SUNDERLAND RCA (Meadow Park)

FA CUP 1st QUALIFYING ROUND, SUNDERLAND RCA 2-4 STOCKTON TOWN, ATTENDANCE: 324

There were plenty of choices on offer today but I could not resist the lure of an FA Cup tie. After much deliberation, I decided to head to the North East for the match up between Sunderland RCA (of the Northern League) and Stockton Town (recently promoted to the Northern Premier League).

Sunderland RCA are based in the Ryhope area of the city and their full name is Sunderland Ryhope Community Association. The club was founded in 1963 and competed in local league's until the mid 1970's when the club folded after entry to the Wearside League was refused, as there was already a team called Ryhope competing in it.

The club reformed in 1978 and joined the Northern Alliance before becoming founding members of the Northern League Division Two in 1982. At this point the club were now playing at their own ground, Meadow Park, which is currently known as Sunderland LGV Park for sponsorship purposes. The Sunderland prefix was added in 2006 when the club joined forces with Springboard Sunderland and in 2010 they were promoted to the Northern League Division One.

It was a wise decision to head here to today as I witnessed an absolutely brilliant FA Cup tie.

The home side were fastest out the blocks and had a couple of efforts blocked within the first minute and had a couple of good chances after that but, against the run of the early play, Stockton took the lead when Kevin Hayes (14) scored from a free kick (pictured left). The visitors controlled the play after this and were 2-0 up after 22 minute, a superb flowing move culminating in the ball been played out wide for Mikey Roberts to run onto and fire into the bottom corner of the net.

Stockton nearly made it three but a quick counter resulted in Sunderland's Michael Annang-Colquhoun scrambling home after 28 minutes. This clearly lifted the home side and on 36 minutes they were level, Simon Jakab heading home.

There were chances for both teams before the break, Sunderland coming the closest when Mark Davison hit the crossbar in stoppage time.

After such an open first half the second half was always going to be a little more cagier but it was Stockton who always seemed to have the slight edge. It wasn't until 20 minutes from time that they finally pulled away when Hayes scored his second, via a slight deflection of a defenders heel (pictured right) and then substitute Nathan Steel wrapped the tie up with six minutes to go. 

A fantastic advert for the FA Cup and reaffirmed my belief that it is still the best Cup competition in the world. Stockton will now travel to Curzon Ashton in the next round, which should be another intriguing encounter.

RYHOPE COLLIERY WELFARE (Recreation Park)

FA VASE 2ND ROUND, RYHOPE COLLIERY WELFARE 1-2 CITY OF LIVERPOOL FC, ATTENDANCE: 245

When the draw for the second round of the Vase was made, this was the tie that immediately leaped off the page as far as I was concerned - a clash between two teams from two of my favourite leagues as Northern League Ryhope Colliery Welfare were drawn at home to North West Counties League City of Liverpool FC.






Ryhope is a village that forms part of the city of Sunderland. Like most places in the area, the village was a mining village until the 1960's, when the pit was closed, and the football club was founded in 1892 by miners from the local colliery.

The football club has spent most of its history playing in the Wearside League but in 2012, after winning four competitions the Wearside League Title, Sunderland Shipowners Cup, Monkwearmouth Charity Cup and League Cup, a repeat of the previous season no less, the club accepted promotion to the Northern League.

Ryhope's fine form continued and the club finished runners up in Division Two, behind Crook Town, but instead of promotion to division one the club were relegated back to the Wearside League due to ground grading rules.

After bringing their Recreation Park up to the necessary requirements, including the extension of  the club’s changing rooms and separate referee facilities and public toilets, club returned to the Northern League in 2014 and won promotion to the top flight in 2016.

The official attendance for the game was 245 and I would say at least three quarters of the crowd had travelled up from Merseyside. They certainly made their presence felt with plenty of noise and colour. It certainly helped create an atmosphere in the ground. As well as getting behind their team there were some very interesting songs about a former British Prime Minister of the 1980's!

It was the Purps who dominated the opening stages as they launched wave after wave of attacks, but in truth they never truly tested Jonathan Ball in the Ryhope goal. The closest City of Liverpool came to breaking the deadlock was through a header from Daniel Dalton which came back off the underside of the crossbar.

Ryhope played themselves into the game and were finally getting forward however after 42 minutes City of Liverpool scored. After good work down the right, the ball was played into Joseph Camozzi in the area and with quick feet he managed to control the ball with his left foot and prod it past the 'keeper with his right. On the balance of the first half it was no more than The Purps deserved.

The second half was just six minutes old when a long ball was played into the path of Karl Noon and, after the ball was allowed to bounce, the midfielder struck a superb volley into the bottom corner of the net from around 20 yards out. A tremendous finish.

That wasn't the end of the quality goals though as Ryhope got themselves back in the game after 62 minutes thanks to a volley from Thomas Bott, which from a similar range out swerved and dipped over Karl Wills in the Purps goal.

This strike came after City of Liverpool had two glorious chances to wrap the tie up. The first when Elliott Nevitt burst through one-on-one but his effort was saved by the advancing Ball. Then soon after Nevitt burst through again but opted to square the ball to Noon rather than shoot and the chance was missed by the midfielder.

The game was more open in the latter stages of the second half as fatigue set in and it became end-to-end as a result. Ryhope piled on the pressure as the game drew to it's conclusion but despite six minutes of stoppage time they could not find an equaliser. It was City of Liverpool who won through and they will face another journey to the North East in December when they travel to Stockton Town in the 3rd round.

EPPLETON COLLIERY WELFARE GROUND

WOMEN'S FA SUPER LEAGUE TWO, SUNDERLAND AFC LADIES 1-2 DONCASTER ROVERS BELLES, ATTENDANCE: 1,177

After the excitement of the Vase game at Alnwick Town, it was back down the A1 for the second part of today's double.

Sunderland Ladies play at the Hetton Centre, Hetton-le-Hole, which is the former home of Eppleton Colliery Welfare. Eppleton Colliery were formed in 1929 and were members of the Northern Alliance when they unfortunately folded in 2005. 

The ground was redeveloped when the club reached the Northern League in the early 1990's and received a further influx of cash when Sunderland Council relocated the villages community services to the Hetton Centre.

This building, which houses the community organisation ‘The Hetton Town Trust’ which rose from the former Eppleton Colliery Welfare,  overlooks the ground. The centre includes the Bob Paisley Bar, named after the former Liverpool manager who was born in Hetton-le-Hole and remains a legendary figure around these parts.

Tonight's game was being billed as the title shoot out between Sunderland Ladies and Doncaster Belles for the right to replace Everton Ladies (relegated after 20 years in the top division) in the Women's top flight. The kick off was put back to 7.30pm to allow Black Cat supporters who had been at the Sunderland v Stoke City game plenty of time if they also wanted to come along to this match. The club were rewarded with a 1,000+ crowd and it made for a fantastic atmosphere.

At the start of play Sunderland had 41 points with three to play and Doncaster had 33 points with four to play. A Sunderland win and the title is theirs. A Doncaster win and the fight continues, but the reality is that it is Sunderland's to lose whatever the result as Doncaster still need to win their all remaining games and hope Sunderland slip up somewhere.

Sunderland took the lead after 16 minutes when their top scorer Beth Mead headed home. The homesters had the best of the opening 45 minutes and had chances to extend their lead.

Whatever Belles manager Gordon Staniforth said at the interval certainly did the trick. Millie Bright hit the crossbar from a free kick before Jess Sigsworth (60) headed home a cross from Victoria Williams to level things up.

Sunderland did have a glorious chance to regain the lead but Abbey Joice fired wide with only Belles goalkeeper Nicola Hobbs to beat.

It was Williams who proved to be the match winner, with 7 minutes remaining, when she hit a superb curling effort into the top corner of Rachel Laws' net.

Some of the tackles were crunching as Doncaster battled to protect their lead and despite late pressure they held on to keep their title chances alive.

The Doncaster Belles had Sue Smith in their starting line up, someone who will be well known to lot of people through her punditry work on the BBC and Sky Sports, and I have to say she was superb. Everything seemed to go through her and she always kept the team going through her touch and movement. The only blot on her copybook was a booking for a dive.

Overall a very enjoyable evening and a really good game of football.

Highlights can be viewed by clicking here