Wednesday 11th December 2024
With just two days to go until the end of the term, the 1s and 2s were being made to work for their break, with away days to Manchester and Leeds on the itinerary.
After a long and gruelling 16 weeks - since the start of pre-season - this was a great opportunity to go into the Christmas break with momentum, and both teams top of their leagues.
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Manchester Met 1 -1 Durham (1s): 13:00 (a)
Written by Rory Edwards
After a long journey we made it to Manchester Met in good spirits but a little hungry after most of us having had little in the way of breakfast. To remedy this, Fin Gwillim offered up his spare monster energy drinks which, as you can imagine, went down a treat on an empty stomach.
On top of this, it was my first time ever having an energy drink and I don’t know whether it was placebo but I could barely sit down for the team talk as a result; I was absolutely raring to go.
This energy was evidently shared across the group with a very loud, energetic warmup. We knew it was going to be a tough match as it was a very tight pitch and Manchester Met had maintained a very good home record. However, at the same time we wanted to end a very successful first term off with a win to take us into the new year on five wins from five matches.
The game kicked off in quite a frantic fashion as both teams tried to impose their authority and put the opposition under pressure given the lack of space on the pitch. As a result of this energetic start, Manchester Met went a goal up after a good through ball in behind our defence which was slotted away.
Honestly, I don’t think it affected us in the slightest, we’ve come along way from all the experiences this season dating all the way back to August and have developed the belief in ourselves to turn games around and perform under pressure. We showed this by responding with a goal pretty soon after with a brilliant header from Chris Seery after one of Ellis Challinor’s mighty long throws.
The first half ended 1-1 but we were very much on top having dominated possession and limiting them to very few chances.
Half-Time: Manchester Met 1 - 1 Durham (1s)
The second half continued in a similar vein as we moved the ball quickly and created chances to put oursevles ahead. However, due to some incredible goalkeeping and a good defensive display from Manchester Met, we were unable to get over the line in the second half.
In the dying minutes of the game they pulled off a goal line clearance from a Freddie Merrett header and an incredible near post save. I myself also had two free kicks around the edge of the box in the final few minutes which both hit the wall.
This meant, after a very dominant display, it was back to Durham with a point and back to the training ground for me….
Full-Time: Manchester Met 1 - 1 Durham (1s)
In reflection, I think the player of the match was Chris Seery. Not only did he score a very impressive header from quite a distance but he also was at the heart of all of our attacking play. His directness with the ball to beat players, his ability to drive us forwards and create chances was a big part as to why we dominated large parts of the game.
On the journey home we had some lovely songs to make the journey go a little faster, one highlight being a rather seductive rendition of Santa Baby from Ossie O’Neill which had Freddie Walton asking for more.
Although, the main highlight was from the POTM himself, Chris Seerie. After some protests to doing a song he got up and laid down some absolutely stellar vocals that had us all in awe and wondering why he didn’t want to sing in the first place. If I could sing like that I’d be up every week.
All in all, many positives to take out of the game despite the fact we couldn’t walk away with the 3 points, and we go into Christmas in a strong position but still knowing it’s all to play for.
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Player of the Match: Chris Seery
Line-Up: Harry Archer; George Pitsillides; Chris Wild; Freddie Merrett; Ellis Challinor; Ossie O'Neill; Charlie Bramwell; Rory Edwards; Chris Seery (Goal); Fin Gwillim; Phil Kay
Substitutes: Patrick Dixon; Jonah Blake; Alex Dinan; Seb Hopkins; Fred Walton
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Leeds Beckett 2 - 5 Durham (2s): 13:00 (a)
Written by Oscar Cooke
The day started with an early trip to Maiden Castle to board a 9:30 am bus headed for Leeds. On this rare occasion, we were not joined by any other Durham teams for the journey, so it was down to us to provide any on board entertainment.
Multiple quizzes were created, involving testing football knowledge as well as identifying DUAFC members as AI generated females, which helped make for a more eventful journey and we arrived safely in Leeds at 11:30am.
We made our way across the campus and into the cold changing room; thankfully the kit was fully dry this week... The usual pre match music was paired with half the team having to tape their ankle and, with some words of wisdom, from our captain Oli we made our way out on the pitch to warm up.
10 minutes into our gentle warm-up, we were interrupted by some quite angry shouts from the Leeds Beckett opposition. ‘Oi, get off our half of the pitch’ meant that some of the boys bowed their heads and quickly scuttled across the halfway line into the ‘correct half’ to continue the warmup.
The Leeds Beckett players made their way out onto their ‘correct’ half of the pitch in their purple away kit. This provided the issue of a kit clash with both teams stubborn not to change. After Oli asserted his dominance, Leeds Beckett put on some yellow bibs and we were good to go.
We started the game very well, dominating the ball and being aggressive out of possession. Our bright start got even better when Anthony managed to put our recent scoring issues to bed with a first-time finish after some extremely well worked build up play and a great cross from Tom Boothroyd.
Our opener was quickly cancelled out when their centre back leapt highest to nod home from a corner. The goal was against the run of play, and we were gutted to know our hard work had all been cheaply undone.
Despite this, we continued to put pressure on the Leeds defence and were rewarded again with a goal of the season contender, this time by Finn Moore. After some 1 touch football on the right side, the ball made its way over to Finn on the edge of the box who hit the ball first time from 20 yards out into the top corner.
Finn shortly went from hero to zero as 5 minutes later he received the ball on the edge of our own box and, just like Steven Gerrard, he slipped over and allowed their striker to run through and score. Let's hope on this occasion, the punishment was a solitary goal, and not the league title..
Half-Time: Leeds Beckett 2 - 2 Durham (2s)
We went in at half time 2-2, but confident we had the capability to blow them away in the second half. The second half started the same as the first with constant Durham pressure and again were rewarded with an outside of the box goal from Finn, this time with the help of a significant deflection.
Leeds were limited to very few chances with Morgz and Oli standing strong against physical forwards, and we continued to attack looking to put the game to bed. In a period without a goal, chat on the sidelines turned to hypothetical questions, as Cal asked if you'd rather have 6% more pace of be left-footed.
Substitutions were made, giving Sam Checketts and Callum Raisborough their second team debuts and every sub positively influenced the game. Two more second half goals from man of the match Tom Boothroyd sealed the win and meant Chris could go to bed happy knowing his finishing drills finally paid off.
There's still work to be done however as, in the dying moments, Booth decided not to claim a hat-trick, but blast one over the fence instead.
Full-Time: Leeds Beckett: 2 - 5 Durham (2s)
The win meant that we headed home with 3 points and securely in top spot for Christmas. As Arsenal found out last season ‘you don’t win the league at Christmas’, but it is much nicer heading into the break with a win and top of the league.
Some questionable vocals made the journey back to Durham enjoyable, and we celebrated the term's hard work with a whole club curry, and a trip to Saints.
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Player of the Match: Tom Boothroyd
Line-Up: Jasper Gourley; Oscar Cooke; Morgan Lant; Oli Williams; Ryan Cook; Finn Moore (Goal x2); Zane Liles; Anthony Selvadoray (Goal); Oscar Schuller; Tom Boothroyd (Goal x2); Ben Crew
Substitutes: George Gompertz; Callum Raisborough; Sam Checketts; Ethan Woodcock; Sacha Lee
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