On a cold damp evening at The Paycare Stadium last night, Darlaston Town welcomed Midland Football League Division One side AFC Bridgnorth for a mid-season friendly.

Manager Dean Gill made two changes to his teams last game against Wombourne Allstars, Jake Pearson who was given his first start of the season in place of Josh Jones and Ben Priest dropping down to the bench with Captain Alex Foreshaw returning.

On a really good surface, after hard work from the Darlaston ground staff once again, both teams took advantage and tried to play football in the opening few minutes and the game was at a frenetic pace in the midfield.

Darlaston’s three goals all came in the first half, Revel Mardenborough opening the scoring in the 22nd minute with a great right footed finish giving keeper Ryan Cheshire no chance. Mardenborough almost doubled Darlaston’s lead in the 30th minute with a curling right foot shot from the left hand side of penalty area which smacked against the post and unfortunately went back into play.

Aaron Bishop produced a wonderful curling right foot finish in the 36th minute to double Darlaston’s lead and then a mistake from Bridgnorth keeper Cheshire, gave Mardenborough the easiest of opportunities to put Darlaston 3-0 in front when both teams left the field at the half-time interval.

The second half was very much a battle between the teams, AFC Bridgnorth finishing the stronger of the two after both managers made several changes in the second half which disjointed the fixture somewhat. Neither of Darlaston’s keepers were forced to make a save during the game and in the first half Ryan Cheshire pulled off several good stops.

The game was an ideal preparation for Saturday’s important Midland Football League Premier Division clash at Stourport Swifts (subject to the weather) and we hope that many Darlaston supporters will make the journey to The Riverside at Stourport to support Dean Gill and his team.