A crowd of 210 bolstered by a good away following saw these two top six sides produce a tight, tense and entertaining game which Darlaston won courtesy of Tyler Bruck's 5th minute goal.

Long Eaton with three straight League wins under their belts went into the game full of confidence, whilst Darlaston with just one point from their last three league games looked to get back on a winning track.

It was the home side who made a bright and confident start taking the lead on 5 minutes in the first real attack of the game. Ryan Winwood won the ball on the halfway line, laying it off to Aaron Bishop. Bishop's cross field pass to the overlapping full back Harry Chesterton was only partially cut out by full back Owen Betts. Unfortunately for the former Notts County youngster he deflected the ball goalwards where Tyler Bruck outmuscled Jayden Cotterill before sliding the ball underneath keeper Lewis King from 16 yards.

Darlaston were indebted to keeper James Storer minutes later, the big keeper clawing away a Gianluca Bucci header from a corner.

The game settled, both sides playing good quality, neat, attractive football to entertain the crowd in wet miserable conditions. Long Eaton had the edge in the possession stakes, but Darlaston always looked more threatening, the work rate of Leo Wood, Bruck and James Rowland keeping the visitors defence on their toes.

Liam Loughlan showed some deft touches and neat control for the visitors whilst Evan Garnett looked lively, with former Port Vale and Hednesford Town defender Ryan Campbell-Brown their standout player making several good forward runs from full back.

A Bishop header from Rowland's corner forced a fingertip save from King but clear chances were hard to come by.

The quality of play did not drop with two good chances, one for each side coming in the closing stages of the half. Firstly on 45 minutes Winwood and Bishop combined to set up Rowland who drove hard and low from the edge of the box, keeper Lewis King diving low to his right to make a good save as he parried the ball to safety. On the stroke of half time Long Eaton created their best and only clear cut chance of the game. Callum Cocks played the ball to the feet of Garnett who slipped a sublime pass inside the Darlaston defence to the overlapping Campbell- Gordon whose first time shot brought a fine save by Storer parrying away low to his right.

The second half was similar to the first. Possession fairly even but Darlaston having the clearer chances, particularly in the final quarter as the visitors pushed for the equaliser. Defences remained on top with Joel Shambrook, Alex Foreshaw, Ben Podmore and Harry Chesterton superb for the home side and Campbell Gordon, Cocks and Bucci thwarting the home strikers.

The introduction of Mitch Botfield, Bailey Storey and Jack Downing added pace, quality and strength to the home side whilst Long Eaton substitute Abdul Saad livened up the visitors attack.

King saved comfortably from two Botfield efforts whilst Storey and Downing both shot wide. The pace of Saad forced Foreshaw to concede a corner, the ball eventually played to White who shot high over the bar from 22 yards.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes some intricate footwork by Storey saw the youngster dribble into the box before fizzing the ball across the face of goal from an acute angle. Storey then set up Downing who shot wide from 15 yards.

Following the game boss Dean Gill commented " Firstly what a lovely group of people at Long Eaton. Brad (Munn - manager) and his management team and players were top people all day. Their supporters were behind them all game and made plenty of noise to create a good atmosphere. They came with plenty of confidence on the back of three very good wins, so we knew we would have to work hard to compete.

Probably neither side were quite at their best today, but Long Eaton played some really good stuff without being able to breach our back four. On the only real occasion that they did Jimmy (Storer- keeper) made a really good save. Long Eaton had quality all over the pitch in particular I thought Campbell-Gordon and Loughlan were excellent today. They were the best footballing side we have played.

This level of football is unrelenting. You don't have a moment of respite in 90 minutes against some very good players and very good teams. You have to work hard for every result and every point and that is what we did today. Whilst not as fluent as we can be, every player worked hard, Rowlo (James Rowland) and Winna (Ryan Winwood) were stand out in midfield, whilst our two young forwards Tyler and Leo gave some very good defenders a difficult time. Our back four were again very strong restricting them to one significant chance and a couple of half chances.

We continue our progress, and our young players are starting to find their feet and feel confident at this level. I am delighted today. "