It's twelve unbeaten for Quaker Women!
By Ray Simpson
And they close the gap on the leaders
Gateshead Ladies 2 Darlington Women 4
Darlington Women pulled off one of their best victories of the season when they won 4-2 at Gateshead on Sunday.
Gateshead had lost only once this season to go third, but second placed Quakers beat them thanks to a devastating spell of three goals in five minutes in the second half.
They’re firmly in second place in the table, four points ahead now of Gateshead, and seven behind leaders Hartlepool Pools Youth with two games in hand. Hartlepool dropped points on Sunday with a 2-2 draw.
The victory also stretches the unbeaten run, stretching right back to the opening day of the season, to twelve league matches -- the only unbeaten team in the league.
Here’s the league table after Sunday's games:
Darlington and Hartlepool have yet to play each other in the league this season.
Manager Shaun MacKenzie said; “They were a fantastic three points, it’s a big, big result.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the players. Straight from the kick off their intensity was good, the tempo was high and they kept the ball on the floor.
“The three goals in five minutes killed Gateshead off. After that, we controlled the game.
“There were stand out performances all around the team.”
Quakers’ next game is at home to Consett on Sunday 13th February, kick off 2pm at Eastbourne. Why not pop down and support them?
Here’s the match report from Chris Barrett
Darlington faced Gateshead FC in what was never going to be a game for the football purist, due to the high winds and blustery conditions making any sort of free flowing football extremely difficult.
In contrast to their recent games Darlington started quickly and were ahead within the first minute when the ball was played to Sophie Curle on the right hand side who made space to get the ball into the danger area and it was Emma Doudican who was there to scramble the ball home and give Darlington the lead.
As the game settled it became a scruffy affair as neither team could fashion any clear chances and it was a constant battle for possession in the centre of the park.
The half continued in the same vein but just before half time Gateshead received the ball on the left hand side and a quick switch of play to Anderson who looked to be in an offside position was allowed a strike at goal which she finished powerfully high into the goal. The two sides went into half time at 1-1.
The switch of ends meant Darlington were now facing the wind to add an extra element of difficulty to the game. They were grateful to Martina Cuccunato when a free kick was conceded just after half time not far outside the box which was powerfully stuck to the keeper’s right but she managed to get two strong hands to it to push it away.
Darlington had an opportunity after 51 minutes when Toni Upton slid in a pass to Curle who used her quick feet to create an opportunity but the ball came back out across the 6 yard box from the inside of the post. The game battled on, and after 62 minutes Hattie Raine picked up the ball on the right hand side of the pitch and launched the ball to the centre of the box to Doudican who steadied herself before connecting with the ball heading it high well out of the reach of the keeper to give Darlington the lead back.
Only a minute later Curle picked up the ball in the centre of the pitch and played a well weighted pass through to the onrushing Raine who picked the ball up and lashed it into the top right hand corner for a 3-1 lead.
Chloe Bright was brought on after 66 minutes replacing Katie Sheridan who had another strong performance on her first start for Darlington.
In one of her first actions of the match, Bright picked the ball up on the Darlington left driving at the defence and laid the ball to Curle on the edge of the box who turned away from the defender and set herself before striking another beauty past the keeper to make it 4-1 for Darlington.
The game could easily have turned and Gateshead got through after 68 minutes and it took a wonderfully timed tackle from Emma Carter to stop a one on one with the keeper. The game became more of a feisty affair with some tough challenges going in. On 80 minutes Captain Upton was taken out requiring treatment needing to leave the pitch. From the resulting drop ball Gateshead were fast to react and switched play well leaving space for Lemmon on the right to shoot and score to bring it back to 4-2.
Darlington then dropped deeper and added Chloe Tinkler to shore up the back line to see out the end of the game.
Darlington held out for the win and will consider this a very good result considering the conditions and the strong opponents. There were many quality displays all over the pitch from Darlington, including the strong defence of Alice Wearmouth, Natalie Peart and Lily Large limiting Gateshead chances but particularly at left back from Emma Carter who despite her slight frame was a colossus at the back and distributed the ball well.
Darlington will be looking to carry over this performance into the next match against Consett to add to their tally of points for the league and close in on Pools Youth at the top of the table.
Player of the match: Emma Carter
STARTING XI
Cuccunato, Large, Wearmouth, Peart, Carter, Upton (c) ,Dagnall, Sheridan, Doudican, Raine, Curle
Substitutes: Bright, Garnett, Frew, Padurariu, Whitworth & Tinkler
We'd like to thank the following kit sponsors:
Hattie Raine (sponsored by Krystal Sells), Emma Carter (The Cheese and Wine Shop), Emma Doudican (Winroths Hairdressers), Sarah Frew (Chic Beauty Academy), Martina Cuccunato (Premier 1 Filtration), Caisey Lee (Engage to Learn), Olivia Whitworth (Terry Farley MBE), Sophie Curle (Arthur Taylor Carpet Fitter Services), Natalie Peart (RA Dalton Ltd), Toni Upton (Dawn Fire Safety), Alice Wearmouth (Direct Flooring), Chloe Bright (Jordan Hanratty Personal Training), Chloe Tinkler (Glen and Mary Bowes), Millie Garnett (eco Hair Salon), Aimee Dagnall (Andrew Scullion), Gabrielle Padurianu (John Vickerman).
