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Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:28 am
by poppyfield
Short on numbers tonight , with injuries and international duties, hopefully we have enough about to get a result.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 12:21 pm
by JE93
Been very tough on us losing 4 to injuries, 2 carrying knocks and now 2 away on international duty. We must surely be due so luck with injuries later on in the season.

Likely to mean its basically the same team again from Saturday, with either Wheatley or Holness to come in at CM for Bascombe. No idea how ready Wheatley is to start so because of that have gone for Holness. Other than that team picks its self really.

-------------------------- Elliott ---------------------------

Atkinson --- Heaton -- Liang ------ Watson

---------------- Hatfield --- Holness ---------------

Rivers--------------- O'Neill -------- Thompson

---------------------- Campbell ------------------------

Subs: Hall, Holliday, Galbraith, Wheatley, Bell.

First time this season we have looked fairly limited in regards to the bench (to be expected with 8 players unavailable for one reason or another). But that attacking 4 should be enough to give blyth problems. They're yet to score away from home and we've only conceded 2 at home in 4 games.

Hoping we can get a decent win in the bag and a clean sheet breed some confidence going into saturday for another long away trip down to Gloucester (evesham). Also would be nice for a decent crowd in. Our form is not great but hope a bit of local interest gets the crowd up above 1500.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:24 pm
by H1987
Yep, would say that is the team for sure. Personally, i'd like to see O'Neill lead the line, with Campbell just off him. He holds the ball up much better. It's almost 4-4-2 when he is playing anyway, so i don't think Campbell could complain he isn't being played through the middle or up top.

Fancy us to win tonight. Hopefully comfortably. In spite of a couple of additions, i really don't think Blyth are very good at all.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:42 pm
by Ghost_Of_1883
JE93 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 12:21 pm
Been very tough on us losing 4 to injuries, 2 carrying knocks and now 2 away on international duty. We must surely be due so luck with injuries later on in the season.

Likely to mean its basically the same team again from Saturday, with either Wheatley or Holness to come in at CM for Bascombe. No idea how ready Wheatley is to start so because of that have gone for Holness. Other than that team picks its self really.

-------------------------- Elliott ---------------------------

Atkinson --- Heaton -- Liang ------ Watson

---------------- Hatfield --- Holness ---------------

Rivers--------------- O'Neill -------- Thompson

---------------------- Campbell ------------------------

Subs: Hall, Holliday, Galbraith, Wheatley, Bell.

First time this season we have looked fairly limited in regards to the bench (to be expected with 8 players unavailable for one reason or another). But that attacking 4 should be enough to give blyth problems. They're yet to score away from home and we've only conceded 2 at home in 4 games.

Hoping we can get a decent win in the bag and a clean sheet breed some confidence going into saturday for another long away trip down to Gloucester (evesham). Also would be nice for a decent crowd in. Our form is not great but hope a bit of local interest gets the crowd up above 1500.
FFS, you've put O'Neill in CAM again? He's a forward.

Are you just doing this to be a bell, or do you actually not comprehend the concept of 4-4-2?

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:44 pm
by Ghost_Of_1883
H1987 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:24 pm
Yep, would say that is the team for sure. Personally, i'd like to see O'Neill lead the line, with Campbell just off him. He holds the ball up much better. It's almost 4-4-2 when he is playing anyway, so i don't think Campbell could complain he isn't being played through the middle or up top.
*IS* 4-4-2!

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 2:33 pm
by Blyth_fan
I'll be amazed if you don't beat us tonight. We're really low on confidence and quality. We just can't score or keep clean sheets.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 2:36 pm
by quakerste
I hope someone switches the wind machine off before kick off. It's a bit breezy out there.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 2:40 pm
by Darlo_Pete
Wonder if the game will be segregated tonight, I doubt it as I'd be surprised if there are more than 100 Blyth fans at the game.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:49 pm
by JE93
Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 1:42 pm
JE93 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 12:21 pm
Been very tough on us losing 4 to injuries, 2 carrying knocks and now 2 away on international duty. We must surely be due so luck with injuries later on in the season.

Likely to mean its basically the same team again from Saturday, with either Wheatley or Holness to come in at CM for Bascombe. No idea how ready Wheatley is to start so because of that have gone for Holness. Other than that team picks its self really.

-------------------------- Elliott ---------------------------

Atkinson --- Heaton -- Liang ------ Watson

---------------- Hatfield --- Holness ---------------

Rivers--------------- O'Neill -------- Thompson

---------------------- Campbell ------------------------

Subs: Hall, Holliday, Galbraith, Wheatley, Bell.

First time this season we have looked fairly limited in regards to the bench (to be expected with 8 players unavailable for one reason or another). But that attacking 4 should be enough to give blyth problems. They're yet to score away from home and we've only conceded 2 at home in 4 games.

Hoping we can get a decent win in the bag and a clean sheet breed some confidence going into saturday for another long away trip down to Gloucester (evesham). Also would be nice for a decent crowd in. Our form is not great but hope a bit of local interest gets the crowd up above 1500.
FFS, you've put O'Neill in CAM again? He's a forward.

Are you just doing this to be a bell, or do you actually not comprehend the concept of 4-4-2?
Perhaps... although once again, based on the echo match reports I'm not the only one who thinks it.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:59 pm
by Ghost_Of_1883
Just because more than one person believes something to be true, does not make it true.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:02 pm
by Spyman
Didn't Armstrong say he hoped to have Liddle back for Blyth?

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:07 pm
by Ghost_Of_1883
Spyman wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:02 pm
Didn't Armstrong say he hoped to have Liddle back for Blyth?
It's all gone quiet on that, so presuming that he isn't going to make it.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:26 pm
by JE93
Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:59 pm
Just because more than one person believes something to be true, does not make it true.
Doesn't make it false either. As I've said before, it's a game of opinions. That's what makes it interesting.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:42 pm
by Ghost_Of_1883
JE93 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:26 pm
Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:59 pm
Just because more than one person believes something to be true, does not make it true.
Doesn't make it false either. As I've said before, it's a game of opinions. That's what makes it interesting.
4-4-2 is a formation, not an opinion. We will be playing it, yet again, tonight.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:43 pm
by Spyman
Surely we're never 4-4-2 unless the 4 are all in a perfect line, and the next 4, and then the 2.

We play a 4-1-1-1-1-1-1 (if the offside trap works).

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Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:51 pm
by don'tbuythesun
47 mph winds here....that's "breezy"!

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:12 pm
by HarrytheQuaker
Well that were a struggle... 3 points is all that matters , And geeeeez Blyth are very very very very very very poor

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Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:17 pm
by Darlopartisan
Yep it was a struggle, lost count of how many corners we had, on another night we could of had 4/5, any way the first was a good team goal by Campbell and Thompson’s was an absolute cracker worth going just to see that, well deserved 3 points

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:30 pm
by quakerste
So the injury situation seems to go from bad to worse. Atkinson really struggling Elliott ankle injury, was up like a red balloon.

Appears we may have brought in a right back let's hope he is available for Saturday.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:39 pm
by OnTheTerraces
I’m going to call Blyth and offer them my services. I’d get a game as left back, centre midfield or centre forward.

Awful side.

They are going down, rock bottom of the league.

Poor performance by Darlo but the all important 3 points in the bag. Good to see Heaton dumped, been doing a Jonny Burn impression this season!

Gloucester away will be very tricky, hopeful of a point but maybe we can sneak 3.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:52 pm
by darlo reborn
Can`t see us getting any points from next 2 games if we play as bad as tonight. Why won`t people shoot instead of overplaying it even a Blyth fan said there keeper is the worst they have ever had but was not tested enough by us.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:55 pm
by HarrytheQuaker
darlo reborn wrote:Can`t see us getting any points from next 2 games if we play as bad as tonight. Why won`t people shoot instead of overplaying it even a Blyth fan said there keeper is the worst they have ever had but was not tested enough by us.
We didn't play bad at all

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Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:55 pm
by QUAKERMAN2
OnTheTerraces wrote:I’m going to call Blyth and offer them my services. I’d get a game as left back, centre midfield or centre forward.

Awful side.

They are going down, rock bottom of the league.

Poor performance by Darlo but the all important 3 points in the bag. Good to see Heaton dumped, been doing a Jonny Burn impression this season!

Gloucester away will be very tricky, hopeful of a point but maybe we can sneak 3.
It was not a poor performance at all, don’t you realise how many injured players we have, plus 2 away, plus a couple of lads playing when less than 100% fit.What do you expect for God’s sake.


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Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 10:03 pm
by Darlogramps
Yeah I think people are being a bit harsh with some of their assessments.

We weren’t terrible and we deserved to win. Not saying we were perfect either, far from it and I would have hoped for a little more improvement by now.

But clearly losing players to injury/international duty isn’t ideal. Reinforcements are coming - we’ve signed Hedley from Bradford PA so there’s some respite there.

We’ve also got through the ridiculously intense fixture list now, so hopefully things will ease off. A thought couple of weeks are coming up, but I wouldn’t say we were bad by any means.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 10:30 pm
by OnTheTerraces
You can’t include Bascome as Wheatley is much better and Donawa is a sub! I also doubt Holmes would star .. in his two games he was very ineffective.

So only Trotman and Liddle missing with Atkinson and to a lesser extent, Watson as able deputies.

It was scrappy, Blyth had good chances and we didn’t dominate at all.

We all support Darlo but don’t gloss over things and create excuses around people missing.

Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 10:43 pm
by Darlogramps
Wheatley hasn’t been much better than Bascome this season. He’s barely played through injury, so that point is incorrect.

I think Bascome has been good for us, certainly in parts. He’s had weaker games but so have all of them.

Holmes started the opening few games and would be first choice, while Donawa provides an option.

You can’t just start eliminating players because it’s inconvenient to you. Ultimately this is a squad game, we have to rotate so having players out does have an effect, whether you like it or not. That’s not creating excuses, it’s a fact. To say otherwise is nonsense.

Trotman, Liddle, Atkinson, Holmes, Bascome, Donawa. Having at least six players missing from a 20-man squad will have an effect. Even with injuries, we won and people are still trying to hammer the squad. It’s like some fans aren’t satisfied unless they’re complaining.

That’s not to say we cannot criticise, but do it constructively, rather than OTT reactions because we didn’t win by six.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 11:24 pm
by HarrytheQuaker
OnTheTerraces wrote:You can’t include Bascome as Wheatley is much better and Donawa is a sub! I also doubt Holmes would star .. in his two games he was very ineffective.

So only Trotman and Liddle missing with Atkinson and to a lesser extent, Watson as able deputies.

It was scrappy, Blyth had good chances and we didn’t dominate at all.

We all support Darlo but don’t gloss over things and create excuses around people missing.
You are talking shite didn't dominate them they hardly got out of there half in the 1st half, and 2nd half we had far better chances..

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Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 2:29 am
by 50 years
I think we had 16 corners which tells you something about the game. Good to see some shooting from outside the box. Thommo looks a bit short of confidence I thought, so that goal should do him some good. We did look still a bit fragile at times, but with players out long term and some carrying injuries I thought we did ok today. Atkinson looks like he needs some time to fully recover and the reduced number of games from now on should help the whole team. Hope Elliott is not sidelined with a bad injury, although from what I have seen the young lad from the academy is quite good in goal if needed. We still need that cutting edge in front of goal as most shots being directly at the keeper, just that bit of composure like Nelson used to have would deliver. Hard game at the weekend, they gave York a real scare but who knows, we never do with Darlo ;) .

"Up the Quakers"

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:15 am
by Ghost_Of_1883
HarrytheQuaker wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 11:24 pm
OnTheTerraces wrote:You can’t include Bascome as Wheatley is much better and Donawa is a sub! I also doubt Holmes would star .. in his two games he was very ineffective.

So only Trotman and Liddle missing with Atkinson and to a lesser extent, Watson as able deputies.

It was scrappy, Blyth had good chances and we didn’t dominate at all.

We all support Darlo but don’t gloss over things and create excuses around people missing.
You are talking shite didn't dominate them they hardly got out of there half in the 1st half, and 2nd half we had far better chances..

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Agreed, he is talking bollocks.

We dominated Blyth although it has to be said that they are poor, very poor.

A score of 5-1 would have reflected our dominance in a match where we played a clear and obvious 4-4-2 (just in case any one is in any doubt).

I am concerned about our lack of cutting edge again, this could have backfired against better opposition.

Two fans talking on the way out of the match were saying that although this was O'Neill's best game yet, they are still yet to be convinced by him?! One of them said that they would like to see him replaced with an on loan forward! He IS a forward, you utter morons - and in my opinion a good one who is getting better. Anyone fancy owning up to being those two? Anyone agree with what they say? I fancy an argument.

Re: Darlington V Blyth

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 6:59 am
by en passant
O'Neill is most certainly a forward, but better than that a very good footballer who carries the ball well when surrounded by opponents. I have been amazed how often he manages to come away with the ball when it looks as if there is no way out. And he gives 100 per cent, which shows in the way he has to drag himself through the last few moments of the game and is collapsed after it is over. Had we had an option to do so you would imagine he might have been replaced late on yesterday, but we were in no position, bench wise, to do so.

Yesterday was a bit frantic, caused by the last two results and Blyth's early goal. For the first 10 minutes we were a team that didn't dare lose and in doing so became a team that was liable to lose by being too nervy. Had we not equalised quickly you could see the tension racking up and tightening all the legs that would normally perform with fluidity into instruments you could hit a cricket ball with. As it was we got a goal and began to relax a little more and we dominated the rest of the half. Had we scored from the numerous half chances and corners (note here that we have got to make better use of corners) we would have gone on to win comfortably. But the second half began to turn on the tension again the longer we failed to capitalise on our chances, and you could read the situation as plainly as the players could that one of the slips we have had in previous games could see us lose. Stick or twist. We had to go for the win whilst being a little over cautious. We have had problems getting past stubborn defences and you could see that we were over playing at times with wildly hopeful through balls that beat everyone. But when you need a saviour we have Mr Darlo to get you the goal you need and everything turned out alright on the night.

Apart from O'Neill there were several other noteworthy performers. Will Hatfield was a great driving force in the centre, Campbell is a wonderfully tricky forward who just needs a bit more killer instinct, but will get us goals. I thought Galbraith also had a great game and might have had a goal, and Holness was excellent coming on in difficult circumstances and in an unfamiliar position. Wheatley was still a bit rusty and this showed and up until his goal I think Thommo looked to be a bit short of confidence and was trying a bit too hard. But the lad keeps going and eventually it paid off. I don't know if this 100 up thing is beginning to get to him, but the sooner it is out of the way the better. Maybe a hat trick on Saturday?!