Welcome back sports fans. Another season for Durham City in the YNE Premier League is upon us. After a fantastic 4th place finish last year, who knows what this season holds for the boys in black and gold. The off season saw a changing of the guard amongst the senior leadership, with the dynamic Kettley duo stepping down from captaincy duties. With the new look pair of Will O and JB stepping in to fill their shoes.

The first game of the season was a long away trip to face Durham University 3s (it’s a fair way across the Maiden Castle site from Pitch 2 to 1). After an under-par performance against the same opposition in the county cup a week prior, DC were out to settle the score. There was also a myriad of new faces to the Durham City lineup. Will R, returning to the club made his debut in goal. Zayn, another South African import to contrast the bad boy of the league Mr Campbell, found his place in the defensive unit. Luke, added to the fine array of moustaches now present in the side, as a new forward option, and Frankie, with all his youthful energy, also made his debut up front.

Right from the off DC were on the front foot, passing and moving the ball fluently. For the first ten minutes, DC were the better side. The earliest opportunity could have been the “greatest possible start for the new regime”, when Will O found himself in space on the right-hand side of the D, he slapped the ball into JB who put his effort narrowly beyond the far post. A positive early sign. Despite the early pressure, the Uni were able to grow into the game, and on the whole, they controlled the remainder of the first half. Unlike DC they were able to capitalise on their dominance. In the 22nd minute a breakdown in the D after a short corner left the defense scrambling and a Uni forward took the ball, placing it high above the sprawling Will R, into the back of the net.

However, the early setback did not perturb DC. Soon after the goal, they gained a man advantage as a Uni forward made a series of trigger-happy tackles not to the umpires’ liking, so he saw two minutes on the bench. In amongst the Uni’s possession DC had a few short corners that we couldn’t convert. Even the rebounds felt they were falling just out of reach of the braying DC forwards. With the first half coming to a close, we battled hard to maintain the single goal disadvantage, nonetheless the whistle was a welcome breather that allowed DC to reset and go again.

Similar to the first half, DC were the better side for the first 10 minutes. An aggressive press forced the Uni into chucking aerials, that allowed us to win the ball back quickly and maintain pressure. Throughout the second half the Dobbo overhead became increasingly effective, with Matt K in particular able to operate in the pockets of space between the defensive lines. DC also began to string numerous phases of play together. JC and Mase were linking up nicely with the back line, creating the space for Stevie, JB and the forwards to have possession in threatening areas. Despite the growing tide in DC’s favour it would take until the 52nd minute for us to draw back level. In a similar manner to the Uni’s goal, albeit from open play rather than a corner, there was a breakdown in the D. With chaos ensuing, it took the experienced head of the previous skipper, Matt K, to find a way to bypass the keeper and overturn the single goal deficit.

As the game passed into its latter stages, the tension grew. Neither side wanted to lose from here, nor did either side deserve this fate. The game became increasingly stretched as legs began to tire. Breakaways posed the greatest threat to either team. One of these left Matt K, one-on-one with an isolated Uni defender. Despite a miraculous last ditch tackle the ball found its way to another of our forwards, but we then lacked the presence of mind to slip the ball to Shez at the far post for a match winning tap in. Speaking of the wasp, his antics for the afternoon were just beginning. With time running out, he was able to pick the ball up on the left after DC were able to nullify a Uni attack. Instead of rolling out, or finding a connection and retaining possession, with approximately 5 minutes remaining he took the “if in doubt” mentality and smashed the ball clean down the sideline. Supporters and players alike were stunned, finding it challenging to hold back cheeky grins and giggles. With the clock almost on zero, Mase made a rather heavy-handed tackle to stop any breakaway and as the final whistle blew, he had served all of 12 seconds out of his 2-minute sin-bin.

With the points shared, DC can now build from this result as the season starts to ramp up in the weeks ahead. Next week sees newly promoted Doncaster 2s make the trip up to maiden castle for our first ‘home’ game of the season.

MOM: Zayn (Great composure on debut, with some excellent max aerials)

DOD: Shez (An absolute bizarre moment which typifies him entirely)