Stokesley 0 Darlington Reserves 1

The reserves shrugged off the absence of several players to win at Stokesley.

Centre half Anthony Verity scored the winner 15 minutes from the end when he turned in a free kick by Dale Milburn, to cap a very good performance by the lads.

Joint manager Mark Fanning said; “The lads adapted well to the circumstances.

In the first half we maybe had square pegs in round holes, and we didn’t play well.

“But in the second half we were much better and created a few chances.

“We had to reshuffle the side because Martin wanted Arran Wearmouth for the first team, and we’d just put Lee Hume on the team sheet when we received a call from Martin asking him to go on the first team bench, so he drove back to Darlington.

Nathan Stephenson and Kurt Matthews were both injured, Lewis Walton had a knock, and Joey Batchelor was unavailable.

“So all in all, it was a very good performance. Maybe Stokesley deserved something out of the game because our keeper Carl Robinson pulled off some good saves, but earlier in the season we played well against Jarrow and lost, so it’s swings and roundabouts.”