DARLINGTON RA 5 ESH WINNING 1
By Ricky Butler at Brinkburn Road
DARLINGTON RA are my local football club. Lacking the glamour of the likes of nearby Newcastle United and Sunderland, or even Darlington FC themselves, the RA play at Level 10 in the football pyramid.
The club are actually the highest placed side currently playing in the town of Darlington, at least until Darlington FC finally get their move to Blackwell Meadows sorted, and the crowd this season has been boosted by the regular appearances of Eddie Copland and Damian Wheelhouse, joined on this occasion by Paul Stewart.
They may not have much money for fancy new signings and play at a Brinkburn Road ground that has seen better days, but the club represent all that is great about local, non-league football. A friendly welcome, a clubhouse with Sky Sports and a team who are doing remarkably well.
Not a lot can be taken from this comfortable win over struggling Esh Winning (rarely can the word Winning have been used so ironically) but a place in the top six of the Northern League second division, sponsored by Ebac, is some achievement for a club of such meager resources.
With star man Harvey Saunders now departed for the big bucks of Bishop Auckland, the goal-scoring responsibilities lay at the very capable feet of Jim Wilson. His second half hat-trick here, each goal better than the one which preceded it, demonstrated the talent to be found in this little part of County Durham.
At the back, Northern League veteran Mikey Weston is your typical old-fashioned centre half. Strong and powerful in the area, Weston has this season, his first at Brinkburn Road, developed a good partnership at the back with Jacob Wood. But it was the recently returning Liam Brown who stood out at the heart of the RA back four here with a commanding performance.
Strikers of better quality than Esh's Ben Clarke and Brain Harrison will struggle this season to get past the partnership of Weston and Brown, which sounds like a firm of local solicitors or undertakers.
The visitors, starting the day second bottom but keen to impress a new manager, played well enough on a bog of a pitch, only deemed playable after heavy rain by the hard work of the RA players, and twice could have gone in front in the early stages; Brown demonstrating all his defensive qualities with a spectacular goal-line clearance to deny Clarke, before Nathan Graham hit the bar.
But once the Railwaymen went in front midway through the first half there was only going to be one winner. The opener was a scruffy affair; Rob Moncur's mis-hit shot from 20 yards touched home by that man Brown, but this was a rare moment of scrappy play from what was a very enjoyable match.
The second goal, just before the break, was a thing of real beauty and worthy of a bigger audience than the 76 people who had turned down the chance to go Christmas shopping on a damp November afternoon. Not many a defence can stop a well timed, third man run from midfield and Sam England provided just that to finish off a lovely RA move down the Esh right.
But the second half was all about the Wilson Brothers, another name that conjures up images of solicitors or undertakers. With his club captain, Nathan, running the show in midfield, striker Jim showed that there is life after Saunders. His first goal was a move started by a great tackle in the centre circle from Stephen Cheeseman and finished off in great style by Wilson; cutting in from the left to bend the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.
Esh briefly threatened to make a game of it when Graham, their outstanding player on the day, chipped RA 'keeper Phil Pentony from 25 yards, another goal worthy of a wider audience, but Wilson was far from finished just yet.
The RA forward made it 4-1 with a cool, close range effort before the pass of the match from Moncur gave Wilson the chance of his hat-trick, a chance he never looked like missing. 5-1. Game over.
There was certainly enough evidence here to suggest that the Railwaymen could mount a serious challenge from promotion. With mega-bucks South Shields seemingly having the title all but sewn up, the RA are certainly in the mix for one of the other two remaining promotion spots with the likes of Chester-le-Street, Ryhope, Billingham Synthonia and Easington Colliery .
But no one here is getting carried away just yet. It is a long, hard season and the RA do have a tendency of coming down with the Christmas decorations. However, you sense a real buzz about the place this year and if they can keep hold of the likes of Wilson and England then anything is possible.
Next up for the Railwaymen is a trip to Thornaby next weekend before a real six-pointer against Billingham Synthonia here in a fortnight. Now that is one not to be missed...
