A superb Dennis Knight brace helped Sunderland RCA claim their second win in three EBAC Northern League Division 2 matches at Grangetown Boys Club on Saturday afternoon.
Following a tight first half at Trunk Road, Knight was called from the bench and produced two moments of real quality to swing the game in RCA’s favour.
The first was a delicate lob on 67 minutes before the centre forward produced one of the goals of the season from almost halfway three minutes from time.
Mark Forrest and his coaching staff made two changes from Thursday’s outing at Newcastle University as Callum Guy and Jack Patterson returned to the starting 11. Dominic Moan led the line from the start, but made way for Knight at half-time.
It was a cagey opening to proceedings on Teesside as Grangetown looked to put RCA under early pressure with balls over the top.
The closest either side came to an opener in the early stages came on 13 minutes as Oscar Mahoney arrowed a strike off the upright following a home set-piece.
RCA’s young and creative players were trying to piece together moves on a surface that didn’t align with their intentions, but a solid foundation was set as Jamie Harwood and Lewis Cocks continued to repel the home side’s attacks.
Lewis Lukeman had RCA’s best chance of the half when his shot went just wide after he controlled a long pass with aplomb.
Boysie will have felt they deserved a lead going into the break, especially after Aaron Jackson and Kieran Harnett squandered two golden opportunities in the space of a minute. Jackson saw a shot well saved by Karl Dryden, while Harnett missed the target with a free header from the resulting corner.
Excitement among the away contingent grew as Knight was readied to bolster RCA’s attack for the second half.
His presence almost had an immediate impact as he controlled a long ball before teeing up Guy from 18 yards. Guy kept his shot low, but Sam Pinnegar did well to save.
Just after the hour Knight was involved again as he turned away from several defenders before striking the far post from just inside the area.
There was a new attacking verve clear in RCA’s build-up play as well as in their commitment to duels. The levels had risen and they were rewarded for the improvement with just under 25 minutes remaining.
Patterson made an excellent interception before finding Knight with a ball over the top. The experienced striker noticed Pinnegar well off his line and provided a lovely lobbed finish to break the deadlock and put RCA ahead.
Grangetown went in search of an equaliser, but the closest they came was from a Benjamin Urwin effort from distance that curled wide.
RCA defended diligently and the points were secured in fabulous style on 87 minutes. Just inside the opposition half, Knight stopped a dropping ball dead before looking up to find Pinnegar once again just an inch too far away from his goal.
When Knight is in this sort of mood, you can’t give him an inch. One stupendous finish from over 40 yards later and the result was beyond doubt.
Knight almost secured potentially the greatest hat-trick of all time in stoppage time, but his scissor kick volley flew over following Luke Richards’ cross.
The win moves RCA up to 13th in the league table as preparations begin to face Esh Winning next Saturday in a rearranged fixture.
Grangetown Boys Club: Pinnegar, A. Carr, Tweddle (Nolan 21), J. Carr (O’Brien 65), Greenwood (Malia 30), Harnett, Mahoney, Jones, Jackson, Urwin, Williams-Muthana.
Sunderland RCA: Dryden, Richards, Patterson, Thompson, Harwood, Cocks, Lukeman (Kitching 77), Dodds, Moan (Knight 46), Guy (Richardson 63), Nicholas (Wilkinson 89).