FT RACA 1 BILLINGHAM TOWN 1 Attendance 170 (Town win 7-6 on penalties)
Albion were put out of the Vase by the narrowest of margins following a penalty shoot out at The Oldhaulage this afternoon- Aftertaking the lead on 23 minutes from a Joe Groves-Forbes goal they held on to that advantage for less than three minutes as Tai Saunders levelled for the Teessiders. RACA had to play the last 28 minutes with ten men after Albe Fletcher’s dismissal & had chances to win the tie despite the numerical disadvantage but it wasn’t to be & RACA exit a cup competition on penalties for the third time in four seasons.
MATCH REPORT
On a typically breezy day in Crawcrook, with the sky as grey as Billingham’s away kit, the Teessiders had the wind behind them in the first half although it was Albion who created the first two chances. Louis Calvert tried to lob Town keeper Theo Webster in the 6th minute despite being severely jostled on his run forward but he narrowly cleared the bar. That was followed by a strike from Joe Groves-Forbes in the 10th minute which again was over the bar when he was in a good position and ought to have done better. The visitors’ first chance of note came on 13 minutes when Tai Saunders, who scored Billingham’s only goal in the previous round, met a Hari Bonderenko cross that he headed just wide of the Ryton goal. Calvert wasn’t too far off breaking the deadlock on the quarter hour mark with a back header, but his play on 22 minutes was to have a bigger impact as following some neat dribbling in the box, his cross reached Joe Groves Forbes who headed home his third goal of the season into the corner of the net to put the hosts 1-0 up. Albion however didn’t hold the lead for long as Tai Saunders levelled just three minutes later. Ashton Wood back-flicked the ball to Joseph Aungiers who in turn laid it off to Saunders who drilled home past the advancing keeper Callum Corkhill. RACA pushed on to try and restore their lead & Calvert was in the thick of the action again on 28 minutes, but his shot was denied by Webster, the loose ball running to Groves-Forbes and his shot was well blocked by defender Jake Toase. Shortly after that & it was the Albion keeper who was called into action when he closed down and blocked a shot from Wood who’d shown everyone a clean pair of heels, and the sides went in level at half time.
HT RACA 1 Billingham Town 1
After a quiet spell either side of the interval, Louis Anderson hit the Town bar in the 55 minute having been set up by Groves-Forbes who’d intercepted a Billingham throw in, and set him up from outside the box. Billingham could have gone ahead on 59 minutes when Aungiers squared a ball across the box with Corkhill stranded, but there was no-one with a grey shirt to administer the tap in. Albion had a setback on 62 minutes when Albe Fletcher received the second of two quick-fire yellow cards & the hosts were down to ten men with almost a half hour to play. Evann Jardine who had just come on as a Ryton substitute made an instant impact racing into the Teessiders’ box only to be thwarted by a perfectly timed tackle from Ryan Nelson as he was about to pull the trigger. A similarly important 70th minute defensive tackle from Bonderenko on Kyle Atkinson prevented Albion’s American midfielder from unleashing a shot, this time to howls for a penalty from the RACA faithful, but the footage showed the Billingham No2 had timed his challenge to perfection. The visitors kept pressing with their numerical advantage with RACA relying on quick breaks, and it was Albion who almost snatched it in stoppage time when Aaron Costello picked up a loose ball 30 yards out & seeing Webster off his line, tried an audacious lob that many of the 170 spectators thought was in, but with the Town keeper grasping at fresh air, the ball just went wide & with no extra time, it was the lottery of penalties to follow.
FT RACA 1 BILLINGHAM TOWN 1
And so to the penalty shoot out where RACA were to take their kicks first.
RACA- Aaron Costello scores (1-0)
Billingham- Daniel Atkinson scores (1-1)
RACA- Dan Craggs scores (2-1)
Billingham- Ben Jackson scores (2-2)
RACA- Glenn Caygill scores (3-2)
Billingham- Joseph Aungiers hits the underside of the bar (3-2)
RACA- Evann Jardine scores (4-2 and looking good)
Billingham- Daniel Dryden scores (4-3)
RACA- Kyle Atkinson saved by Theo Webster (4-3)
Billingham- Jayden Jefferson scores (4-4)
SUDDEN DEATH
RACA- Nathan Beesley scores (5-4)
Billingham- Jay Talbot scores (5-5)
RACA- George Hayton scores (6-5)
Billingham- Ashton Wood scores (6-6)
RACA- Joe Groves-Forbes saved by Theo Webster (6-7 advantage Billingham)
Billingham- McCartney Woodhouse scores (6-7 and Billingham progress)
Memories of the Bishop Auckland penalty shoot out in the 2021/22 FA Vase when we lost 14-13 with this defeat by the slightest of margins. Considering Billingham’s start to the season, RACA shouldn’t be too downhearted though it’s always a downer being put out of the Premier competition. Onwards to Friday night’s return to league action when AFC Newbiggin are in town.
RACA- Corkhill, Groves-Forbes, Beesley, Plunkett, Caygill, Hayton, Craggs, Atkinson, Anderson (Costello 74), Fletcher, Calvert (Jardine 65), Substitutes Not Used Bewley, Gascoigne, Hutchinson