Blackwell Meadows Saturday, January 18th, 2020 k/o 15:00   National League North Attendance: 1,271 (estimated)         Darlington 3-0 Alfreton Town
2019 /20

Comments :

A beautiful sunny winter''s day. But cold. Train from Witchurch to Manchester and a quick change for the 2 hours train to Darlington through the (now familiar) Lancashire and then Yorkshire countryside. Wonderful rolling hills and tightly packed stone towns of narrow terraced houses. I love it. Darlington station is another industrial revolution gem. A few quick snaps then a 25 minutes walk (brisk due to the biting cold) through the magnificent South Park to the ground. Darlington FC now share with the rugby club so the feel (as I am finding with most shared sport clubs) has a much softer feel to it. Warm welcoming clubhouse with Theakston''s Black Bull ale on pump. Very welcome. The ground itself is basic but neat and tidy although the playing surface showed the strain of hosting both sports through a wet winter. Even so the game was not bad. A bit brutal a times but occasional flashes of skill and the result (a home win) didn''t look in much doubt from the off. The home centre forward was tiny (couldn''t have been much over five foot six) but fast an skilful. Adam Campbell. Turned out he''d played for Newcastle some years before. No surprise when he scored the first goal. And the second. Had to leave before the end to catch the train but it was a blessed release from the now biting cold wind wind. And the walk back to the station helped a but but not enough to clear the leg freeze completely. Two trains back to Whitchurch and home indoors before 21:00. Easier than London really. Nicer up in County Durham though.