Darlington Women put double figures past Hartlepool in a comprehensive 11-2 win at Eastbourne on Sunday.

Hattie Raine scored a hat trick, with Lucy Charlton marking her debut with a double. Chloe Ryan and Sara Waites also scored two apiece, with Aimee Dagnall and Emily Taylor scoring the others.

Manager Shaun MacKenzie said; “Really pleased with the result today, I said to the girls before the game that I had a good feeling the performance was coming. Although we’ve won our previous two games, the performance hasn’t quite been there and we know we can be better.

“The girls upped the standard today and we saw glimpses of what we produced in pre season and what we know we are capable off. It was a real team effort today and everyone on the pitch, grafted from the first minute to the last, even when we had a comfortable lead, we still kept pressing and had the desire to get more goals.

“We played some great football at times and scored some excellent goals. We had six different goal-scorers today and it shows we have goals all over the pitch. It was good to be able to hand Lucy Charlton her debut today and hopefully her first two goals of many to come in a Darlington shirt.

“Plenty of positives to take into next week, but still a few things we need to work on and iron out and we’ve got to stay consistent and just keep picking up wins!”

Match Report written by Chris Barrett

Darlington did start strong, pressing from off trying to get into the Hartlepool half and applying the pressure. After 4 minutes, against the run of play Hartlepool countered through the middle and with some quick play around the box created the space for an opening and struck low past the keeper to give themselves the lead.

Darlington were dominating possession but it took until 10 minutes in before they got an effort on goal and the first significant chance came from a corner with Chloe Tinkler header just going over the bar.

On 13 minutes, Darlington got an equaliser with a low diagonal ball from Chloe Ryan who put the ball right into the path of Hattie Raine who struck it low across goal into the bottom corner.

On the quarter hour mark it was two for Darlington when Sara Waites picked up the ball in the middle and struck from distance, the keeper couldn’t hold and it trickled over the line to give Darlington the lead. Darlington continued with their strong play, but Hartlepool were still dangerous on the counter causing Darlington a few issues.

It was 3-1 to Darlington on the half hour mark with a free kick deep from Tinkler over the top of the defence to be met by Ryan who was calm and finished well. On 39 minutes Hartlepool were through again with quick passes through the middle and allowing a clear shot at goal from the edge of the box and it took a strong hand from Evie Whitaker to keep the ball out and Millie Soderman to cover and block the attacker for the follow up.

On 42 minutes, Darlington got a fourth when a Raine corner dropped into the box and after it appeared to bounce off Ryan into the path of Waites who thundered it home. Just before half time it was 5 for Darlington when the ball was played into Raine in the 10 position who played a ball on the spin cleverly into the path of Ryan who slotted the ball home for her second of the game. 

Darlington came out strong again in the 2nd half and got their sixth on the 47th minute when a shot from Ryan was well saved but not held and Raine was aware to the opportunity and followed up and finished clinically for her brace. The seventh goal for Darlington came again from a free kick knocked in by Tinkler and met by Hattie Raine to volley home over the keeper for her hat-trick. A fantastic goal for her 42nd competitive goal for the club! 

It was only a minute later when Darlington added to the score when Aimee Dagnall picked the ball up just on the edge of the box who fired low drilling the ball past the keeper into the side netting for her 3rd goal in 3 games. 

On the 69th minute there was a debut goal for Lucy Charlton when Emily Taylor persevered down the right with some great footwork and she managed to play the ball across to be met at the back post by Charlton who prodded home. On the 71st minute Hartlepool got another goal with the ball won on the left and crossing it in and the attacker meeting the ball and striking it over Evie Whitaker.

It was Charlton with a second half brace when Katie Sheridan had space in the box to play the ball from left to right across the box to Charlton who was again in the right place at the right time, again to turn the ball home and make it 10. The final goal was arguably the pick of the bunch with Emily Taylor picking the ball up from the right hand side and from distance striking the ball high above the keeper into the top bins.

In the end it was a dominant performance from Darlington against a good technical side in Hartlepool, but Darlington showing their league experience and a ruthless nature persevering until the end.

There were a number of strong performances across the team with a hattrick from Hattie Raine, a debut brace by Lucy Charlton and braces from Chloe Ryan and Sara Waites but player of the match was awarded to Aimee Dagnall who dominated the centre of the field linking the play and also getting a well taken goal (sponsored by Durham Blinds)