Esh Winning Under 17s 1 Darlington Youth Under 17s 5

A return to usual form as Darlington Under 17s travelled to 3rd placed Esh Winning in a league fixture.

The stretched Darlington side started well, despite having only bare numbers. Darlington took the lead after 15 minutes, with Joseph Smith scoring the first goal. Darlington continued to press, however struggled to play on a very poor pitch. In spite of this, Luke Wilkinson put away Darlington's second just before half time, after a brilliant through ball from James Donoghue.

Darlington started the second half in a similar style to the first, yet again Joseph Smith scoring again after 55 minutes with his 19th goal of the season this time with a driven shot from a narrow angle.

However this was followed by an aerial spell by Esh Winning, who continuously played long balls into the box, however in contrast, they scored their only goal of the afternoon after a through ball sent a massively offside forward towards goal, who finished, making the score 3-1 to the away side. After this slight error, Darlington continued to push despite their comfortable lead, Luke Wilkinson extending the score line even further, after a brilliant corner from Jonty Gray. This forward play continued as two minutes later Niall Smith scored the fifth Darlington goal of the day, following a brilliant low cross from Luke Jenkinson, ending the game 5-1.

Overall a solid display by Darlington U17s, despite the lack of a clean sheet, a range of brilliant performances by many players. MOTM Brad Kilpatrick, for yet another consistent and confident appearance. Also a mention to Nathan Bowman who made his debut for the side today.

Darlington side:

Dowding

Kilpatrick, Marshall, Bowman, Gray

Donoghue, Hume, N.Smith

Wilkinson, Jenkinson, J.Smith

Substitutes:

Bending