixture will be broadcast as soon as it has been arranged.

Update (24/11/2024): The match has been rescheduled for Wednesday 8th January 2025.

Albion have to get their season back on track starting under the lights on Friday night when we welcome Sunderland RCA to NE40 after a gap of 14 years. The clubs did meet at Meadow Park earlier this season where RACA edged out the Wearsiders 3-2 with goals from Calvert, Skivington and Salim earning the three points. Following relegation last season RCA have had a disappointing season this time round too, sitting down in 20th place in the table. On the road they’ve just won once, beating FC Hartlepool 3-2 at Grayfields Enclosure in September & picked up a solitary draw at Boldon but losing their other games away from SR2. Like us they were thumped by Billingham Town on their last away trip, but earned a credible 0-0 draw at home to Billingham Synthonia on Saturday. Ryton have drawn a blank in front of goal in the last three games so hopefully a fixture against a side who struggle away from home can re-ignite our season before we lose touch with the leading sides. Kick off is at 7:30pm & hopefully the cold snap expected doesn’t put the game in any jeopardy. Hope to see you there, howay the RACA!

Billingham Town handed out another thumping to RACA cruising to a 6-0 win at Bedford Terrace in what is Albion’s highest margin of defeat this season. RACA have now lost five league & cup games on the spin now & drop down to 7th place in the table having being overtaken by Prudhoe YC.

Match Summary

Albion faced a last minute goalkeeping crisis before the trip to Teesside with regular keeper Brogan Colquhoun having to withdraw at the 11^th hour for family reasons, a the manager’s cousin Ryan Beckham hurriedly signed on the Friday.       

The opening quarter of an hour was quite even but the Billingham began to dominate although it was the home keeper Matthew Wilkinson who was called into serious action first, in the 22^nd minute when Albion’s Matty Harrison drilled in a powerful shot from distance which Wilkinson dived down low to push to safety. Town did open scoring on 35 minutes when a log ball wasn’t dealt with by the RACA defence, the ball falling to Dale Hopson who fired the ball across the box & Kieran Stares tapped the ball home  to open his account for Town this season. Four minutes later and it was 2-0, Stares the provider with an accurate up and under to John Stephenson who shrugged off the attentions of two defenders to slot past  Beckham.

HT Billingham Town 2 RACA 0

The second half was only four minutes old when the Blues made it 3-0, Stephenson turned his marker inside out & crossed the ball to Stares who rose the highest to nod home.  Albion did create a half chance in 53 minutes when Matty Todd brought another save out of Wilkinson pushing the ball out for a corner. But it was more calamitous defending from Ryton on the hour mark, Lucas Pilling drilled the ball across the box & no-one in a yellow shirt could get a decisive touch. Hopson saw his shot saved by Beckham but the ball fell to Stares who tapped home to complete his hattrick. Harry Close made it 5-0 on 70 minutes, once again taking advantage of weak defending to slide his shot home. More comedy defending led the sixth goal for Town, Close picking up a stray ball played across the box for another tap in. So Town score six in consecutive home games while RACA put in one of their worst performances in a few seasons.

FT BILLINGHAM TOWN 6 RACA 0 Attendance 262

RACA- Beckham, Groves-Forbes (Craggs 66), Ledger (Lawson 65), Burrell (Cairns 70), Lynch, Oldfield, Dart, Todd, Hayton, Skivington, Harrison (Wilson 50).

Saturday sees Albion heading down the A19 to face Billingham Town for the second time this season having beaten the Blues 2-1 at home in August. Bedford Terrace hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Ryton over the years our last win there being in the 2016-17 season, & although Town have had a disappointing season so far currently in 16th place, they come into the game buoyed by a 6-1 win over Sunderland RCA at home last Saturday.

If you fancy the trip to Teesside the address for Bedford Terrace is- Bedford Terrace, Billingham, Cleveland, TS23 4AE. Howay the RACA!

Declan Bisset has left RACA and joined Chester-le-Street Town. He made 13 starts after joining us in the summer & came on 4 times as a substitute, scoring one goal for us, in the 2-0 County Cup win over Darlington Town. We wish Declan well at the Cestrians.