Saturday saw Darlaston Town (1874) players, officials and supporters make the short journey around the south side of Wolverhampton to face a tough West Midlands (Reginal) League game against second placed Old Wulfrunians who were on a good run losing only one game in the last six and winning the remainder.

After the abject performance against Wem Town at home, Manager Andy Parkes made only two changes, when some would argue more were warranted. Out went Kieran Payne who was relegated to the bench and James Filkins who was unavailable. In came a returning Tyrone Clarke and recently married Ricky Kelly. Changes were also made in the Substitutes, with Steve Mason and Kieran Payne replacing Ashley Justin and Sam Baxter.

After a quick pitch inspection by the Referee and his assistants the pitch was deemed playable on the condition the standing water in and around the centre circle was removed and drained.

Old Wulfrunians started the game at a frenetic pace, creating three chances in the opening two minutes, keeper Aaron Morris tipping over a header in the first minute and the Darlaston defence needed to be alert to block a goal bound shot and header.

Darlaston for the second week running struggled to get out of their own half, but this week it was not due to the weather, but their opponents work rate and pressure. When the ball did get up to Broadway or Hughes, they couldn’t hold up the ball long enough or they gave away silly free kicks putting the midfield and defence under pressure.

Old Wulfrunians despite having the lion’s share of the possession could not penetrate the resolute Darlaston defence they continued to press forward Billy Morgan was lively on the right, Noah Diallo was sitting in centre midfield trying to dictate the play alongside Jake Pearson. Diallo’s delivery from corners and free kicks were starting to cause problems. Following a corner on 14 minutes a poor Darlaston clearance reached Liam McEvoy who couldn’t keep his soundly hit volley beneath the crossbar. Old Wulf’s crafted another good opening, but Bradshaw’s goal bound effort was once again blocked by Darlaston’s defence. Darlaston’s only effort of the opening 15 minutes was a blocked Haden Hughes effort which was blocked by Josh McEvoy which went out for Darlaston’s first corner of the match.

Against the run of play on 24 minutes Darlaston broke the deadlock and took the lead, Scott Broadway latching on to a loose ball after Old Wulfrunians keeper Bostock saved a Hayden Hughes effort, Broadway scoring his 11th League goal and first of the game. The goal rocked Old Wulfrunians, Darlaston were now started to pass the ball around playing from the back at every opportunity. Both sides received booking, Old Wulfrunians left sided player Chris Farnell and Scott Broadway for Darlaston.

As the half came to a close Old Wulfrunians had another two efforts Jake Pearson missing the target and Chris Farnell’s effort was again blocked by the diving McAllister who seemed to be a ball magnet. Best effort of the half followed a Darlaston right sided corner, a half-cleared ball came out to Tyrone Clarke who from 35 yards connected with a dipping shot which crashed back off the crossbar, forwards Broadway and Hughes looked glued to the floor as neither moved or made an effort to score.

The half-finished with Darlaston one up, did they deserve it, yes, they had the better crafted chances than Old Wulfrunians, who despite all their possession and effort didn’t force Aaron Morris to make a save.

The second half started with Old Wulfs having two quality chances in the first four minutes of the half, but both efforts were blocked by Stanton and one again McAllister. But after 50 minutes Old Wulfrunians were reduced to 10 men, following Chris Farnell’s stamp on Luke Charlton, Referee Stephen O’Neil rightly produced a straight red card. The loss of Farnell didn’t seem to be hindering Old Wulf’s efforts and the game decided into a midfield battle, neither set of forwards seemed able to hold the ball, Darlaston’s Ant Follows pulled a 25-yard effort wide after a Broadway lay off, and Darlaston’ ball magnet McAllister took another Old Wulf’s effort in the chest.

After 64 minutes Darlaston doubled their lead, Sam Giles produced a run and cross from Darlaston’s right, Scott Broadway had his first-time effort saved by Jamie Bostock, but Broadway was quick to take advantage of the parry forcing the ball home from a yard out scoring his twelfth league goal of the season. Both sides used their allocation of three substitutes, Old Wulf’s in an effort to create a worthwhile chance and Darlaston in an effort to introduce fresh legs to see the game out.

Darlaston continued to press forward looking to add to their goal tally, efforts from Broadway and Clarke were blocked. Hayden Hughes missed a great chance from 40 yards after a poor clearance from Old Wulf’s keeper, but his quickly taken chance could not be directed towards goal. Hughes wasn’t finished there, chasing a lost cause he put caption Jack Rowley under immense pressure winning the ball along the left by-line and crossed to Broadway who had his header saved by the keeper.

Referee O’Neil was busy in the last quarter adding Martin Stanton and Ryan McAllister to his book following a shirt pull and a miss-timed tackle respectively. Old Wulfs had three efforts in the last 7 minutes of the game. Substitute Jack Weaver finding the body of McAllister again and Weavers effort went wide. Noah Diallo had their best chance forcing Darlaston’s keeper Morris into a smart save.

Darlaston secured a vital three points with their 2-0 win against their rivals for promotion achieving their first double over a team this season.
Next week sees Darlaston travel to North Shropshire in a effort to avenge their 6-0 home loss to a rampant Wem Town team who put another six unanswered goals past Telford Juniors in Saturdays fixture.

On behalf of Manager Parkes, his coaching team and players many thanks for your outstanding support, even now it amazing to see how many of you travel to the away games to support the lads.