Albion’s late season collapse continued with a 0-3 defeat to third placed Jarrow at the Oldhaulage Stadium. A patchwork starting XI held the promotion hopefuls to 0-0 at the interval but the usual second half capitulation kicked in again as the South Tynesiders cruised to a comfortable victory.
MATCH SUMMARY
Albion were hoping to end the season on a high against third placed Jarrow after finally ending the five game losing streak with last Saturday’s draw at Bedlington. Manager Nathan Beckham, already with a threadbare squad had to replace keeper Brogan Colquhoun who picked up an injury in the warm up,with covering keeper Tom White making his competitive debut to face a Jarrow side with outside hopes of finishing runners up to Horden in Division 2.
In a quiet opening period Jarrow, yet another side playing in hard to make out shirt numbers, (so apologies in advance for any misidentification of Jarrow players) created their first opportunity from a 9th minute corner that was flicked on by Callum Johnson into a crowded six yard box where Benji Shodeinde was first to the ball, spinning round to make contact but could only fire wide. Shodeinde’s pace was causing concern for Albion’s defence & just two minutes later he sped down the left wing but saw his shot blocked by White, the loose ball running back to Shodeinde whose cross was well cut out by White to boost the debutant keeper’s confidence. Ryton faced another injury blow on 19 minutes when Jack Errington had to hobble off to be replaced by Jack Spurr. and the home side had to wait until the 27th minute for a meaningful chance when Connor Brown chested down a cross and laid the ball to Rhys McLeod who fired narrowly wide. Jarrow might well have taken the lead on 33 minutes when Ryan Hardie played a fine cross the width of the pitch to Johnson who cut in & while his shot beat White, Dale Burrell was on hand to clear the ball before Shodeinde could tap home. The 38th minute saw more drama in the Ryton box when a fluffed clearance saw Johnson gather the ball and bring a fine save out of White, the ball being pushed out for a corner from which Chris Brennan fired just over the bar. With a minute to go until half time RACA had another half chance when McLeod was first to latch on to a partial clearance from the Jarrow defence, but again his shot screwed narrowly wide. But it was Jarrow who ought to have taken the lead in the last seconds of the half when the unmarked Johnson headed a decent cross over with the goal at his mercy.
HT RACA 0 Jarrow 0
Albion got their first shot on target on 58 minutes, McLeod again the man with the effort, but it was straight at Jak Wells having an easy afternoon in the Jarrow goal who was able to gather comfortably. Jarrow deservedly took the lead on 58 minutes when Johnson controlled a cross to him, beat his marker & lobbed White to take control of the game, RACA once again with that bad habit of conceding in the early stages of a second half. Jarrow doubled the advantage on 71 minutes when Ryan Hardie found Shodeinde who cut inside from the left & found the corner of the net with pin-point accuracy. Ryton were consigned to shoot from distance, Luca Cairns curling a shot from 30 yards that wasn’t too far off the mark on 73 minutes, but any hopes of a comeback for the hosts were extinguished on 79 minutes when substitute Carl Williams sprung the offside trap to slot home past White for his first goal for Jarrow this season. Another Jarrow substitute, James Harper perhaps should have made it 4-0 as he sped past a tired Ryton rearguard in the 85th minute but blasted his shot over the bar with just White to beat. In the end it didn’t matter as Yarm’s easy win at Chester-le-Street Town meant Jarrow finished 3rd & will host Chester-le-Street United in their play-off semi final. As for RACA , it’s one draw and five defeats from the last six games of the campaign as what looked like being a good season unravelled into a slightly disappointing one, leaving Nathan with some rebuilding to do over the summer.
FT RACA 0 JARROW 3 Attendance 210
RACA- White, Fletcher, Ledger, Burrell (Colquhoun 88), Errington (Spurr 18), Caygill, Brown (Cairns 69), Grieveson, Hoggins (Skivington 72), Bisset, McLeod