Well another weekend without a game due to the weather wasn't ideal for us.
We met at Aycliffe for 11 o'clock Saturday morning and the game failed a pitch inspection 11:20. It's frustrating when you are all geared up to go then it gets postponed, but these things happen. We got another good training session under our belts and remain focused on the next game, away to Bamber Bridge this weekend.
The night before, on Friday evening, I watched Blyth Spartans play Hartlepool United from the comfort of my friend’s settee. I'd been texting the Blyth lads during the day and they were all buzzing for the game, Nathan Buddle probably more so than anyone else as it's not too long ago he had hopes of being a regular in the Hartlepool first team.
I'll be honest, I thought Hartlepool dominated the first half, but fully expected Blyth to improve the second half as they seem to do that in most games. I wasn't sure whether Blyth would get a goal as they didn't threaten too much, but then a slice of magic from Stephen Turnbull changed all that. As far as free kicks go you will struggle to find a one hit as sweet as that.
It was still anyone's game after that and I wouldn't say the momentum was with either side, both teams cancelling each other out and Hartlepool failing to find their fluent passing that had been impressive in the first half. Then up stepped Jarrett Rivers who took his goal excellently.
I was really pleased for Jarrett as he's such a nice lad. I managed to persuade him to come to Whitley Bay with me when I was there, then managed the same again when asking him to come to Blyth. He works really hard, listens to people around him and keeps his feet firmly on the ground. Potentially he has the worst hair cut I've ever seen, but I'm sure he's not worried about that up on cloud mine at the moment.
Well done to all the lads, I know a few of them made the most of the weekend and rightly so.
I left Blyth to join Darlington this season. Obviously it would have been nice to play on television and be part of such a great night, but hopefully I've got lots of them great nights to come with Darlington and we can make our own history in the next few seasons.
Hopefully, next week I'll have a game and a win to talk about as well as some other goings on. I'll just finish off by wishing Hetton Lyons CCFC, Newton Aycliffe FC & Plains Farm FC all the very best in this weekend’s FA Sunday Cup ties.
Hetton travel to Northallerton, Plains Farm are at home and Newton Aycliffe have a trip to Liverpool to look forward to. It's a great competition to be involved in and I enjoyed some of the best days out I've ever had on the road in that competition so good luck lads and enjoy.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here