Durham City M1s 7 - 1 Ben Rhydding M2s

The foul weather had cleared just in time for Durham’s second game of the season, and their first match at home. The Durham lads were looking to bag three more points this weekend after a good win last week, away at Wakefield. Their opponents were to be another newly promoted side in Ben Rhydding 2’s.

Before the game, Shez’s green hair made him stand out more than usual, although apparently it was meant to be red. In typical fashion he had got the opposition mixed up, so the streaky green highlights simply looked bizarre, rather than matching the Rhydding maroon. There was also some shocking team news as Rob found himself on the bench, perhaps this was because he had been living up to his new nickname, ‘The Yorkshire Buffet’ over the summer.

After an abysmal start last week, finding themselves down by 2 in the first ten minutes Durham looked to have a brighter start this week. Matt K did just this, rounding the goalkeeper in just the second minute, but failing to score, the first miss out of a number for the day. Durham were to remain on top in the opening stages before Anth deflected the ball into the bottom corner to open the scoring. Another goal came soon after, despite being surrounded by some confusion it had indeed been bundled in by Matt K via the hand on his stick and it was swiftly given. Durham was now firmly on top, and two more goals quickly followed. After some nice stick skills from Rob, Shez slotted the ball into the goal and less than two minutes later, a deflected ball through fell to Tom Steele who was one on one with their last defender. Shouts of “Hold it Up’ could be heard from the side lines but Tom either didn’t hear these or ignored them entirely as he beat the last defender and neatly placed it past the keeper for Durham’s 4th.

Despite the score, Ben Rhydding grew into the game as they looked more threatening towards the latter stages of the first half. Durham remained solid at the back, and this platform led to a fifth goal, as John nicked the ball from their defender at the top of the Rhydding D, then smashing it home past the keeper. The only other highlight of the first half was when Matt K found himself balanced on the shoulder of their defender who must have been watching the Rugby World Cup, as he nonchalantly shrugged Matt onto the floor.

The second half started poorly with Durham being unable to hold the ball for any significant length of time. This lead to the first penalty corner of the game for Ben Rhydding. An excellent diving save from Blair kept the score line at 5-0 but this pressure showed glimpses of a more frantic second half to come. With Rhydding pressing higher, Durham seemed to panic at the back and when Timmy found himself on the goal line with a Rhydding forward breathing down his neck and an empty goal ahead of him, he turned straight into the tackle and the ball hit the backboard. Adding to Timmy’s embarrassment Blair continued his calls of ‘Stay Strong’ even after the ball rolled back out of the goal. Perhaps, this was meant to be an encouragement, for the blushing defender. The team was forced into action, regaining more control after the shock goal. A number of short corners followed despite being poorly executed (something to work on in training) one managed to hit the Rhydding defender’s foot on the line for a penalty stroke. Alex stepped up and calmly beat the keeper along with the goal, finding a hole in the back of the net. Though there were some weak protestations from the opposition keeper, these were quickly shut down as the ball had quite clearly gone in.

Rhydding enjoyed some more attacking play as the game neared its conclusion and they were awarded a second short corner. A fast flick towards the top corner looked like a guaranteed second for the visitors if not for the quick reflexes of Timmy, who’s hand deflected the ball wide of the goal, and restored him to evens in his goals given away tally. There was to be one more goal for Durham today as Rob managed to hold onto the ball despite some nasty stick tackles and as he fell back, he struck the ball into the goal for number seven.

The score line reflected a dominant first half performance that was somewhat tarred by some sloppy mistakes and poor play in the second. However, another win for Durham keeps the spirits high ready for the long trip to Chesterfield next week.

MOM: John B

- Solid performance in the midfield and a goal

DOD: Timmy H

- Assisting the Rhydding forward

#GreenWasp #StayStrong #DidItGoIn? #HoldItUp