Darlo Comfortably put Ossett to the sword on a day that spelt the end for Hinckley Utd

 

Rewind the clock back to the 7^th January 2012, Barrow away, a day that all Darlo fans will never want to take part in again. On what was expected to be our last ever game as a club, nearly 1000 Darlo fans made the short trip to Barrow and watched us go down 3-0 on a highly emotional afternoon for all involved. That feeling of ‘What if?’ is the worst feeling I have ever had the misfortune of having, not knowing whether this really was the end of the club I have and always will love. Now come back to the present day, Saturday 5^th October will now be forever known as the day that Hinckley Utd FC ceased to exist. As a Darlo fan, I can fully understand what was going through the heads of those diehard fans that made the trip down to Chesham knowing that today, was going to be the last ever time they would see their club play. Coincidentally just as we did, Hinckley were beaten 3-0, a result that at the end of the day wouldn’t have mattered to the Hinckley faithful. On behalf of everyone associated with Darlington 1883 I express my deepest sympathies to all involved with Hinckley Utd, you can and you will return, believe!

 

Now back to discussing todays game!

Finally, after a long and highly successful year Darlo returned to a recognised FA competition and what better competition could it be other than the FA Trophy, a trophy that just 2 years ago, Darlo lifted under the Wembley Arch in front of 10,000+ jubilant Darlo fans. The draw had pitted us against fellow Evo Stick North side Ossett Town away from home, who’s neighbours Ossett Albion had just been but to the sword in midweek after a humiliating 7-0 loss to us at HP. Without sounding arrogant it was very much a relatively easy tie for us and even better was that Ossett was only a simple 72mile trip straight down the A1(M). So just after 12pm we departed from Darlo and headed towards Ossett. Knackered and alone on the supporters coach after I’d been bailed on, I really could not be bothered with the game in all honesty but the fact that it was a match marking our return to the FA Trophy, it did excite me just a tad.

 

Arriving outside Ossetts Ingfield ground about 1:30pm, we were greeted by, well not much really other than a Bus Station. So with nowt else to do there was only one direction I was heading, straight to the ground! Admission into Ingfield was only £7, in these leagues turning up to a turnstile doesn’t immediately give you that horrible burning sensation in your wallet, another plus is that the programme I purchased on the turnstile was a bargain at only £2, was a pretty good read aswell! Now onto the ground itself, a relatively basic Non-league ground really, areas of covered and uncovered terracing on either side of the pitch, hard standing behind one goal and a pretty smart looking seated stand behind the other which looked as if it could hold about 300. As a whole Ingfield can hold approximately 1950 spectators. Hospitality at Ingfield was fairly decent as well, although in my opinion the grub was absolutely awful.  I spent £2 on chips that were soggy and not even cooked properly! The club bar or Social Club as it was called, was fairly well sized with the usual TV screens showing that stupid Premier League rubbish, also fairly priced drinks having only paid £2.70 for a pint of wrongbow.

 

 

 

 

 

Both teams lined up as follows:

Ossett Town: Taylor, McGrory, Jeff, Patterson, Fisher, Qualter, Fox, Sharry, Wood, Eyles, Moke

Darlington 1883: Bell, Pilatos, Galbraith, Hunter, White, Edwards, Moore, Scott, Purewal, Dowson, Thompson

Darlo were unchanged after the midweek demolition of Ossett Albion in the league.

Onto the Match!

What can I say other than pure domination in the first half, it took Darlo just 5 minutes to get going at Ingfield through David Dowson, the striker jumping at the opportunity in the 6yrd box to just tap the ball home after a Steven Thompson effort had been blocked and just 9 minutes later Darlo had doubled their lead. A corner floated in from the right by Terry Galbraith was headed into the back of the net by Alan White, Darlo were really getting at Ossett, freely passing the ball about and causing havoc for Ossetts fullbacks all half, through Thompson and Moore. Darlos dominance of the match was yet again rewarded in the 28^th minute, Chris Moore was set up by Steven Thompson and the midfielder fired home to put Darlo 3-0 up before half an hour had even been played. All of Ossetts efforts to get at Darlos goal in the 1^st half were proving futile apart from one chance they did have before Darlo went 3-0 up, a neat pass was played through for Andrew Fox to unleash a powerful shot at Mark Bell who had to tip the ball over the bar for a corner, other than that Mark Bell had little to deal with….well apart from a group of mouthy Joey Essex lookalikes who had congregated behind his goal. Darlo once again went on the attack and scored another 2 in quick succession, firstly in the 44^th minute after David Dowson hard work had gifted Amar Purewal with an easy finish which he took, then just 1 minute later Chris Moore curled the ball home from the edge of the box. Yet again Darlo were going into halftime against an Ossett side with a 5-0 lead.

 

 

The 2^nd half was a quieter affair, with Darlo already leading 5-0 they had every right to relax knowing that their passage into the next round was all but secured. Ossett were being allowed back into the game and it did pay off, getting in some really dangerous attacks before eventually being rewarded with just the one goal, James Eyles tapping home after a cross was whipped in from the left by Steven Jeff. Ossett continued to attack and very nearly got a second through Henry Sibenge but he just couldn’t quite meet the cross that had been put in by James Eyles. In a half with very few chances Darlo eventually got their sixth in the 93^rd minute , a Jordan Robinson cross towards the far post was volleyed across goal by Paul Robinson and the ball nestled in the bottom corner of Taylors goal, the keeper had probably wished he’d never turned up after the final whistle soon after.

Man of the match for me was Curtis Edwards, solid in midfield along with Leon Scott and yet again he showed off his attacking and defensive talents, in my opinion he’s the perfect box to box midfielder that Darlo had been missing early on in the season.

So there we have it, Darlo marching into the next round with an easy 6-1 win! Up next for Darlo in the cup is a tricky trip to Buxton Town FC of the Evo-Stick Premier 2 weeks today. In the league Darlo have Prescot Cables at home next Saturday.