Hetton 1 - 2 Darlington Youth Under 17s

The game began very slowly in comparison to the previous couple of games for Darlington as they found it very difficult to get the early goal against the league leaders. Darlington however slowly worked themselves into the game and dominated the majority of the first half with chance after chance but again, they were unable to grab a goal.

However it was the home side with their only real chance of the half that grabbed the lead coming from a corner, and a man left at the back post unmarked was able to tap it in and put the unbeaten side 1-0 up.

Darlington weren't giving up on the game the rest of the half followed a similar pattern chance after chance for Quakers and Hetton only having one other good chance with a great save from Andy Coulson.

The second half kicked off and Darlington knew they had to raise their game one more step to grab a goal, and minutes into the second half they did so with Arron Mudd, the substitution striking the ball into the top left corner from the edge of the box to equalise. 1-1

Shortly after this goal, Darlington had the motivation to go on and keep knocking on the door, with the ball hitting the woodwork and forcing great saves from the keeper. But eventually they were able to pinch a second with Shoaib Kahn being able to tap the ball in from close distance. 2-1

Darlington kept focused from this point and didn't lose their heads, and for the rest of the game they only allowed Hetton to worry the away side with long balls into the box forcing a great save from new keeper Jack Wright.

The game ended 2-1 to Darlington, a well deserved score line! Even though it didn't reflect the performance as it could have been lots more but three points were highly required for the Darlo boys and it's exactly what they got. Onwards and upwards with a very strong squad.

Man of the match - Kelton Johnson