South Moor vs Durham United
Wearside Premier Division
Saturday 1st March 2025
South Moor Sports Club
DH9 7HP
14:00
Written by Paddy Harvey (and George Gompertz)
The boys set off for a huge away game vs South Moor looking to secure 3 points and come ever closer to promotion.
After some unreal cd selections from Phil in Gompy's car, tied with some good pre match sing alongs and backing vocals from myself and Ossie, Durham arrived safely at South Moor’s pitch (bog).
Very soon after walking onto the pitch the boys understood what type of game it would be. Greeted with some blue plastic chairs, lined along the chicane in the changing room, and “some of the best tunes Wearside has ever seen" (not an official quote) played by myself, Durham swiftly made it out for kickoff.
It was perhaps the nicest weather of the year so far and, as the boys warmed up with their mid-layers discarded at the side of the pitch, it had an 'end-of-season' feel about it. That was especially true for the subs, who took their place in the brick dugout, bathing in the early spring (dare I say!?) sunshine.
After the toss, it was decided that we'd play the first half facing the sun, and attacking up the (considerably large) slope.
After some tasty challenges by our hosts, the referee kept his cards in his pockets, arguing each time, “It’s his first one". Midway through the first half, Chris Seery nicked the ball ahead of the defender who went to clear it but, instead of making contact with the ball, booted Seery's heel; the noise could be heard back in DH1. Not enough for a penalty, apparently; even Coach Chris stood on the touchline, arms outstretched, in disbelief.
It would soon be forgotten, however, as Durham were awarded a free kick on the touchline after a particularly scything tackle. Ossie whipped in a delicious ball from a free kick and Gwills steered the header into the corner with authority. 1-0 Durham United.
A strong overall performance kept the scoreline 1-0 at HT, captained by Chris Wild at the back.
Half-Time: South Moor 0 - 1 Durham United
After a scrappy first half, and some tactical half-time tweaks, we hoped that the down-hill advantage would play into our hands for the second half. As the half went on, the pitch began to tear up, with the ball landing straight into the centre circle with no bounce from the goal kick. As south moor began to tire, Durham began to gain the edge with a threatening attack of Seery, Phil, Gwill and Booth.
Soon after, Seb played a ‘De-Bruyne-esque’ through ball which found Gwill again, who slotted it calmly into the bottom left corner making it 2-0.
With not long to go, Gompz, having earlier been excited about the prospect of going in goal when Archer briefly went down after a strong tackle, decided to make his dreams come true and handle the ball in the box. With 20 minutes to go, South Moor had a golden opportunity from the spot, but Harry Archer made a fantastic save to keep the clean sheet in tact.
As South Moor tired on a heavy pitch, we showed them why we're top of the league and put a comeback out of reach with two late goals. Seery received the ball on the left corner of the box, left his man behind, and fired across goal with his left foot to make it 3-0.
Following an influx of fresh legs, it was the seemingly forever-fresh legs of Tom Boothroyd who marauded down the right-hand side and squared it to Oscar Schuller, who finished calmly.
We were all keen to see the game out with a clean sheet, apart from Paddy Harvey, who was determined to give South Moor one last chance at goal, as he shielded the ball out for a South Moor corner. United stood resolute, however, and the referee blew his whistle to confirm a tough, but convincing, victory.
There was a lot of pre-game talk about the high quality of the 'bangers and mash' that was served after this fixture last year so, after the team photo and Cam's post-match thoughts, I was keen to try it out. As we sat down in the clubhouse with the darts on in the background, we were provided with pizza and chips which, although not what we expected, went down well with the boys nonetheless.
After Phil got us off to a strong start with a couple of numbers from Billy Joel's 'The Stranger', Paddy took over CD duties and treated us to some arena anthems from Coldplay's 'A Head Full of Dreams' to celebrate a successful afternoon.
Full-Time: South Moor 0 - 4 Durham United
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Player of the Match: Harry Archer; he's the reason that the last 10 minutes were relatively comfortable, as well as producing a couple of smart saves before then to keep the clean sheet in tact. No doubt as a result of his phenomenal warm-up...
(Honourable mentions to Gwills and Seery who looked dangerous throughout and both found themselves on the scoresheet again; for Chris Wild for captaining his first Wearside game; and for Booth for just doing Booth things.)
Line-Up: Harry Archer; Chris Wild (c); Morgan Lant; Ossie O'Neill; Ryan Cook; Tom Boothroyd; Alex Dinan; Seb Hopkins; Phil Kay; Chris Seery (Goal); Fin Gwillim (Goal x2)
Substitutes: Ben Pearson; George Gompertz; Paddy Harvey; James Webb-Wood; Oscar Schuller (Goal)
***
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