Midweek youth football has recommenced, and our Wearside Youth Under 13s were in action on Tuesday night.

Darlington Wearside Youth Under 13 7 Spennymoor Town Youth Under 13 0

Prior to this game the team coach Darren Robertson reviewed the league positions and, although the Spennymoor team were bottom of the league it was noticeable that, out of the bottom six (with minus goal differences) Spennymoor had the best average, (-15). A review of the previous results showed Spennymoor had been losing by only the ‘odd’ goal each match. Which indicated a decent defence. With this in mind Darren reminded the team in his pre-match briefing that out of the three goals we (Darlington) had conceded TWO of these goals were against Spennymoor and the previous game against us Spennymoor started well before we won the game, (result 4-2). Also with this in mind Darren showed Spennymoor some respect by starting the game with a defensive line of four players and one in mid-field.

However (four in defence or not) the Darlington team soon showed their worth and on three minutes from the kick-off a free kick from the half way line find Dominic Agnew on the left wing who took the ball down the left side and produced a great cross which found the head of Thomas Nesbiatt who flicked it on to Jaxon Briggs who did the necessary with a simple goal.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 1 – Spennymoor town U13 0.

The Spennymoor tactics soon became apparent and this was to get as many men back into the box for defence and ‘boot’ the ball up-field to the lone number 17 with the hope he might get past the Darlington defence. However Darlington countered this by having the ever trusty Thomas Nesbiatt and Lucas Reed standing firm and, between the two the Spennymoor forward was basically ineffective.

Darlington continued to play their regular short, sharp passing game combined with some direct, accurate long balls and again on 10 minutes Jamie Dodds took the ball in a direct line through the centre of the Spennymoor team and produced a shot/pass which passed under the Spennymoor goal-keeper where it was again knocked into the net by Darlington’s Jaxon Briggs.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 2 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

The Spennymoor team did have some attempts to penetrate into the Darlington box but again any attempt would find the Darlington defence dispossessing them of the ball and start their attack from their own half. The ball was switched from one side of the pitch to the other with short, accurate and well weighted passes that this was done with ease and very little effort. Any stray balls which did find the way through were easily collected by the Darlington goal-keeper Alex Bates and it may be noted that such was the effectiveness of the Darlington passing that Bates did not need to kick one ‘long’ ball for the entire game.

On 26 minutes Darlington again were awarded a free kick 35 yards from goal. The kick was taken by Dominic Agnew into the box and collected by Jamie Dodds who found himself facing three Spennymoor players. Dodds passed the ball back about six feet to Tommy Hunt which saw a Spennymoor player ‘chase’ the ball. This opened up a gap in the defence which allowed Hunt to pass the ball through the gap to Finn Illingworth who again saw another gap as the Spennymoor team tried to chase the ball. The ball was passed to Jamie Gibson who again found the net.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 3 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

The re-start of the game saw Darlington re-act fast and take the ball again into the Spennymoor box. The referee spotted an infringement and awarded Darlington a penalty. However this was saved by the Spennymoor keeper and the score remained the same.

The whistle was blown for half time and the teams went into the break Darlington Wearside Youth U13 3 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

The second half saw Darlington continue with their familiar game. They were quicker to re-act, produced short, accurate passes, spread the ball across the field and this included the whole team from the goal-keeper to the defence to the mid-field to the forwards. If they found they were blocked by the (now up to 8) Spennymoor defence then they passed back and started again. These tactics often opened up gaps in the Spennymoor defence and it was one such attack on 46 minutes which saw Darlington’s Jamie Dodds pass the ball to Tommy Hunt inside the box. The keeper failed to hold Hunt’s shot and Dodds pounced putting the ball into the net.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 4 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

On 60 minutes another Darlington attack into the Spennymoor box saw four Darlington players involved in a movement which saw five short passes which opened up gaps. Jaxon Briggs collected the ball on the left edge of the box. Briggs passed to Finn Illingworth who passed back to Briggs. Briggs passed back to Illingworth who passed to Jamie Gibson. Gibson passed the ball to Tommy Hunt who passed the ball into the net.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 5 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

On 64 minutes some hesitation within the Spennymoor defence saw Darlington’s Ryan Smithwhite dispossess a defender in their box and pass the ball immediately to Jamie Gibson who did the needful.

Darlington Wearside Youth U13 6 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

On 66 minutes Darlington were again awarded a free kick about 25 yards from goal. Just to show that Darlington are not just a ‘short passing’ team Darlington’s Dom Agnew took the free kick and produced a wonderful, unstoppable shot which powered into the top right corner of the Spennymoor goal.

This basically sealed the result and the game ended Darlington Wearside Youth U13 7 – Spennymoor Town U13 0.

This game was a great display of short, sharp accurate and well weighted passing.

The Darlington team allowed the ball to ‘do the work’ for them and won this game without any great exertion.

The rare attempts the Spennymoor team had at the Darlington goal were well handled by the defence of Nesbiatt, Reed and Devlin and the ‘lofted’ long balls over the defence were safely collected by the Darlington keeper Alexander Bates.

A great all round team display which sees the Darlington team advance up the division to third place with several games in hand. The seven goals scored today also now has them with the highest goals difference, (two more than the top team who have played three more games).