Brackley battle with Darlington for late 2-1 victory.

After progressing through to the second round of the FA cup following a penalty shoot win against Braintree, Brackley took on Darlington today. With Stockport County away to play in the FA cup at the end of November, Brackley started in high spirits with the view to progress further in the league against Darlington, also mid league with 12 points.

Above- opening 10 mins. Darlington dominate most of the play attacking the Brackley goal.

With a handful of Darlington away supporters to cheer on their once consistent old Division four side, Darlington took the early stage of the game to the Brackley end. With the Brackley home fans a bit more vocal today, Brackley started to get more of the match in the second quarter of the first half with a few more runs and shots on target into the Darlington goal. The red shirts continued to step up the pressure, hunting for the first goal. In the 25th min, everything suddenly went the opposite way when a black shirted Darlington attacker got close to the Brackley net and put an excellent shot, wide. A Brackley corner in the 27th was just tipped over the bar by the Darlington goal keeper save, swinging the pendulum back towards more Brackley dominance of play as the first half moved closer towards conclusion. In the 30 th min, Brackley delight finally arrived when Danny Newton hit the back of the Darlington net to put Brackley one nil up. More Brackley attacks right up to the half time whistle gave Darlington plenty to think about as they went back into the changing room.

The half time break didn’t seem to have any impact upon Darlington’s play in the first quarter of the second half which was very subdued with little action from either side. In the second quarter things livened up with Dalington being awarded a penalty following a clumsy foul by the Brackley defence. The penalty kick was well struck making it 1-1 by the 70th min. The equaliser led to Brackley fans’ vocality turning sour with chants of the referee is full of s…t, being heard from the home stand. On the pitch, Brackley retaliated with more shots and pressure on the Darlington goal and a Jake Adams substitution to try and better mix things up. The match looked like it was going to end up a 1-1 draw until the closing moments of the gane, when a long range shot outside the Darlington penalty box gave Brackley a 2-1 very late victory. With progress now being made in the League as well as the FA cup, it looks like it should be a good Christmas and New Year for Brackley Town FC. 818 attendance.