Darlington Wearside 7 Harton Bulldogs 1

The much anticipated and eagerly awaited league cup semi final with the top of the premier league Harton Bulldogs U13 against the (unbeaten) Darlington Wearside Youth U13.

Arrived on a brisk but slightly overcast Sunday morning. Harton Bulldogs have only been beaten once in the league so far and have yet to meet Darlington Youth in the league. So this game was always destined to be a hard game for both teams.

The game was played on the all weather 4G pitch so both teams were playing on a level playing field. (excuse the pun). The game kicked off and both teams justified their reputations for being well organised and well motivated. However it was the Darlington team who had the first foray into Harton box with Darlington's Kieron Wakefield passing to Jaimie Gibson but the attempt was well held by the Harton keeper. On three minutes Harton returned the favour with a free kick to the right of the Darlington box which again was well taken by the Darlington keeper.

For the first ten minutes both teams found themselves in their opponents’ half of the field with the Darlington team playing their usual short, sharp passing and the Harton team opting for the long pass with the forwards running onto the ball. The Darlington defence of Jaxon Briggs, Kieron Devlin and Thomas Naisbett easily contained the long passing game of Harton but the Harton defence found the short passing game more of a problem as the Darlington teams attacks invariably ended up with a shot at goal and on 11 minutes this tactics paid off with a short pass from the ever active Darren Robbertson to Jaimie Dodds the ball found itself at the feet of Darlington's Ryan Smirthwaite who put the ball past the Harton Bulldogs keeper for the first goal of the day. Darlington Wearside Youth 1 - Harton Bulldogs 0.

The Darlington team gradually gained the upper hand in this tie with Darlington's Finn Ilinworth controlling the mid-field and distributing the ball around the pitch. However on 21 minutes the Harton long passing paid off and the Harton forwards found themselves inside the Darlington box. The resulting shot beat the Darlo keeper for a Harton goal. Darlington Wearside Youth 1 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

The loss of a goal did not deter the Darlington team and, although Harton gave as god as they got the Darlington team short passing game proved to be the better tactics and on 28 minutes Darlington's Darren Robbertson collected the ball to the right side of the Harton box and made a great individual run to the Harton by- line and produced a mighty ( unstoppable ) shot from a very acute angle from 4 yards. Darlington Wearside Youth 2 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

The game went into the half time break Darlington 2 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

The kick off for the second half again soon saw the Darlington Youth team on the attack and winning a free kick just outside the Harton box. The free kick was executed by Darlington's Ryan Smirthwaite who sent a well struck shot goal wards, only to see the Harton goalkeeper pull off a great save to put the ball over the bar. On 43 minutes a rare long through ball from the Harton mid field saw a Harton attack into the Darlington box. The Darlington defence again stood firm and the ball was passed to the Darlington keeper Alexander Bates. Bates produced a long clearance which found itself at the feet of Darlington's Ryan Smirthwaite who neatly slotted the ball into the box for Darlington's Darren Robbertson to jink through a couple of Harton players and place the ball into the Harton net, beyond the reach of the Harton keeper. Darlington Wearside Youth 3 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

The game continued to be hard fought between two very good teams but again on 50 minutes a great shot from Darlington's Jaxon Briggs hit the Harton upright and bounced back outside the Harton box to the feet of Darlington's captain Dom Agnew. Agnew made a great run straight back inside the Harton box and scored a lovely individual goal. Darlington Wearside Youth 4 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

On 52 minutes the Darlington goal keeper produced another great long goal kick to the left field. The ball was collected by Darlington's Finn Illingworth who laid on another great pass to Kieron Wakefield who did what he does best and gave the Harton goal keeper no chance. Darlington Wearside Youth 5 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

The Harton team continued to battle on with their long, through all tactics but the Darlington defence stood firm with the Darlington defender Tommy Fletcher being worthy of a mention. The Darlington team refused to be fazed by the Harton game play and stuck to their well practiced short passing game and again this saw rewards on 58 minutes which saw a number of combination of passes between Darlington's Lucas Reed to Jaxon Briggs  to Dom Agnew  who again saw his shot find itself in the Harton net. Darlington Wearside Youth 6 - Harton Bulldogs 1.

Tommy Fletcher again collected the ball in the Darlington defence and from the mid field position (adopted the Harton tactics) and completed a great long ball pass through the centre which was collected in the box by Darlington's Jaxon Briggs who completed the Darlington score line for the day which saw the final score Darlington Wearside Youths U13 7 - Harton Bulldogs U13 1.

The Darlington coach Darren Robbertson ( senior ) was quoted as saying " the football the boys played today has been some of the best football we have played all season. The boys thoroughly deserved to go through to the final".

This quote is greatly endorsed by the report writer (John Bates). Harton are a very good team, as reflected in their premier league position. However on the day the short passing fast paced game played by the Darlington team won the day. Darlington youth have four games in hand in the league and the encounter with Harton Bulldogs is one we are looking forward too. However on this showing Darlington will approach that game with confidence.