In the last of our sequence of four successive home games we welcome Billingham Town to HQ on Saturday who themselves are playing their fifth consecutive away league game. The blue half of Billingham sit in 15th place but have games in hand over most of their second division rivals, and come into the game buoyed by a win over National League North side Darlington in the Durham Challenge Cup in midweek, beating The Quakers on penalties after a 3-3 draw after 90 minutes. RACA also come into the game on a high following the impressive 4-0 win over Newcastle University on Wednesday night, once again played in front of a 200+ attendance on what was one rainy night, so that was a particularly great crowd. The three points propelled us right up to 7th place, our highest position since last season, and those who braved the elements were rewarded with what is generally agreed as our finest performance of the season to date.

Town are one of our most regular opponents since we joined the Northern League, today’s fixture being the 29th meeting between the sides but we have been on the receiving end of a few hidings in those encounters. Our joint record home defeat was at the hands of Billingham, a 0-8 reverse in the 2017/18 season that prompted the resignation of manager Paul Dobie, & we conceded nine goals in a 9-2 loss at Bedford Terrace in 2022/23 plus that 0-6 reverse there last season to list just three. We did at least win this corresponding fixture last season 2-1 with Abu Salim and Dale Burrell on target for Ryton back in August and also won the controversial E Armstrong cup tie here where the floodlights temporarily packed in.

If you’re wanting to see if we can make it three wins and three clean sheets in a row, kick off is at the usual time of 3pm