Darlington Wearside Youth  Under 13s 9, Easington Colliery Under 13s 0

Both teams started fast and lively with the ball being passed into both teams half’s. Darlington started with their usual back four of Thomas Nesbitt, Thomas Fletcher, Keiran Devlin and Lucas Reed. With Fletcher and Devlin making forward runs which left the very capable Nesbitt and Reed holding the line at the back with goal-keeper Alex Bates acting as a sweeper. Easington adopted the tactic of getting 6 or 7 team members into their box for defence and leaving 3 players ready to run onto any forward passes. However, as per the Darlington game plan Darlington were very steady and composed at the back and ‘probed’ the Easington defence up front. For the first 15 minutes Easington proved they were ‘up for it’ and had a good amount of the ball. However, on 18 minutes Darlington were awarded a corner to the right which was taken by Lucas Reed who sent a high ball into the Easington goal mouth. Darlington’s Jamie Dodds rose high above all other players and headed the ball into the back of the Easington goal giving the goal keeper no chance.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 1 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

The game continued from the re-start and Easington still posed a challenge to the Darlington team. Darlington continued to have the slight upper hand at this time and on 28 minutes there was a foul on Dominic Agnew and the free kick was taken by Agnew himself, however this ball went skyward and the score remained unchanged. The Easington team continued to get players back into their box for the Darlington attacks and restricted Darlington to very few shots at the goal from open play.

On 31 minutes there was another foul on a Darlington player and the resulting free kick from 25 yards was taken by Jaxon Briggs. Briggs’ powerful shot hit the bar and angled downwards and from half a yard out Darlington’s Jamie Dodds made no mistake by unleashing a great, powerful shot. Briggs said he was sure his shot crossed the line but the goal is given to Dodds.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 2 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

From the re-start Darlington kept up the pressure on the Easington (7 man) defence and this persistence was again rewarded on 34 minutes when Lucas Reed passed a neat ball to Jamie Dodds who again found the back of the net.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 3 – Easington Colliery U13 0. This was the score at half time.

Easington had the kick off to start the second half. Darlington were quick to re-act from the re-start and the ball was ‘robbed’ by Darlington’s Jamie Gibson who passed the ball to Jaxon Briggs on the left side then Gibson ran on to the return pass to put the ball into the Easington goal on 36 minutes.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 4 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

Darlington were now getting the upper hand and controlling the game with their usual accurate and well weighted passing and on 46 minutes the ball was collected at the feet of goal-keeper Alex Bates. Bates passed a short ball to Thomas Nesbitt on the left, Nesbitt passed to Dominic Agnew in the center, Agnew passed to Keiran Devlin on the right, Devlin passed the ball into the right side of the Easington box to Ryan Smithwhite and Smithwhite passed the ball to the byline back to Keiran Devlin who passed the ball into the goal-mouth for Jamie Dodds to ‘flick’ the ball past the Easington goal-keeper.

This attack started at the back by the Darlington keeper and was executed with six passes from the Darlington box on the left, across the field to the right and the Easington team did not touch the ball until the Easington keeper picked the ball from his net. Such was the control the Darlington team were now displaying.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 5 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

On 49 minutes another Darlington attack saw Ryan Smithwhite fouled just outside the Easington box. The free kick was taken by Lucas Reed who sent the ball to the top right corner of the Easington goal. The Easington keeper did get a hand to the ball but the shot was too strong for him to prevent the ball going into the net for Darlington’s sixth goal.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 6 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

Easington’s only threat to the Darlington goal came on 50 minutes when they were awarded a corner kick. The high cross went over the up-stretched arms of keeper Bates and bounced towards the goal. However the Darlington defender on the back post stopped the ball giving keeper Bates enough time to recover and toe poke the ball to a defender on the right and the ball was knocked up field to safety. This proved to be the only direct attack on the Darlington goal for the whole game.

Darlington, however were still not finished with their attacks.

On 52 minutes another ‘jinking’ run inside the Easington box saw a foul on Darlington’s Ryan Smithwhite and Darlington were awarded a penalty. Smithwhite himself took the penalty and duly gave the keeper no chance.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 7 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

Darlington continued with the dominance of the game and were now moving the ball freely from the back, across the field from left to right, right to left. They pushed and probed into the Easington half and into the Easington box. The Easington defence still put up a decent attempt to contain the Darlington team but inevitably on 57 minutes Ryan Smithwhite collected the ball on the right side in the Darlington half. Smithwhite deceived the Easington left wing and cut inside in the direction of the Easington goal. Smithwhite executed a sweet 15 yard pass with the outside of his left boot straight through the centre of the Easington outfield players. The pass was collected inside the Easington box two yards from goal and with a continuation of the ball’s movement Jamie Dodds flicked the ball past the Easington goal keeper for goal 8.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 8 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

Easington by this time did not seem to have any answers to the Darlington play and on 59 minutes another cross ball from the left saw Darlington’s Jamie dodds collect the ball in the Easington box, Dodds took the ball to the goal-line and this time became the provider with a short pass to Jamie Gibson to get the last goal of the game.

The game ended with the score Darlington Wearside Youth U13 9 – Easington Colliery U13 0.

The Easington team were not a ‘poor’ team. They proved to be a decent team whose defence was not easy to break down in the first half. The whole team was lively but the sheer persistence, tactics and ball control of the Darlington team eventually won the game. The Darlington team built up the game from the back, through to the mid-field and the forwards finished the moves.

The man of the match today must be Jamie Dodds, number 6 on his shirt and 6 goals to his credit.

This makes it two very good wins in the space of three days which must give the team confidence for the next game against the division leaders Harton Bulldogs on Sunday.