Next up for the Y&E is a Boxing Day home game vs Darlington Town. The match is kindly sponsored by the “Yarm Family” better known as Minty, Andy & Sully) and the matchball is sponsored by Finance Solutions Northern. Thank you all for your support – it is massively appreciated.
It’s an early start on Boxing Day, with the game due to kick off at 11am. Gates will be open from 10am and with the Boro at home against Blackburn at 3pm, there is more than enough time to allow you to get to see two games in a few hours.
The weather is looking good, with sunshine forecast for kick off. What better way to spend your Boxing Day than a trip to watch the mighty Y&E??
This is the first time we have played Darlington Town this season. They currently sit in 13th place in the league, having W10, D6 and L12 of their 28games played so far. They have a goal difference of -6 having scored 33 and conceded 39. Away from home they are W5 D3 L7. Form wise they are WWDLLL, with their last game being a 2-1 defeat away at Jarrow last Saturday. They took the lead on 9 minutes through Ryan Coles, but a Luke Hudson penalty on 63 minutes followed by a Jay Barber goal on 69 minutes for Jarrow was enough for the three points.
Last season we won the away fixture at Eastbourne Community Stadium 4-2. Coles scoring on 9 mins, then Tom and Ste scoring on 15,19, before Coles made it 2-2 on 38minutes. Tom sealed his hattrick in the second half with two more goals to make it 4-2. In the home game we lost 1-0. A 90+10 from James Beauchamp sealing the win after we had put Town under pressure throughout the game, but couldn’t find a way through. That goal was enough to pretty much seal the league title for Horden.
In terms of players to watch, Ryan Coles managed to get tow against us last year and was a danger from set pieces. Their top scorer is Gareth McMahon who has 7 in all competitions so far this campaign.
After two impressive home wins against Jarrow and FC Hartlepool, it is a chance to make it 3 in a row for the Y&E at home to finish off 2025 in style. It’ll be a tough game against Darlington Town. Hopefully the players won’t have had too much Turkey on Christmas Day and will be in top form. HST will miss the game, serving his second of a two-match suspension. Joe Dalton’s suspension from his red against Horden doesn’t kick in until the 27th so he will miss the games against Grangetown and Sunderland RCA in January. Whatever starting XI Jacko puts out , he’ll be looking for the same energy and intensity that we showed against FC Hartlepool.
As ever the café will be open for hot snacks and drinks, Minty will have the blind card on the go to win a bottle at half time. We would really appreciate your support as we look to see out 2025 with another three points.