Darlington FC U19s were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Chester FC U19s in the National League Academy Cup yesterday afternoon.

Darlington FC U19's manager Stephen Elliott said; "After giving away a sloppy goal early in the game, I felt the lads recovered really well. We came out in the second half with a great attitude and fully deserved the equaliser, which was a fantastic finish by Ciaran Dixon. Chester are a good team and scored again against the run of play, which knocked us for a bit. We recovered well again and on another day could have got the equaliser late on. Special mentions to Jack Winstanley and Sean Chidanyika, who were outstanding on the day and both showed leadership skills beyond their years. All these boys are improving every week and are a pleasure to work with. I can’t wait to get back on the training pitch with them".

Darlington FC U19's team captain Jack Winstanley said; "It was a very competitive game yesterday against a physical Chester side. We weren’t as aggressive as we wanted to be in the first half and gave away a sloppy goal. However, we were much better in the second half, we increased the intensity, we were miles more aggressive, and a superb finish from Dicko got us back level. I felt our second-half performance deserved to take it to at least to a penalty shootout, but we just couldn’t quite put the ball in the back of the net, and we were dealt with a sucker punch on the counter-attack. As frustrated as we are that we are not going through to the next round of the cup, we can take the positives from that second-half performance and take it into next week and beyond".

There was one change to the side that secured a point away from home in the last game against Chesterfield. Dom Stacey returned from injury to replace David Bradley in the starting lineup and there was a place on the bench for midfielder Charlie Mitchell who has been missing through injury.

Chester came firing out of the blocks and took an early lead in the fifth minute of the game. Liam Mason made an initial great save from a powerful shot from close range but a Chester player reacted the quickest to follow in and score from the rebound. 

Darlington slowly grew into the game without putting much challenge on the Chester goal. 

Darlington got their first real opening at goal in the twenty-sixth minute. A long ball forward by Mason in goal was headed on by Raphael Oppong into the path of Ciaran Dixon, who played the ball wide to Reece McMann who delivered a dangerous ball along the box to Dixon who just couldn't get the right connection on the ball to finish off a great Darlington attack.

With ten minutes to go to half-time, Chester started to pile a lot pressure on the Darlington goal and you felt it was only a matter of time before they doubled their lead.

A ball from the left wing was not dealt with by the Darlington defence and fell kindly to a Chester forward whose shot had left Mason routed to his spot, only to see his shot smash off the post.

Minutes later, A Chester midfielder was able to drive through Darlington's midfield with ease and played a defence-splitting pass through to their forward. One-on-one with Mason in goal, Mason stood tall and pulled off a fantastic save to keep the scoreline at 1-0. 

In stoppage time of the first half, a dangerous corner into the box was met well by a Chester player who headed narrowly wide of the Darlington goal. 

Darlington would have been happy to hear the sound of the halftime whistle, after a mountain of Chester pressure on goal, but knew they were still in the game with the scoreline being 1-0.  

The Quaker U19s came out fighting in the second half, first to every ball, and really put Chester on the back foot. 

A deserved equaliser came in the fifth-eighth minute of the game. A great driven free kick from the right-hand side from Winstanley was met by Dixon with an audacious half volley that rocketed into the Chester net. 

The scoreline remained level for a matter of six minutes. Chester grabbed a second goal of the game against the run of play. Darlington were caught on the counter-attack and a low pass along the box from the left-hand side of the Darlington box into the feet of the Chester forward with time and space to place a shot past Mason in goal. 

Darlington manager Stephen Elliott made a couple of changes with Charlie Mitchell and David Bradley coming on to replace Dominic Stacey and Liam Murray.

Both players had a real impact on the game, a chipped ball over the top of the Chester defence by McMann found Mitchell inside the Chester box, who cut inside onto his stronger left foot but his shot went straight into the palms of the keepers' gloves.

In the seventh minute of stoppage time, Bradley delivered a dangerous cross into the box and midfielder Dan Maw rose high to head the ball narrowly over the Chester bar.

Starting XI: Mason, Chidanyika, Murray (Bradley 72'), Stacey (Stacey 65'), Rudd, Groom, McMann, Winstanley (C), Oppong, Dixon, Maw (Dagnall 59')

Subs not used:  Vallis & Marsden