Durham United vs Easington Lane
Alan Hood Charity Cup: Semi-Final
Saturday 18th January 2025
Maiden Castle, DH1 3SE
14:00
Written by Charlie Bramwell
A chilly Saturday afternoon greeted Durham as we arrived at Maiden Castle to take on Easington Lane FC in the Alan Hood (also colloquially know as The Caine McCartney) Charity Cup! We set up with Pat in goal- Sam, Ellis, Freddie, Chris and Walton across the back line (a new role for Walts)- myself and Dinan in midfield, with Rory and Zach just in front, and Gwill leading the line.
The tone was set with an early challenge on Ellis- just in case we didn’t already know, this was going to be a fierce match up! Good midfield work to win the second balls and Gwill managed to play one wide to the on-running Sam, who stabbed the ball behind their back line into the path of Rory. The keeper made himself big and produced a fine save to keep the scores level early on.
We continued to probe, with the lions-share of possession, and a forward-facing attacking threat. Easington are no mugs however, and some nice football saw them slip a ball through the middle for their experienced number 9 to latch onto.
Unfortunately for him, he was no match for Freddie, as he brushed him aside and headed the ball back into the gloves of Pat. Somewhere in this process, the striker felt a touch and decided to perform a dramatic dive into the penalty box clutching his face...
A few minutes later, Rory stepped up and whipped in a nice ball from a corner which the keeper parried into my path at the edge of the box. Amid a chorus of people urging me to shoot, I took little touch round the on-rushing player and drilled towards the bottom corner, missing the post by a foot. We were getting closer!
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I was in the action again not long after, at the other end of the pitch this time. I had a heart in mouth moment when the Easington winger caught me out on the halfway line with only me and Walton back…. Luckily for me, Walton had his defensive boots on, making a worldly of an interception to break up their fast-moving attack!
We were quickly on the move again, breaking up play well and facing forward. Rory dealt with a bouncing ball and cut a pass through their back line into the path of Zach moving at speed. He had Gwill on his left, and a desperate Easington player on his back, but nothing obstructed Zach’s eye for goal, and he calmly struck the ball past the keeper to make it 1-0 to Durham. COME ON DURHAM!
Not long after, Rory was cascading down the left. The Easington bench called out ‘He’s got nothing else, don’t foul him’. To which Chris W said ‘He does have a lot’, as Rory proceeded to skin their right-back and whip a ball into the foot of Zach at the back post, who sent it centre metres over.
The half ended with a strange decision from the ref, blowing the whistle as we started another counter-attack- but that’s football!
Half-Time: Durham United 1 - 0 Easington Lane
Half-time chat was positive, with a large dose of enthusiasm and a dash of vulnerability, as we only led by one goal, and we know that is not sufficient against the likes of Easington. They came out firing, threatening more in the opening ten than they had done in the previous forty-five. However, Durham stayed strong and we began creating chances of our own….
Zach, off the right this time, got to the by-line and drilled the ball across the box. Sam met the ball on the left, playing into me to turn and fizz one in. Their number 3 was obviously abit bewildered and volleyed the ball back into his keepers arms- thanks for the indirect free-kick!
Zach stepped up and struck the ball into the side netting. 2-0 …… Oh wait, the ref decided to chalk that one off, apparently the whistle had been blown to pause play (I can’t say I heard that one!). Second time round and we weren’t so lucky, with the ball saved off the line and went for a corner.
This marked the end of an intense period, and the game died down slightly for ten or so minutes. But, Walton livened things up again down the right, forcing a fine save from their keeper. At this point, we could smell blood and Cam made an attacking change, bringing Phil into the picture.
Chances continued to flow, and we couldn’t quite find the back of the net, until Phil whipped in a deadly ball, and the man in goalscoring hit the ball with venom, bouncing off the keeper and into the roof of the net. Sam Benoist! A strikers finish (from the left back)!
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The second goal gave us a nice sense of security, as Cam brought on Seery and Jonah. Sometimes in these situations, you become guilty of being complacent, and in the dying minutes of the game, some sloppy defending and an error at the back presented their number 6 with a chance he couldn’t miss. 2-1. We needed to stay calm now and see this one out!
This didn’t go quite to plan as we gave away a free-kick on the edge of our box in the dying seconds. Their was a sense of real tension in the air. Their captain stepped up and finessed the ball in the direction of the top corner… but no… Pat came flyyyyyying through the air and tipped the ball around the post, greeted with hugs and shouts of encouragement.
And that was it! Game over. Durham United into the final of the Alan Hood Charity Cup! A nail bitter at the end there, but we did it. See you in the final Durham Corinthians.
Full-Time: Durham United 2 - 1 Easington Lane
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Player of the Match: Zach Alfalahi
Line-Up: Patrick Dixon; Chris Wild; Sam Benoist; Alex Dinan; Freddie Merrett (c); Ellis Challinor; Fred Walton; Charlie Bramwell; Fin Gwillim; Zach Alfalahi; Rory Edwards
Substitutes: Jonah Blake; Morgan Lant; Oscar Cooke; Chris Seery; Phil Kay
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