Chester le Street Town claimed all 3 points to send them above Ryton & CA to 13th position with games on hand on other clubs around them.
Craig Marron won the toss for the Cestrian’s and elected to kick up field facing into a bright descending sunshine. The first incident was on 9 mins when Chris Stephenson went in for a challenge and appeared to have suffered a bad injury, however after lengthy treatment he was able to continue. On 11 mins Jack Moody of RACA broke away but his effort from outside the box went high and wide. Chester le Street counter attacked with an excellent move between Connor Lyon, Dave Surrey and Michael Hepplewhite who saw his effort cleared by a defender for a corner.
Almost immediately Alex White put Hepplewhite through on goal but his shot was parried by RACA keeper Dom McMahon’s legs , however the Cestrian’s were back straight back at the RACA goal when a through ball was played to Dan McGuire and he went past the full back to cross a ball for Hepplewhite to shoot home on 17 Mins 1-0
On 35 mins a good move by Stephenson to Hepplewhite and then White saw the latter fire a good goal bound shot only for Keeper McMahon to again save with his legs for a corner. From the corner RACA broke away and a ball played in Mason Stephenson to fire past the advancing Jack Wilson to level the scores.
Chester le Street attacked straight from the restart of the second half and were awarded a free kick just outside of the box which White fired on to force McMahon into another fine save. White was not to be outdone as on 52 minutes a fine move down the right saw a ball crossed into the middle of the Ryton box and White volleyed home to make the score 2-1.
10 mins later Jack Moody for RACA found himself in a good position just inside the Chester le Street area but he could only side foot a shot behind for a goal kick. From the kick the Cestrians produced another good move with White again forcing McMahon into another fine save
Chester le Street brought on Dom Laws whose International clearance only came through late Friday and he was only on the pitch 2 mins before he latched onto a through ball to fire home number 3
On 87 mins RACA substitute Lee Crammond was given a second yellow for a tackle and he was dismissed from the field of play.
Overall a decent display considering the Cestrians had not played a Saturday game for 3 weeks and pleasing to see so many chances created.
Team
Wilson, Stephenson, Reynolds, Marron (Capt) Dixon (Walker), Lyon, McGuire (Megran) , King, Hepplewhite, Surrey ( Laws) , White
Subs not used: Iley
Attendance 81
Referee: J Halliday , Assistants I Carr, I Forsyth
