Today we were struck by the great british weather once again. The weather had been perfect all week until it reached the weekend where both days saw freezing temps putting almost all grass pitches off over the entire weekend. We hired a 3G to get the game played after almost 5 weeksm without a game we felt we really needed to get one in. Unfortunately this meant giving up our home advantage and allowing our opponents to stay in their comfort zone of a 3G surface.

The game started seeing us completely on the back foot and within the first 17 minutes of play we were 2 goals down due to defensive errors.

Around the 20 minute mark the girls began to relax and get into the game seeing them create chances at the Darlington goal but their keeper pulled off some great saves to keep us out. One of these saves saw the ball head out for a corner. Central midfielder Lauren whipped in a brilliant high ball seeing Zarr race in and header it home with a perfect finish. This give the girls the fire in their bellies that they needed and they really turned up the pressure on our opponents but somehow Darlington made it to half time with the one goal lead.

The second half we started a little sluggish again but got into the game quicker this time around. In the 51st minute we attacked at the Darlington goal seeing the ball be put out for a corner. Once again Lauren whipped in a superb ball this time seeing striker Alex send it crashing into the top left hand corner of the goal for that all important equaliser.

Less than 4 minutes later youngster Ava received the ball out on the left side making a great run down the wing taking on numerous players when crossing the ball in towards striker Mel who finished it with a fantastic first time finish. A superb comeback from the team.

The girls kept pressuring their opponents and created an array of superb chances but credit to the Darlington keeper who kept us out with some excellent goal keeping.

In the 64th minute of play we were on the attack seeing the ball out on the left of the pitch. A slight error of holding onto the ball too long saw a Darlington player fly in winning the ball and was through on goal finding the equaliser for her team. Less than 5 minutes later they netted again on a counter attack with a ball over the top of our defence which gave them the lead for the second time in the game.

The team battled back so hard and created plenty of chances for the equaliser and more but credit to Darlingtons keeper and defenders who threw themselves infront of everything in order to take the win.

A good game of football between the sides seeing us punished on 3 occasions with goals for errors made. It’s a learning curve we will take into the remaining games and were glad to get a game in after almost 5 weeks off.

Huge well done to today’s player of the match Ava for her excellent performance. She was a constant headache for our opponents both in attack and defensively when required too. She assisted a brilliant goal and held her own against a very physical side. Well done Ava!