Darlington Women 1 Durham Cestria Reserves 6

Darlington Women put in plenty of effort, but were outplayed by a better Durham Cestria team at Eastbourne on Sunday.

Darlington manager Shaun MacKenzie said; “It’s a tough one to take, we don’t like losing football games, especially at home. But sometimes you have to hold your hands up and give credit to the opposition. Durham have one of the best set ups in the North East and arguably get the best talent in the region coming through their ranks.

“They moved the ball so well and so quickly and we struggled to get a foothold in the game. It never helps conceding early and the first two goals in the opening ten minutes put the game out of reach. Looking at their recent results, they are scoring goals for fun and we knew we would be up against it. I did think after the third goal, that we kept our defensive shape a lot better and remained compact but in games where you haven’t got the ball, it’s important to be disciplined and we just weren’t disciplined enough today. 

“I can’t question the girls’ effort and work rate of the ball today, every single player put a shift in, but we just came up against a very good and technical team today that play some very good football. I was pleased to get on the scoresheet and Lily took her goal very well and we did compete better in the second half. As their tempo dropped a little, we got in a few times and managed to get further up the pitch.

“We’ve had a tough few weeks with injuries, illnesses and results that haven’t quite gone the way we wanted to, so I think the Christmas break has come at the right time. We will still train up until Christmas, then have a couple of weeks off, regroup and go again in the New Year and try and finish as high as we possibly can in the league table.”

The Quaker Women lose their last game of 2025 to a very talented Durham Cestria Reserves side. Cestria took an early lead with a goal on 6 minutes and another followed a few minutes later on the 9th minute. Despite the early goals, Darlington did react well to going two goals down and ensured they stayed compact and kept their shape better for the remainder of the half. 

Cestria dominated possession and made Darlington work extremely hard without the ball and the score was 4-0 at half time, with the 3rd and 4th coming on the 24th minute and 41st. Both excellent finishes which Hannah Billingham could do nothing about. However, if it wasn’t for Billingham with multiple good saves in the first half it could have been more. 

Cestria started the second half the quicker team and had a 5th goal from kick off, within less than a minute. Not the start to the second half that Darlington had hoped for. However, Cestria could not keep up the tempo they were playing at in the first half and Darlington came into the game a bit more second half. 

They got a goal back through Lily Wilkinson on the 51st minute, a great finish in off the underneath of the crossbar to take her tally to 5 for the season. This gave Darlington a lift and although Cestria continued to keep the ball well, they only managed to score one more goal in the 75th minute. Another fantastic curled finish from just on the edge of the box. A spirited performance from the Quaker Women in the second half and every single player put a shift in till the final whistle. 

Player of the match was chosen by our match sponsor SR Entertainments and it was Chloe Bright. Another consistently good performance from Chloe to earn POTM.

Thanks to everyone who came along to support in the miserable weather today, we appreciate your support. Thanks to Durham Cestria Reserves for the game. We wish them good luck for the remainder of the season.

Here's the league table

https://fulltime.thefa.com/index.html?selectedSeason=65571865&selectedFixtureGroupAgeGroup=1&selectedDivision=371387182&selectedCompetition=0

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