Our Under 23s stayed hot on the heels of the leaders with a comfortable 7-1 home win over Durham Corinthians on Wednesday night.

Matthiew Kirokiro scored a hat trick to give him twelve league goals for the season, with Jack Mortimer (2) Kayne Williams and Owen Harvey getting the others.

Manager Grant Cuthbertson said; “We were a bit lethargic and too deliberate in our play tonight and not the standard that we have become accustomed to. Overall, a good display with lots of positives only downside of the game was the last minute goal by the opposition which is a shame as the defence were very resilient all night and rightly so they were annoyed at the final whistle to not come away with a clean sheet.”

The game started really fast with Darlo keeping possession well and finding good moments, the final third quality was just missing. Alfie Fawcett was getting a lot of success down the left side and an outside the box effort from Ollie Walters was the closest the boys got for the first 30 minutes. Durham had a few long shots but nothing that troubled Liam Mason in goal.

 After a throw-in and some head tennis the boys got the ball down well, Kiro broke through and on the half volley absolutely rocketed the ball into the top corner from outside the box. All the boys competing for goal of the season at this reason after Fawcett’s screamer last game. One for the highlight reel and the boys go in at halftime 1-0 up.

 Kayne Williams came on Toby Sparrow, fresh legs in that midfield which would be really key in this second half. It only took 5 minutes for the boys to get going with a whipped Mortimer free kick bouncing round an unfortunate keeper. Shortly after Kayne Williams with a great header from a Walters free kick and within 15 minutes of the reset the boys were 3-0 up.

Owen Harvey on the scoresheet again from a really nicely worked corner routine, he was the only player alive in the box and tapped in the keeper’s rebound. Kiro won the ball back in the final third for an instinctive finish past the keeper. A penalty only one minute later would be the icing on the cake as usual penalty taker Mortimer offered up to Kiro to finish his hat trick showing the unselfish nature of this team. Kiro Hatrick and MoM performance.

Mortimer was rewarded just 10 minutes later by dragging the keeper out and curling an effort round him from a tight angle into an open net. 7-0 and a great performance, dampened by a last minute over the top ball where the boys switched off and Durham got their one goal. A solid team performance with class goals to match.

Starting Line-Up:
Liam Mason, Will Maddison, Owen Harvey, Thomas Southwood, Oliver Walters, Toby Sparrow, Jack Mortimer, Steven Dawson, Matthiew Kiro, Ethan Cuthbertson, Alfie Fawcett

 Subs: Harry Butters, Alfie Robinson, Jake Patterson, Owen Smith, Thomas Martin, Kayne Williams