Sunderland RCA’s 18-day wait for a game came to an end as they earned a goalless draw away to a strong Yarm & Eaglescliffe side on Tuesday night.
The game’s biggest moment came on 68 minutes as Karl Dryden was judged to have upended Sam Conway in the area.
Tom Atkinson stepped up, but Dryden guessed the right way and saved well to his left to help RCA secure a hard-fought point at Bedford Terrace.
The game wasn’t blessed with chances otherwise as it was a good night from both backlines, but the visitors were certainly the more satisfied at the final whistle.
Mark Forrest and his management team made two changes from the side that drew against Billingham Synthonia as club captain Chris Thompson returned alongside attacker Jackson Ward.
Making the change to shape up in a 3-5-2 formation seemed to be working for RCA in the early stages as the solid foundation of Kieran Charlton, Jamie Harwood, and Luke Richards across the back three meant the ball was regularly being played forward for strikers Ward and Tafari Nichols to compete for.
The two quick, young forwards were eagerly looking to win flick ons and hold up the ball to bring midfielders and wing-backs into play, but they were seldom rewarded for their efforts.
Charlton brilliantly described the pair as “like balloons with no knots” in his post-match interview.
Yarm & Eaglescliffe appeared somewhat surprised with RCA’s new shape as they struggled to find space on the ball and often lost out in duels in-front of the visitors’ final third.
RCA managed to register the first few attempts of the game, albeit Nichols and Jack Patterson’s efforts from distance between the 15th and 20th minutes did little to trouble the home goalkeeper.
A chance was just whiskers away on 24 minutes as Harwood’s free-kick was well flicked on by Thompson, but Lewis Lukeman couldn’t quite trap the ball as he faced the goal from seven yards.
The hosts grew into the contest as the half went on and produced a flurry of opportunities in the 33rd minute.
A slick exchange on the break between Conway and Harry Stewart-Titchiner resulted in the former seeing a shot blocked inside the area by Harwood.
Moments later Conway saw another shot blocked, this time by Thompson on the half-volley.
The spell of pressure concluded when Harry Williams’ delightful ball over the top could only be diverted into the side-netting by Josh Larkin.
RCA had weathered the Teesside storm and got into half time unscathed – it’s a shame the same couldn’t be said for the assistant referee.
Having pulled his hamstring during the first 45, the linesman couldn’t continue and the start of the second half was delayed as the search for a replacement began.
Luckily a young man from the stands was able to step in as a qualified official for the remainder of the game.
The delay had seemingly done its damage on RCA, though. Forrest was forced into two changes within the first eight minutes as both Harwood and Patterson had to be withdrawn through injury.
This meant Taylor Richardson came on at left-wing back while 18-year-old striker Kyle Harrison made his first appearance since joining from Gateshead.
The pack needed to be shuffled to accommodate the substitutions, so Nichols moved from striker to right-wing back, Archie Dodds and Thompson from out wide into midfield, and Dom Moan from centre midfield to the middle of the back three.
Despite the mix-up in shape and positions, the lads reacted excellently.
It seemed Yarm had been gifted the win on a plate when the referee pointed to the spot with just over twenty minutes to play.
Conway never gave up on the loose ball following a long-throw and got there just ahead of Dryden who was punished for his challenge.
Dryden dusted himself off, set himself, and saved brilliantly to deny Atkinson and keep the scores level.
Lukeman had an effort sail just over the bar moments later as RCA looked to twist the knife in the latter stages.
Yarm continued to load the box from set-pieces, but RCA were resolute and answered every challenge to secure the draw.
It’s a full week’s rest for the lads before they make the same journey next Tuesday to Bedford Terrace to face Billingham Town for a 7:30pm kick-off.
Yarm & Eaglescliffe: Roberts, Jack Dalton (Wild 72), Conway, Proctor, D. Jones, Cheesebrough (E. Jones 72), Stewart-Titchiner (Innes 90), Marshall, Atkinson (Thomson 86), Williams (Joseph Dalton 38), Larkin.
Sunderland RCA: Dryden, Richards, Dodds, Moan, Harwood (Richardson 50), Charlton, Thompson, Patterson (Harrison 53), Nicholas, Lukeman, Ward (Dumba 80).