Match Report
Durham United 0-4 Yarm & Eaglescliffe
Thursday 7th August 2025 (att 145)
After some fixture reshuffling it was a trip up to Durham on Thursday 7th August for our first ever game against Durham United. They play at the Durham University’s sports centre at Maiden Castle and for many of the Y&E faithful this was another new ground to tick off on our Y&E tours.
There was a couple of changes to the line up from the victory at Jarrow the previous Saturday, with Dougs, Hillers and Harry Williams coming in to the starting line up. We lined up with Callum in goal, HST and Sam Conway as wing backs, Ethan Jones, Cameron and Dougs in the centre of defence. In midfield we had Hillers, Joe Dalton and Marshy, with Harry Williams playing just off Tom up front. On the bench we had Foz Garton, Pete Bulmer, Leo, Ste Roberts and Sean Chidanyika.
A decent midweek crowd of 145 was in attendance including a fair few groundhoppers and a decent sized Y&E contingent. We started well, playing the ball around nicely and retaining possession, making the most of the 4G pitch. We had string of excellent chances, with their keeper making some good saves and a couple of wasteful chances from us, including a header that Marshy somehow put wide from a yard out! We broke the deadlock on 41 mins, some excellent work by Harry Williams down the right had side, and he floated a cross over and Hiller connected with a sublime volley form inside the box to make it 1-0. My son Ben compared it to Zidane. We doubled our lead almost immediately, winning the ball back from the kick off and Marshy broke free and beat the keeper. It was flagged for offside initially but a discussion between ref and assistant, overruled the offside. 2-0 up. Half time 2-0
Second half and we remained in control of the game. Some more decent chances, but we did need Callum to make a fantastic save to deny Durham on 68mins. We got another goal on 77mins, Marshy drove forward and was fouled in the box. Tom with the penalty. Sent the keeper the wrong way. We sealed the game in the 88th minute, some lovely play through midfield found Ste Roberts on the left and he floated a lovely curling ball in the box which found its way to the bottom left corner to make it 4-0. Pete Bulmer may have got a touch on it, one for the dubious goals panel.
The best performance form the lads this season. Played really well, controlled possession, played it around and we could have had a few more goals. Marshy and HST in particular playing well, as did young Ethan Jones at the back. Marshy was man of the match.
As for our hosts, they had plenty of pace up front and kept working until the end. Oh and strong AS Roma vibes with their home kit. I’m sure that they will start to pull a decent run of results together soon. Good luck to them for the rest of the campaign