Seaham Red Star maintained their 100% record with a narrow 1-0 victory at the Oldhaulage Stadium in a tight if niggly game. Lewis Porritt’s 57th minute goal separated the two sides in a win that moves them back to the summit of the table. RACA also had Albe Fletcher dismissed for a second yellow card on another disappointing evening before Friday’s Tyne Valley derby at Prudhoe. One bright spot was the 297 attendance with a good following up from East Durham to swell the ranks. Albion drop a place to 17th in the table.
MATCH SUMMARY
Ryton faced a stern test as they welcomed unbeaten Seaham Red Star, relegated from Division one last season, to the Tyne Valley.
As early as the 2nd minute, Seaham were putting pressure on their hosts forging a useful looking attack when John Stephenson made a darting run down the right flank & put in a low dangerous looking cross bur Albion keeper Callum Corkhill dived down low to block it before the ball reached another Seaham player. In a half where the ball spent a lot of time in the air, it was RACA who created the first chance of note on 19 minutes when Glenn Caygill narrowly headed wide from a corner. Seaham’s next chance came from a 33rd minute good team move culminating in Ryan O’Connor finding Matty Weirs whose powerful drive from close range was well blocked by Corkhill. And that was it for meaningful efforts in the first period, which was more end to end play with little end result and more than a few niggly fouls to break up any fluency.
HT RACA 0 Seaham Red Star 0
The second half continued with much energy but little in the way of goalmouth action, that was until the 52nd minute when the home fans shouted for a penalty when Declan Bisset on a run towards the Red Star goal was knocked over in the box by Danny Wilds, but referee Mr Carr was not to be persuaded by the howls from the RACA fans and they, probably rightly, had to settle for a corner. The corner itself created a half chance when Jack Salkeld got some head contact on the ball but not enough to give Ben Taylor in the Seaham goal any cause for concern & it rolled out gently for a goal kick. The pivotal moment in the game came on 57 minutes when a long Seaham throw into the Ryton box resulted in the defence not being able to get a clean contact on the ball to get it to safety, it falling to Lewis Porritt who showed some fancy footwork before slotting the ball home to score his second goal of the season. Albion’s hopes of taking something from the game were dealt a blow on 67 minutes when Albe Fletcher was dismissed following a second yellow card but to be fair the hosts raised their game and it wasn’t obvious who had the extra man. That said, neither side looked like adding to the scoring, the latter stages of the game punctuated with free kicks, injuries & substitutions, until three minutes into stoppage time when Corkhill launched a free kick from inside the RACA half into the box & substitute Craig Scott rose above everyone to get a clean head on the ball but it rocketed two feet over the bar and Albion drew a blank for the first time this season. Red Star in contrast, made it four wins from four and move back to the top of the table.
Another disappointment for Ryton but it was at least a more dogged performance than of late though not ideal preparation for the big one on Friday night.
FT RACA 0 SEAHAM RED STAR 1 Attendance 297
RACA– Corkhill, Fletcher s/o, Dart, Salkeld (Skivington 81), Caygill, Dodds, Luke (Lynch 65), Groves-Forbes, Anderson (Scott 68), Bisset (Ord 77), Elliott (Adotey 73)
MATCH SUMMARY
Other Division 2 Wednesday Results
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Darlington Town 2 (Dixon, Jackson) Prudhoe YC 2 (Simpson, Foster)
Esh Winning 1 (Harland) Sunderland West End 1 (Davison)
Park View 6 (Loveday, Young, Conroy 3, Siyanbola) Grangetown BC 2 (Shields, o.g.)