Boldon CA Women 2 Darlington Women 4

Darlington Women received the perfect boost ahead of Sunday’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup tie with a 4-2 away win at Boldon CA.

Quakers are now impressively unbeaten in seven league and FA Cup ties this season and puts them in a great frame of mind for their big match at Farsley Celtic.

Harry Bowes, who was in charge of the team at Boldon, said; “The women were solid from start to finish, we had to ride waves of opposition pressure, but we held firm. There were some brilliant saves from goalkeeper Martina Cuccunato and some excellent defending at times. Emma Carter was playing out of position and was a breath of fresh air to watch today. The girls came out on top with an all-round great performance, I am buzzing with the three points and hopefully we can take this performance into the big FA Cup game.”

Here’s a match report from Chris Barrett:

The pitch looked destined to cause Darlington problems as it was not suitable for their fluid passing game. They made the difficult trip without key players Chloe Bright, Aimee Dagnall and Hattie Raine.

The game began quite even with both teams creating chances early on and both keepers being tested, but managing to keep the attacks at bay. 

The first goal came after 20 minutes when Sophie Curle received the ball wide right and managed to create some space to cross the ball, which was controlled on the edge of the box by Toni Upton who fired the ball into the top left corner to give Darlington the lead.

Boldon grew into the game and created chances, they received the ball through the middle and drove forward, Natalie Peart was trying to win the ball back and after a collision just outside the box, the referee harshly adjudged that it was a penalty. This was struck well to give Boldon their equaliser, 1-1.

As the half was drawing to a close the ball was played into the feet of Curle who turned smartly and a stray leg brought her down giving Darlington a penalty. Curle dusted herself off to calmly slot the ball to the side of the keeper and it was 2-1 on the half time break. 

Boldon started the second half the stronger team, getting an early chance.  But after 50 minutes Emma Doudican broke down the left and played a cross into the middle of the box and an unmarked Upton stooped to get a header towards goal which bounced off the post and across the line to put Darlington 3-1 up.

The general play remained even but after 77 minutes and some good build up play from Doudican once again, the ball was played into the middle and the shot from outside the box was spilled by the keeper. Curle rushed in to steal the ball and with the keeper on her back cheekily backheeled the ball into the net to give Darlington a 4-1 lead.

On a heavy pitch, legs tired and after 85 minutes Boldon created some space on the right and a cross turned shot was hit from the right hand side which looped over Martina Cuccunato to give Boldon another goal and bring the score to 4-2. 
Boldon continued to press and a brave punch from Cuccunato late on meant Darlington could see out the game and take the three points home. 

STARTING XI

Cuccunato, Lee, Wearmouth, Frew, Peart, Tinkler, Carter, Upton, Whitworth, Doudican, Curle 

Subs: Padurariu and Garnett

Player of the match: Emma Carter

Substitutes used:

Garnett for Tinkler 

Padurariu for Peart 

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 (Franks Carpets), 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)