Arsène Around?

One of the most encouraging things to happen at Darlington this season has been the form of the Youth team, managed by Craig Liddle and Neil Maddison.

There had been worries about whether they could afford to continue once we'd dropped out of the Football League with the subsequent drop in funding that this brought.

To this end Tony Waters and Geoff Thompson have been busy encouraging ordinary fans to raise money - hopefully £1000 - to help them out.

(left) I bet Arsène didn't see this tackle

So far the response has been excellent and Tony was able to present Lidds with £500 towards the cost of travel and accomodation for FA Youth Cup 3rd round fixture against Arsenal.

This fixture caught the attention of a lot of fans as this would be the first time these clubs had met - certainly to my knowledge - and this would be a true test of the youngsters' abilities.

The original fixture fell victim to the first bout of wintry weather but it finally took place at Underhill a week or so later.

Before the game I had a quick pint of Taylors Landlord in the Olde Mitre with Geoff Luke - the beer seems to be a bit better in here these days - but there was not time for much more as the kick-off was at 7pm - presumably these youngsters need to be wrapped up in bed at a reasonable hour.

The main stand was open for fans for the princely sum of £3 but I was to be pitchside tonight to capture the action.

As the teams came out and shook hands before kick-off, it was clear to see that the Arsenal team were an impressive bunch, some much bigger than our boys.

(right) Lidds keep a keen eye on his charges

The game started and both teams found their feet and knocked the ball around well with Darlo looking far from poor relations.

However Arsenal opened the scoring after 10 mins with a tap-in on the line after some slick passing.

They continued to make chances but Darlo went on to equalise after about 20 mins through a tap-in from Rob Ramshaw.

Parity was short-lived though and Arsenal took the lead after a couple of minutes and dominated the remainder of the half with the Darlo boys always a pace or two behind and more lightweight in the tackle.

The main tormentor was Chuks Aneke who won several headers in front of the Darlo goal, scoring once and going close on other occasions.

Benik Afobe scored his second to make it 4-1 at the break - he is currently on-loan at Huddersfield but had been brought back for this game so clearly Arsenal were taking this game seriously.

The second half saw the Quakers under a lot of pressure again and it was amazing that they only conceded two more goals - Aneke getting his hat-trick in the process.

Sloppy finishing by Arsenal was to blame but great credit must be given to keeper Nick Thompson for pulling off several great saves.

There was even a shout of "Sign him up Arsène!" from the Arsenal contingent.

(left) Chuks Eneke makes it 3-1 as he scores from a corner

As the end of the game approached, the temperature dropped sharply and my feet were like blocks of ice. Three pairs of socks for me next time.

During the onslaught the Darlo lads rarely resorted to hoofing the ball upfield and generally tried to play the ball forward. The Arsenal defence though were too quick and too strong and most forays were snuffed out.

A harsh lesson for the Darlo team and a disappointing result for the handful of Darlo fans in the corwd. It is clear though that Arsenal have many talented youngsters who will do well at the higher levels of the game and the experience of playing them will not be lost on the Darlo players.

As I headed back home on the tube with fellow fan Steve Wilkinson, news came though from the Arena that the FA Trophy tie with Tamworth was level at 1-1. Thankfully by the time I got home Darlo had won 3-2 - their reward a home tie with Bath City in the next round.

For more details on the game, see the Arsenal report here.