[JonInMiddleGA]

Dec 26, 2012 (afternoon)

Blyth (4-7-12, 22nd) at Darlington (5-8-10,19th)

Second half of the season begins with a chance to pick up badly needed points against a team struggling almost as much as we have. They average less than a goal a game, a little offense might be enough, but we've had our share of problems finding even a little.

They're a 1:2 favorite, we're 9:2 dogs. We'll start in 4-4-2 Standard.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings, Jones, Purvis, Sinclair
MF: Phillips, Matondo, White, O'Connor
F: Mole, Clarke-Harris
Bench: (Wedderburn, Whiteley, Lobjoit, Groves, Dovey)

Halftime: Blyth 1 - Darlington 0
Matondo put us in front at 22' with a wonderful goal from the area, set up by a blocked header by O'Connor. We struggled with them a bit in the latter part of the half, which led to us being outshot 8-5 and with only 42% poss. We'll switch to Counter to open the 2nd half, see if we can take advantage of their aggression.

74 sub Wedderburn for Giddings sub Groves for Purvis
89 sub Whiteley for Phillips

Fulltime: Blyth 1 - Darlington 0
The lone goal held up but it wasn't easy til the final whistle, a potential equalizer for Darlington banged off the post in extra time. Knight came up big, so did the woodwork which denied them three times. On the day we outshot them 13-12, had 49% poss.

Knight(MOM) 7.8
Giddings 6.9, Jones 7.1, Purvis 7.1, Sinclair 7.3
Phillips 6.9, Matondo 7.6 & 1 goal, White 6.8, O'Connor 6.9
Mole 7.3 & 1 assist, Clarke-Harris 5.6
Subs: Wedderburn(for Giddings 74') 6.9, Groves (for Purvis 74') 6.9
Whiteley (for Phillips 89') N/A

Dec 26, 2012 (post-match) The win doesn't get us out of the cellar but it does put us within a point of both Darlington & Newport Co and within 2 points of Bath in 19th place.