Penshaw avenge early-season’s loss to rivals Ryhope Foresters
Penshaw Catholic Club atoned for an early-season home loss to local rivals RyhopeForesterswithanexcellent 3-1 win at Ryhope Park in the Sunderland & District Mill View Social Club Over40s League.
Last-minute defensive withdrawls meant that Penshaw had to take a risk in playing Dave Sanderson, just recovered from injury, a first start in central defence, although he had performed admirably the previous week as stand-in keeper against Middlesbrough.
It turned out a good move as Sanderson, alongside Ellison and Lowery in defence, turned in a solid display.
The game started evenly but Penshaw’s forwards looked dangerous with their pace, causing the Ryhope defence all kinds of problems. After a couple of near misses, Chris Moody and Archie Archbold goals in quick succession put the away team in control at half time.
Ryhope came out fighting and reduced the arrears 10 minutes into the second half with a close-range Gary Shields strike, however Penshaw, rather than try to protect their lead, pushed on in style with man-of-the-match Luke Charlesworth and the hard-working Paul Donnelly and Michael Graver prompting many attacks that the Ryhope defence struggled to cope with.
Moody had a penalty appeal turned away when it was deemed outside the box but looked well inside, and then a powerful header from Archbold was touched onto the bar by Ryhope keeper Paul Young but bounced down over the line, also turned down by referee Ken Short, who had trouble seeing the incident due to the low sun.
However, the third Penshaw goal wasn’t far away and it was a solo goal by Paul Hodgson, again a reward for an excellent performance up front. Penshaw then managed the game comfortably to complete a deserved win in a great team performance.
Washington EMS and South Shields produced a
high-scoring end-to-end game that finished 4-4. The match started with both sides attacking, and Bryson almost scored for Washington but hit the bar. He soon got his revenge as, after 20 minutes, he headed home a great cross from Thompson.
Three minutes later, striker Steve Burns made it 2-0 with a great finish.
Just before the halftime whistle South Shields pulled a goal back when a speculative shot from striker Andrew Potts got past the Washington goalkeeper. South Shields then equalised early in the second half when Potts scored again. Washington came back into the game and Burns got his second with a placed pass into goal from the edge of
the box.
Within minutes, Washington went 4-2 up when debutant Dale Robinson fired home a clever pass from Kindon. Once again, South Shields got back into the game when substitute Philip McLeod fired home to make it 4-3. A minute later, full-back Ronnie Thompson went on a mazy dribble and scored the equaliser to make the final score 4-4.
In the Premier League, FC Blues drew 2-2 at Killingworth. It was a really good point, coming from 2-0 down and then hanging on in difficult circumstances.
Poor marking at a corner allowed Killingworth to go in front and, although FC went close through Stu Greig and Chris Birbeck, they were
2-0 down after 25 minutes when they failed to stop a
cross coming in, and a bullet header found the back of the net.
With half-time approaching FC got back into the game. Jon Kegans and Jonny Payne combined to put Greig in the clear to score. Midway through the second half FC got a deserved equaliser. Andy Southern found Greig and he squared the ball to Birbeck to shoot into the bottom corner.
FC were on top but with 15 minutes had a player sent off for reacting to being wiped out by a two-footed tackle, the foul going unpunished. FC’s manager was also sent off for his protests. It was backs-to-the-wall for the remainder of the game, but FC came through to gain a point.
Greig was star man, along with Mick Driscoll, Brian Chambers and Niall Southall.
In Division Two, Cricket Club lost 4-1 at Richmond.
After a lively first half, Cricket made their usual slow start to the second and Richmond took advantage to go in front. Cricket, however, came storming back to equalise within two minutes. They forced a corner, swung in by Mark Taylor, and Trevor Gibson rose to head home.
After that the home team dominated, and two quick goals with ten minutes left took the game away from Cricket, and a fourth right at the end completed the scoring.
Taylor and Gibson starred in Cricket’s midfield.
The Raby Arms hosted Boldon Colliery with only the bare XI, and started the game slowly as the visitors created several chances.
Boldon took the lead midway through the half with a towering header from a right wing cross. Raby started to find their feet but didn’t really create anything during the rest of the half. Raby started much better after the break and equalised when Ian McDonough made no mistake from the penalty spot after Chris Moody was upended in the box. They stayed on the front foot but unfortunately the game was abandoned on 55 minutes after a Boldon player broke his leg.