The upshot was that I still had my early morning routine and
at Da Vincis, my breakfast was consumed with added vigour - today promised to
be an exciting one and I can't do these on an empty stomach.
Martin and I arrived at Bank Top on time and I headed straight
to the Quaker - no pies today, we'll buy those at the ground so they get more
of our money - and found that Trev had beaten me.
 | |||||
| Pete Ashmore and David Conn |
A fairly decent range of beers today: Maxim Anderson Best
Scotch & Swedish Blonde, Mayfields Copper Fox, Vale Hopocalypse, Houston
Borrochan, Cairngorm Ghillie, Banks Fine Fettle, Mordue Geordie Pride and Just
A Minute Darkest Moment. The Vale and
Cairngorm beers being the pick of the offerings for me though Geordie Pride is
always solid.
A good DAFTS turnout - Tony, John W, Trev, Brian, Neil and
Colin - and for once we stayed in the Quaker rather than wander up to Number
Twenty-2 since we'd decided we should turn up earlier than we usually do so couldn't be arsed to move.
The pub was pretty busy too as it seems plenty of fans from
other clubs and perhaps some lapsed fans had decided to come out and see us -
but not without a few decent beers inside themselves first though. Very
sensible.
We wander down to the market and caught a taxi to the ground,
arriving just before 2pm, and it was difficult to believe that we had an hour
to go before kick-off as the Arena was swarming with people and cars were queuing
up to get into the car park.
I wandered round and saw many familiar faces - I was
chatting to my old chum Pete Ashmore when I was accosted by David Conn, one of
the premier football journalists when it comes to looking at the real issues
facing the game. David had covered
Darlington quite a bit since the Reynold's era and after seeing the dramatic
events a few days earlier, he'd decided to come and see things for himself. See his article here.
 | |
| Pickford flattens Brodie |
As the game was getting plenty of media attention I headed
off to the press desk earlier than usual - my Uncle Ray was there helping out
as he has done in recent weeks. Whilst
there Doug Embleton introduced me to his partner-in-crime Shawn Campbell - they
were the ones who rolled up with the money last week to keep us alive in such
dramatic fashion - we proceeded to compare curly fringes.
As I left reception I bumped into Echo editor, Pete Barron,
who has also been heavily involved in the work of the Rescue Group - and who
has seen that the Echo has been fully behind the plans to keep DFC alive. He told me that due to the queues outside the
ground, the kick-off would be delayed by fifteen minutes. Not really a surprise.
Down at the tunnel things were also busy - Cockerton Brass
Band were doing their bit by pumping out lots of football anthems and there were quite a few camera crews
including BBC's Mark Tulip who was getting footage for Inside Out.
What was most impressive though was the sheer number of fans
that were already in the stadium and when it got round to kick off it was quite
astonishing - it was great to see so many parts of the ground with fans in.
The players got a great welcome from the crowd but they were
going to have their work cut out for them as opponents Fleetwood Town are vying
for promotion. Up front for them was
Richard Brodie -he is one of my most disliked players, a nasty snide player who
managed to get Aaron Brown sent off in the home match against Crawley last
season. He'd eschewed his shaven head
and was now fully hirsute except for a most amusing bald patch. I'm sure that is down to karma.
It always struck me as odd that Mark Cooper held him in such
high regard and I'm so pleased that he failed to sign him at the start of this
season - I can support most players but I'd draw the line at him.
It was a pretty even first-half - plenty of possession from
Darlington but Fleetwood were more cutting up front. Young on-loan keeper
Jordan Pickford acquitted himself well and made my day when he flattened Brodie
as he clattered into him whilst collecting a high ball. It allowed me an
excellent view of the bald patch.
However Fleetwood managed to take the lead before the break
- a bit of sloppy defending led to Mangan shooting and hitting the post and the
rebound was slotted home by Danny Rose. Quite
a blow as Darlo had looked good up until then.
 |
| Brodie needs hair restorer |
In the second half, Fleetwood dominated and had quite a few
opportunities to extend their lead.
However Pickford was in good form and there was some sold defending
which kept us in with a chance.
Sub Harrision came on to bolster the forward line and both
he and Adam Rundle were very busy around the box but ultimately failed to put
the Fleetwood keeper under any great pressure and with the temperature dropping
significantly - especially at pitch level - I was pleased to hear the final
whistle.
We had lost against a much better team but today was not
about a result - it was an affirmation that we're still alive and we wanted to
be together to celebrate that fact.
Anyone with an ounce of sense knows there is a long-way to go before we
find out whether Darlo will survive but we now have a chance.
The crowd that turned up today - with fans from many other
clubs - showed that the wider football family wants clubs like Darlington to
survive so hopefully there will be a way forward for us.
It was a pretty large crowd that wended it's way back along
Neasham Road - my feet were frozen and I was pleased to get back to the
relative warmth of Bank Top station - not that isn't something I thought I'd
ever write!
Our train was a little late arriving but once we got settled
we tucked into some food that Martin had got at the game. By the time we'd got back to Kings Cross we
were back on schedule and we headed for the Euston Tap.
For once we were joined for post-match beers by the London Millers - Liz and
Jenny and then finally Tim. Plenty of great beers for me including some
crackers from Redwlllow (Directionless and Chocolate Stout), Hardknott (Cool
Fusion and Continuum), Thornbridge Brother Rabbit, Buxton Blonde and last but not least, One For
the Road, the ETap collaboration beer brewed at Northcote to mark the impending departure of manager Tony.
A good day out despite the result - we still have a club to
support but there is a long way to go before we can relax and start to dream about another
season.
 |
| Gordon and Martin - still on duty |
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