I’ve seen Durham City a couple of times this season and at times you feel like peeking through your fingers. They came down from the Northern League in the summer and in the games that I’ve seen so far they lost by eleven and fourteen goals respectively.
For some reason they seem to struggle to find a settled squad and it’s like watching a new scratch side every time I see them. For this game, they announced six new signings, although I’m not sure how many of them started.
Jen and I drove up to the pitch at Leyburn Road in Houghton-le-Spring. I’ve never been to Houghton before and noticed they have a castle of sorts. If I ‘d realized I’d have left an hour or so earlier and had a wander round. Although we had the dog with us, so that might have made things difficult. The pitch was a fair walk from the changies, so when we got to half-time the players just sat down on the grass.
This game had been publicized as raising awareness for a young lad who needed a bone marrow transplant. He was there kicking around with, I think, his brother. I thought that someone was going to be taking swabs from people to see if they were a bone marrow match, but there was nothing going on. I’m probably too old anyway from what I’ve learned, as you might have to be under fifty-five.
Durham started well and kept South Moor at bay for the opening half-hour. By the break they were just the two goals down and their manager was telling them that it was the best that they have played all season. It all went tits up in the second half though as they conceded another seven without reply. Still, they kept it to single figures which is an improvement of sorts. I’ll keep an eye on them and hope that they can become competitive before the season’s up.
Trail of the Lion King 