04/08/2026
Sunderland RCA V Durham Coast match report.
After a few weeks without a game, tonight we made the journey over to Sunderland to face an RCA side who were promoted themselves last season from 2 divisions above us so we knew this would be a good test for the lads to see where they are at.
Straight from kick off RCA set about playing football from the back and almost cut us open in the first few minutes with a great through ball inside the left channel, luckily Bobby was switched on to see it out of play. After a cagey opening 10 minutes, we began to settle into the game and created the first real chance. Some lovely build up between Isaac and Alfie saw the latter set Emmett away down the right hand channel. His first touch took him a little wide but recovered well to fire an excellent strike across goal that the keeper has managed to push away for a corner.
We continued to push forward and went close on a couple of occasions with Emmett and Alfie striking efforts just over the bar.
Then we went not so close as Kellan decided to try a shot from the half way line!
With 5 minutes left of the half the lads took a deserved lead, a great through ball by Isaac set Emmett away, he has driven his shot off the outside of the post, luckily the rebound has dropped to Ollie, who’s first touch took him back towards the penalty spot and then he’s fired across goal into the top corner to make it 0-1!
Half time 0-1!
Second half we shuffled a couple of the lads around and immediately found ourselves on the back foot with RCA coming out of the traps quickly, drawing 2 excellent saves from Theo.
The opening 10 minutes of the half continued in the same vain, with RCA pushing forward only to be thwarted by our back 3, and if they broke through them then Theo was on hand to sweep everything up.
After struggling to get the ball down, we decided to utilise Theo’s kicking and Emmetts pace, and midway through the half we went close to adding a second. Emmett set away down the right channel has squared it to Ollie whose effort was blocked with Joseph firing the rebound wide.
Next it was Bobbys turn to break down the same side, this time firing an effort just over from a tight angle.
After going close twice in a few minutes, we finally added a second on our next attack. Some great build up starting from the back, saw Josh play the ball into Ruben, who has cut inside and squared it to Alfie, Alfie has played a great through ball to Ollie who from an almost impossible angle has squeezed the ball into the far corner to make it 0-2!
The final 10 minutes saw RCA go all out attack and an absolute thunderbolt from 20 yards saw them pull one back.
They continued to push, but another excellent save from Theo, tipping the ball over the bar from a close range effort helped us see out the game.
Full time 1-2!
⚽️⚽️Ollie
MOTM - Theo - shot stopping and decision making were top drawer. Add into the mix his distribution and ability to play out from the back as a sweeper was crucial to us getting a result. 👏🏻👏🏻
