Dearne & District 1-0 Doncaster City

Dearne & District 1-0 Doncaster City

Central Midlands League

Friday 25th August 2023

Friday Night Football under the floodlights. A crowd of over 700. A great advert for the Central Midlands Alliance League and a fantastic night for Dearne & District FC as they deservedly got the win in this ‘six-pointer’ at the top of the North Division.

Although I’m not massively familiar with Step 7 football, there’s no doubt the Goldthorpe Recreation Ground was the place to be last night and a crowd of 719 (plus quite a few peering over fences from outside) is testament to what this level can sometimes attract.

Both D&D and Doncaster City (the City is BLUE - certainly the case if you look at the new Doncaster Rovers away kit) are amongst the favourites for promotion this season and have ambitions to really kick on over the next few years. Dearne have just moved into their own ‘new’ ground having played just a few hundred yards up the road for the past few years; City have their own plans for a new ground at Bawtry in the near future and have made some top signings - shout-out for Noah Stokes (great lad) and both teams went into this game with 100% records and with only goal difference separating them at the top of the table.

Therefore, something had to give and on this occasion it was to be Dearne’s night - and you’d probably struggle to find anyone who was at this game who’d say they didn’t deserve the points on the night.

The first half was relatively uneventful although shaded by Dearne who, on home soil, looked the more adventurous when they went forward but just couldn’t find that killer chance to make something happen.

Still 0-0 at half-time, I was starting to wonder if I might be about to see my first goalless draw this season (something which usually happens in July for me), but my fears were put to bed early in the second moment as the game’s defining moment came when Bailey Lowe got his head to a cross and produced a bullet header to break the deadlock. Cue a police siren amongst the celebrations that followed.

Had Dearne not won, they’d have cited a massive moment soon afterwards where Donny City ‘keeper Dan Jones pulled off a save and Lowe hit the post from the rebound - with the ball then spinning across the goal-line and somehow staying out the net. 

How it didn’t go in for 2-0 was a mystery but with the hosts looking very resilient in defence and comfortable overall, Donny City weren’t really able to conjure up too much in their search for an equaliser. Their best chance came from an indirect free-kick after a back-pass (debatable as to whether it was one in the first place but the referee made a few questionable decisions over the course of the 90 minutes anyway) but in the end, the visitors effort only hit the wall anyway before it was cleared.

City did get the ball in the net late on but the offside flag had long since gone up - it was never going to count, and after what seemed like an eternity of injury-time (one can only assume the referee has read the directives regarding increased stoppage-time this season), the whistle finally went about 9.40pm and it was the hosts celebrating three HUGE points that they’ll be delighted with.

A really good night and great to catch up with so many familiar faces; from players - including Liam Mandeville and Mason Warren (top lad) amongst a few watching on, to local coaches/managers who were there, to fans as well from various South Yorkshire clubs - and beyond. It was a really good advert for the Central Midlands Alliance League overall and an occasion which I think was enjoyed by pretty much everyone who went.

Long live Friday Night Football!