MG: "Players were very sharp."

By Ray Simpson

MG: "Players were very sharp."

 Darlington manager Martin Gray thought that his side was very sharp in the 3-1 away win at Hyd...

QR Darlo home shirt

 

Darlington manager Martin Gray thought that his side was very sharp in the 3-1 away win at Hyde United on Saturday.

Lee Gaskell scored his second hat trick for Quakers since he joined the club as Quakers stayed in fifth place in the table, but they didn’t make up much ground. All the other clubs battling for the promotion places also won, leaders Blyth scoring a last minute winner against Stourbridge for a 4-3 win..

“I thought it was a very good performance, the players looked sharp,” said MG. “That’s the benefit of having intense training sessions and a practice match.

“I thought we started the game well, and took the game to Hyde right from the start – in fact we could have scored more goals. It was a great finish by Lee for his first goal, and he was right in the thick of things to score his second.

“It was a big win, especially as we hadn’t played because of the weather for a few weeks, and it sets us up nicely for the games over Christmas and New Year.”

At least the win was some measure of revenge for the two defeats inflicted by Hyde in the FA Cup and league back in September.

 

P          W        D         L          F          A         PTS     GD

Blyth                                       23        16        3          4          49        24        51        +25

Nantwich                                23        12        7          4          61        33        43        +28

Workington                             23        12        7          4          35        26        43        +9

Salford City                            20        12        4          4          33        22        40        +11

Darlington                               20        12        3          5          43        22        39        +21

Ashton United                        21        11        5          5          39        24        38        +15

Ilkeston                                   22        10        6          6          36        30        36        +6

Halesowen                              26        9          8          9          27        37        35        -10

Buxton                                    20        11        1          8          33        27        34        +6