Darlington 1883 hit six past Ossett Town in FA Trophy clash

Ossett Town 1-6 Darlington 1883

By James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson)

Match Photos are HERE

Craig Elliott tipped Darlington 1883 for the Evo Stik Division One North title after watching his Ossett Town side suffer a heavy defeat in the FA Trophy Preliminary Round clash at Ingfield.
Having beaten Town’s rivals Ossett Albion 7-0 after leading 5-0 at half-time in midweek, Darlington were cruising at 5-0 at the break against Town through goals from David Dowson, Alan White, Chris Moore (2) and Amar Purewal.
Jimmy Eyles pulled a goal back for Ossett on the hour mark, but Paul Robinson rounded off a memorable victory during injury-time.
The crushing defeat ends Ossett’s nine-match unbeaten run and Elliott admitted that his team could not cope with Darlington’s attack.



“I think we defended poorly in the first 20 minutes and we found ourselves 2-0 down,” he said.
“Every-time in the first half they took a shot it seemed to go in and sometimes that happens on the day. The fifth goal just before half-time fell nicely for him and he bent it into the top corner. On another day that would have gone over the top.
“The front four totally bullied us and every-time they got into forward positions they created a chance for themselves.
“I don’t buy into that Darlington won’t walk this league, I think they will walk this league and they’ll only get stronger.
“I’ve read a few reports where people have said they are not as good as they think. I think they will have a few losses along the way, but having seen the league I don’t think there is anyone better than them.
“I think they are physically strong all over the pitch and they have two extremely fast wingers. Whether other teams can counter-act that, I don’t know. I can see why teams like Farsley have beat them as they have experienced and strong players.
“We’re a bit more about getting the ball down and playing and today they didn’t let us play. We were on a nine-match unbeaten run before today so it’s brought us back down to earth.”



Darlington took just five minutes to take the lead. Ossett’s Fernando Moke lost the ball inside the Darlington box and Steven Thompson raced from his own half to the Ossett penalty area before shooting. The shot was blocked, but Dowson was on hand to score from an angle.
Ossett did respond with a Chris Wood shot which was blocked, but poor marking then cost them as Darlington scored again. Terry Galbraith took a corner and former Harrogate defender White rose above Andrew Fox and goalkeeper Tom Taylor to double the visitors’ lead.
By the half-hour mark Darlington were out of sight with Thompson was the provider again. The winger passed to Moore and the midfielder found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
The Ossett defence were not coping and goalkeeper Taylor was being left exposed. Taylor was able to keep Darlington at bay for brief period when he denied Purewal, but he couldn’t stop the ex-Durham City forward on the stroke of half-time.



Darlington were 4-0 up and there was still time for another goal before the break – arguably the goal of the game. Upon receiving the ball 25-yards from goal, Moore hit the ball straightaway and found the top corner – Taylor had no chance.
If the game had continued in the same manner in the second half, Darlington could have reached double figures and Elliott added: Sometimes as manager you shout and rant at half-time, but I was quite calm.
“I said ‘look we’ve got to try and win the second half and go out and get a bit of respect back because we’re a lot better team than we are showing’.
“To be fair we drew 1-1 in the second half.”
Ossett defended well in the second half and scored a deserved goal on 62 minutes. Left-back Steven Jeff made a break down the left-wing and crossed for Eyles to slot home from close range.
The game fizzled out with neither team creating many chances until the final minutes when Darlington made a late attempt to score for a sixth time. Martin Gray’s team got the goal deep into injury-time as Robinson fired the ball into the bottom from eight-yards.
Ossett Town: Taylor, McGrory, Jeff, Patterson, Fisher, Qualter (captain), Fox, Sharry, C Wood (Hawthorne 64), Eyles, Moke (Sibenge 64). Subs unused: N Wood, Grant, Liburd.
Darlington 1883: Bell, Pilatos, Galbraith, Hunter, White, Edwards, Moore, Scott (J Robinson 80), Purewal, Dowson (Johnson 61), Thompson (P Robinson 64). Subs unused: Cocks, Jameson.
Referee: C Buxton
Attendance: 408
Man of the Match: Amar Purewal (Darlington 1883)