A FIRST-HALF goal by skipper Will Hatfield put Darlington into the last 16 of the Buildbase FA Trophy.
Quakers were the more enterprising of the two sides in the first half, with Erico Sousa a handful on the left. Alex Storey clipped the top of the bar with a header, and Dan Maguire had a shot charged down on the six-yard line after he was set up by Sousa. Quakers took a deserved lead just on half-time when Hatfield picked the ball up in midfield, ran into the area, and as the defence stood back, he beat keeper Gerard Benfield with a low right-foot shot.
A FRUSTRATED Darlington were beaten by a second-half goal as they lost 1-0 to Farsley Celtic at the Citadel. For the second game running, they found it tough going in breaking down a home defence which had ten men behind the ball after they took the lead from a free-kick. Luke Charman, on his return to the side, went close with a header early on, but Quakers’ keeper Johnny Saltmer stopped his side from going behind after seven minutes when Paddy Lane broke clean through, but the keeper pushed him wide, and Lane instead set up Jimmy Spencer, who fired over the top.
DARLINGTON manager Alun Armstrong admits that getting a result at Spennymoor’s Brewery Field will be a tough ask in his side’s return local derby this afternoon. The sides drew 0-0 at Blackwell Meadows in a wind-spoilt game of very few chances on Boxing Day, and Armstrong knows that his team will be in for another tough game today. “We know that we’re going to have a difficult game, and getting a result will be a tough ask,” said Armstrong. “We had a good win on Monday against Blyth, but so did they at Gateshead. They’ll be full of confidence with that win, but we know what to expect after playing them last week. Having said that, they know what to expect from us. Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with a gale-force wind.”
THERE have been numerous memorable matches between Darlington and Spennymoor Town. Quakers’ pivotal 3-1 win at the Brewery Field which helped win the Northern League in 2013, the pulsating play-off final in 2015, and Moors’ 3-1 success on New Year’s Day this year are among key contests in their rivalry. Saturday’s was not one of the classics, however. Not by a long shot. It was a competitive but scrappy, a largely forgettable draw as both sets of players battled the elements as well as each other. Or, as one club official put it: “90 minutes that I won’t get back.”
Darlington ended 2020 in style by hitting bottom-of-the-table Blyth Spartans for six. They made light work of a team heading for relegation, leading 2-0 with only quarter of an hour gone and could have won by a greater margin, but there will be no complaints after this rout. The goals were shared by five players: Erico Sousa, Adam Campbell, Jarrett Rivers, Tyrone O’Neill (2) and Dan Maguire as Quakers recorded a long-awaited home league win. Not since January had they taken the points on home soil, but this win was not in doubt from the moment Sousa struck after ten minutes, and thereafter it was a matter of how many Alun Armstrong’s men would score.