| Match report Vs Darlington FCVenue: Blackwell MeadowsDate: 30-10-19Att: 1254 (away fans: 50) |
Poor refereeing hands Darlington the points
Report: Phil Lench
The first of our long trips North was all in vain this evening when the Harriers went down to a solitary goal at Darlington FC. An unchanged starting eleven from the one that turned out against Farsley Celtic a week ago was the choice of the manager John Pemberton with a welcome back from injury for Brandon Diau who made the bench.
With both side closely placed in the table: Harriers in fifteenth and Darlington in sixteenth, it was always going to be a tough game and that’s how it turned out. For most of the the first half there was very little action to speak of with the hosts possibly shading it. Their first real chance came for defender Ben Hedley when he let fly from twenty five yards out only for Cameron Gregory between the Harriers sticks to pull off a fine save in pushing it over the bar.
Ashley Hemmings was getting the best of our chances with his best one being sliced behind but it was Darlington who were looking the more likely to score. A great chance came the way of Adam Campbell in the nineteenth minute when Jarrett Rivers initial shot was parried away by Gregory but only as far as the onrushing Campbell who forced the Shrewsbury loanee into a superb save.
More half chances came the way of both sides but a poor refereeing decision in the fortieth minute was to decide the course of the game.
The ball came into the area and Rhys Williams went for the ball at the same time as a Darlington defender went in with his boot into the youngsters face. Williams fell to the ground clutching his broken nose as the referee ignored the foul to allow Rivers to drive the ball beyond Gregory with the Harriers players swarming around the official asking why he had ignored a head injury. Declan Weeks ironically got booked for protesting too much.
Rhys obviously couldn’t carry on and was replaced by Ed Williams just a minute before the whistle went for half time.
HT: 1 – 0
The second half the Harriers came out fired up in revenge for the treatment to one of their own although we could have been two goals down following a mistake from the keeper. The ball was played back to him and he fumbled his clearance for the ball to roll towards Canpbell who fired back towards the goal but thankfully he fired wide.
We picked up the pace after that close call and Hemmings went close with a shot that the Darlington keeper Liam Connell did well to hold on to. A few minutes later Richard Peniket had his first chance of a quiet night with a volley that went just wide of the target. Ashley Chambers was yet to have a chance at all.
A flurry of substitutions followed for both sides with Stephen Thompson coming on for the home team and Oliver Shenton coming on for the Harriers in place of the below par Chambers. Thompson was soon in action firing wide of the upright with his first touch of the ball.
Hemmings was still our most dangerous striker and forced a routine save from Connell and soon after Peniket made way for Brandon Diau who began to cause chaos in the Darlo defence. His size was making room for others and when the ball broke free Milan Butterfield was on hand to fire it back in only to see it blocked.
Time was running out and Sammy Austin took a chance to draw us level with a ball rolled towards Shenton who fired goalwards only for the keeper to once again come to the aid of his side and keep the ball from nestling in the top corner.
The three minutes of added time we did everything we could but score and eventually the final whistle blew on a close encounter that was decided by a refereeing mistake.
FT: 1 – 0
Goal for Darlington FC: Rivers 40
Talk about the game here
Latest table and stats here
| Darlington FC | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
| Connell | ||||
| Hedley | ||||
| Liddle | ||||
| Wheatley | ||||
| Storey | ||||
| Galbraith | ||||
| Rivers |  | |||
| Hatfield | ||||
| Campbell |  | 85 | ||
| Holness |  | 70 | ||
| O’Neill |  | 80 | ||
| Subs: | ||||
| Lang |  | 85 | ||
| Thompson |  | 70 | ||
| Watson | ||||
| Donawa |  | 80 | ||
| Bascombe | ||||
| Harriers | Goals | Subs | Time | Cards |
| Gregory | ||||
| Austin |  | |||
| Davidson | ||||
| R Williams | | 44 | ||
| Moyo | ||||
| Johnson | ||||
| Weeks | | |||
| Butterfield | ||||
| Chambers | | 73 | ||
| Hemmings | ||||
| Peniket | | 81 | ||
| Subs: | ||||
| Palmer | ||||
| E Williams | | 44 | ||
| Prosser | ||||
| Shenton | | 73 | ||
| Diau | | 81 | ||
| Referee: | ||||
| Mr Jonathon Urwin | ||||
| Tyne & Wear | ||||