Darlington 1883 look the real deal

Amar Purewal

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)
Saturday’s 6-1 FA Trophy drubbing of Ossett Town was my first viewing of Darlington 1883 since their arrival in the Evo Stik Division One North.
Darlington are heavily tipped to win the league and it is easy to see why. Their attack, which former Durham striker Amar Purewal leads, is arguably one of the most formidable in recent Division One North history.
Purewal is a battering ram, whose strength and power, makes him almost impossible to stop unless the opposition defence has an experienced and good centre-half. Ossett never got close to stopping him on Saturday and couldn’t cope.
On the wings, Steven Thompson and Chris Moore are quick and physically powerful. For the first goal, Thompson ran almost the whole pitch before his deflected shot was converted by David Dowson.
Not many teams will beat them this season. I did think that defensively they are a bit weak, based on the defenders that featured at Ossett. Alan White is an aging centre-half and Ossett did cause a few problems – I think a team firing on all cylinders upfront would have scored a few against them. Farsley and Ramsbottom have shown that Darlington can be vulnerable. That said the full-backs at Ossett were physically strong and were brilliant going forward.
As Craig Elliott said, they’ll only get stronger. They have the resources to bring better players in, if they need. Based on the Ossett Town victory, if they sign any further players, who are better than they have already, then they’ll be almost unbeatable. In my view, they just one powerful centre-half and they’ll be the complete side.
After ten games, Darlington are top of the league, but have suffered two defeats and drew 0-0 with Harrogate Railway.
Only Curzon seem to have real consistency as they remain unbeaten, but Darlington look primed and ready for an unbeaten run and I think it will take some effort to stop them from lifting the title. This is a club that has huge ambitions to go higher and the resources to do it. I don’t think anyone will be able to match them.