Gavin Ellis has put together some prose about the 2019-20 season -- here's the third part of his efforts covering the games against Kettering and Curzon Ashton:

POPPY DAY

The Poppies last played Quakers at the Darlington Arena

Both clubs on the brink of death and the grass looked much less greener

With just the one point on the board our scorelines do need bettering

Today we’ve got to overcome our fellow strugglers Kettering

The Quakers score two first half goals, a Stephen Thompson double

The Midlanders trudge off the pitch knowing that they’re in trouble

The second half begins at pace, our football neat and slick

Rivers puts us three nil up with a clever near-post flick

The referee blows for full-time, the Tin Shed have a blast

It’s been a long time coming we’ve secured a win at last

Poppies mean remembrance in November when it’s dark

But we won’t forget today, we’ve played them off the park

TAME SIDE

We head to Curzon Ashton on an August Monday night

You can’t beat early season games playing in the light

If Curzon Ashton win tonight they know they’ll go top

We know we’ve got to stay switched on, we can’t afford to flop

Defensive lapses yet again contribute to our woes

What goes through our defenders’ minds heaven only knows

That’s seven goals conceded now, six of them away

The game is gone, we lose three-one, it’s just not our day

We last played here on Monday night three years ago I think

A two-one win for Darlington and the sky turned salmon pink

Tonight though at the Tameside our defending has been lame

If we want to reach the play-offs then we’ve got to up our game