Hattie Raine scored her 100^th goal for the club as Quakers finished third in the table with a 6-2 home win over Spennymoor on Sunday.

Hattie scored four of the goals, with Leanne Clennett and Lily Wilkinson scoring the others. They now face a wait before they learn if third place is enough to win promotion.

Manager Shaun MacKenzie said; “We’re absolutely delighted with today’s win and a nice way to finish the season with a comfortable 6-2 win. It’s been a difficult couple of weeks, playing two midweek games and you could tell in the second half today that we had played Thursday night.

“Losing twice to Boldon in the previous two fixtures was really tough to take, given they were both really close games and we probably deserved points from both games but came away with nothing, so it was really frustrating. It looks like Boldon are going to win the league and we showed in both games, we can certainly match them and compete at the top. We had to bounce back today and knew we needed the three points to finish third in the league.

“I thought we were fantastic in the first half and played some good passing football. We scored some great team goals and won the game in the first half. We were a bit complacent in the second half but we were 5-0 up and fatigue kicked in having played such an intense game on Thursday night.

“I am over the moon for Hattie to score her 100th competitive goal for the club and what a goal it was! She has scored some great goals in her time with us but that was up there with the best. 100 goals in 110 appearances is incredible and we are grateful to have Hattie at Darlo. Although a good team performance, Hattie takes the plaudits today and fully deserved.”

Darlington started the brighter team and were 1-0 up after quarter of an hour. A good through ball by Aimee Dagnall and Hattie Raine finished well in the bottom corner to get her first for the day. A few minutes later and Raine was in again, this time a good ball from Grace Dobson and Raine finished well again for 2-0. The third came just after the half hour mark, another great delivery from a Lana Williams corner saw Leanne Clennett head home from close range in the six yard box to make it 3-0 Darlo. 

A few minutes later and Aimee Dagnall was at it again creating goals, a great cross found Lily Wilkinson who took it down well and finished for her 14th goal of the season to make it 4-0. The 5th goal came just before half time. Dagnall with a great interception, reading the game well, sent Grace Dobson through who put it on a plate with a perfect pass across the box for Raine to tap in her 99th goal in a Darlo shirt. Another chance went begging before half time with Raine coming agonisingly close to her 100th with a left foot effort that just went wide of the post. 

The Quaker Women went in at the break 5-0 up and came out in the second half a bit complacent. Spennymoor pulled 2 goals back to make it 5-2 and Darlington started to tire as the 90 minutes on Thursday evening started to take effect and there were some tired legs on the pitch. A slight change of system and the subs of Leach, E.Taylor, G.Taylor and Walker brought some fresh legs into the game and they managed to see the game out well.

With less than 10 minutes to go, time was running out for Raine’s 100th goal, having missed most of the season through injuries, the odds were against her. However, she picked the ball up around 35 yards out and hit an absolute screamer into the top right hand stanchion of the net. An audacious effort that she had no right to score, an unbelievable goal for an incredible achievement. Raine’s 100th goal in a Darlington shirt giving the Quakers a 6-2 win.

The win guarantees a 3rd placed finish and the 25/26 campaign is finished. 

Player of the match was chosen by our match sponsor, The Darl Knight and was awarded to the headline maker Hattie Raine. 4 goals on the day and 100 goals for Darlington F.C Women

Thanks to everyone who came along to support today and for the whole of the 25/26 campaign. We truly do appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you all again next season. 

We would also like to wish Laura Hodgson a speedy recovery after suffering a broken hand in Thursday night’s game against Boldon. Get well soon Laura!