Albion’s play off hopes took a jolt with a 3-1 home defeat to in form Sunderland West End, the home side looking uncharacteristically disjointed for the majority of the game. An even first half finished goalless but Craig Linsell put the visitors ahead soon after the restart. Taylor Ford doubled the advantage on 76 minutes before Dale Burrell put RACA back in the game with an 85th minute reply. As the hosts pressed for the leveller, West End broke away & Zouhair Benali wrapped things up with a stoppage time winner.
MATCH SUMMARY
For the second weekend Albion hosted a mid-table side who were on the up, this time the much improved Sunderland West End visited NE40 and they were to leave with all three points. There was early drama in the West End goalmouth when in the second minute Rhys McLeod set up Morgan Dart whose initial shot was blocked by Sunderland keeper Neal Bussey, the ball bouncing back to Dart whose second effort was blocked by Brad Foster who was subsequently foxed by the spin on the ball. His attempt at a clearance spun back into the danger area where Louis Calvert flicked the ball to Dart whose shot was again blocked by Bussey, the ball landing at Foster’s feet & this time he was able to clear his area successfully. West End’s first chance came in the 12th minute when a John Anderson shot squirmed under Ryton keeper Brogan Colquhoun’s body and looked to be trickling into the net, but Colquhoun just managed to recover in time to smother the ball and prevent the goal despite the attentions of Zouhair Benali who was hoping for the easy tap in. Anderson wasn’t far off again in the 23rd minute when his free kick whistled narrowly over the RACA bar, while on the half hour, a somewhat reluctant solo run from Albion defender Charlie Grieveson resulted in a shot on target, but it was straight at Bussey who saved comfortably. Calvert brought another save out of Bussey on 37 minutes, but in truth, Albion’s goal attempts lacked the edge to incovenience the Sunderland keeper too much.
HT RACA 1 Sunderland West End 0
Not for the first time recently Albion started a second half in a sluggish manner only this time they paid for their lethargy after only two minutes of the second period when defender Scott Oldfield was caught out while trying to shepherd the ball back to Colquhoun and West End top scorer Craig Linsell dispossessed him and slotted home. The home side continued to look jaded & were giving the ball away far too much for manager Nathan Beckham’s liking, and on 73 minutes Taylor Ford took full advantage going on a fine solo run from the half way line, leaving Ryton players for dead, and firing home to make it 2-0. On 75 minutes Richie Hoggins came on as a Ryton substitute and his first touch was a bullet header from a corner which Bussey had to dive to push away to safety. This seemed to spur on Albion who finally began to put some pressure on West End & the reward came on 85minutes when Dale Burrell headed home from a corner for his 5th goal of the season. Ryton continued to press for the equaliser & almost got one out of nowhere when deep into stoppage time, Glenn Caygill hit a sweet strike from 20 yards which called on Bussey to pull off another fine save, pushing the ball out for a corner. For the corner kick, keeper Colquhoun joined the action in the Sunderland box, but the tactic backfired as the Wearsiders cleared the ball and Benali raced forward with only sole defender Josh Skivington to beat, the Sunderland man taking the ball wide and firing home past the Albion defence who were storming back from the opposition half, to wrap up the points.
So Albion lose a home league game for the first time since the defeat to Newcastle University in November, but the results of the play-off rivals weren’t unfavourable on the whole. The weekend could have been much worse results-wise and now next Saturday’s trip to Thornaby takes on even more significance with the Teessiders also suffering a home defeat. Albion drop to 6th place, while West End move up to 9th but can’t reach the play offs as they only have three games left to play.
FT RACA 1 SUNDERLAND WEST END 3 Attendance 251
RACA- Colquhoun, Grieveson, Ledger (Hoggins 75), Page, Oldfield (Hayton 68), Caygill, Lynch (Skivington 83), Burrell, Calvert, McLeod (Bissett 54), Dart (Errington 57)