Gateshead Leam Rangers 1 Darlington 0

Darlington Women suffered only their second league defeat of the season when they were beaten at Gateshead Leam Rangers on Sunday.

Quakers played well, but did everything but score, and they were beaten by a second half goal.

Manager Shaun MacKenzie said; “The defeat is a difficult one to take. I felt we did everything right in the game except score and it just wasn’t our day. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and it wasn’t on our side. Historically, we have always struggled to get a result at Leam, it’s not an easy place to come. It’s not the best pitch and we’ve had some poor performances here. However, this was not a poor performance, we can take a lot of positives from today’s game and look forward.

“The girls should be proud of their efforts and I can’t question the desire to get back into the game. We pushed and pushed for that equaliser, right till the end but it just didn’t come. I was fully expecting to get the equaliser and then that might have given us the momentum to go on and win the game. But fair play to Leam and their keeper who had a great game with some crucial saves. We look forward to welcoming them back to Eastbourne in the return fixture.”

It was a closely contested affair and an end to end game of football at times as both teams looked to attack and create chances. It was Darlington who created the more clear cut opportunities in the first half and were unlucky not to go in ahead at the break. Grace Dobson had a chance early on that was just narrowly dragged wide and then Jen Harrison and Ava Pearson both had good chances to put the Quakers ahead from corners. 

The closest Darlington came to a breakthrough was some good play that found Lily Wilkinson on the byline with a lot of work to do against three recovering defenders. Lily brought it back into the box and managed to get her shot off but it hit the crossbar and came back out. Grace Dobson was then in again towards the end of the first half but the Leam keeper pulled off a terrific save at her near post. 

The game was goalless at half time and all to play for in the second half. Leam started the second half the better team and were fast out of the blocks. A few early chances for Leam saw them take the lead and go 1-0 up with a shot that looped over Hannah Billingham’s head. 

Darlington continued to threaten and the more time went on, the more the game became end to end and an open game of football. Sending more bodies forward, resulted in another great chance for Wilkinson, but the keeper was on form again to keep it out. Leam were dangerous on the counter and nearly went two up from a direct free kick had it not been for a superb save from Billingham who tipped it onto the crossbar and back out. 

The Quaker Women continued to attack and search for the equaliser and forced a flurry of late corners. The final chance of the game fell to Vikki Ryder in the box, but a strike with her left foot rose over the bar. It wasn’t to be for Darlington and Leam took the three points. However, a performance they can be proud of and plenty of positive performances despite the result. 

Player of the match was awarded to Grace Dobson. She was dangerous every time she went forward and worked her socks off defensively.

Many thanks to Leam Rangers for the game. Good luck for the rest of the season and see you at Eastbourne for the return fixture.

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