Colne get revenge on Darwen

Colne took revenge for their 5-0 drubbing at Darwen ten days previously when they handed out a resounding 4-1 win at the Haffners Eats Stadium on Saturday. The Reds banged in three early goals and never looked back as they denied Darwen any chance of a comeback with another goal in the second half.

Colne took the lead after five minutes when Miles Storey’s low hard shot from the left of goal slipped out of the hands of Darwen keeper Morgan Newns and Barney Wiggin fired the loose ball into the net from six yards out. One minute later, Colne doubled their lead as Storey outpaced a defender to the right of goal and fired a low shot past the stranded keeper into the far corner of the Darwen net.

After ten minutes, Colne went three up when Jack Holt caught out the keeper with a dipping shot from 30 yards into the far side of the Darwen goal.

Darwen looked for a quick reply but the Colne defence coped well with high balls into their area. And after 27 minutes, the Reds came close again when Sam Lloyd’s diagonal cross fell to Holt and his shot was blocked in the Darwen area. Ten minutes later, Storey’s close range shot was blocked by Newns in the Darwen goalmouth and Dave Lynch blasted the rebound over the bar.

An injury to a linesman caused a long delay disrupting the flow of the game. But once the game got underway again, Wiggin had another goal-bound shot blocked in the Darwen area before Holt’s header flashed past the post in a subsequent attack.

As the second half began, Wiggin saw his shot saved at the foot of the post by Newns. But as play switched to the other end Darwen threatened as Josh Abbott broke clear and shot wide of the Colne goal. But as Darwen pushed forward, they left space at the back for the Reds to exploit and Storey’s cross was knocked down by Wiggin in the visitors’ area before Sam Holt fired the loose ball just wide of the Darwen goal.

But as Darwen broke to the other end, a searching cross found Kit Lloyd at the far post and his goal-bound shot was pushed away with a great save by Harry Turner in the Colne goal. On the hour, Colne went further ahead when Wiggin’s chip forward saw Storey outpace a defender before firing low past the keeper to put the Reds 4-0 up.

Six minutes later, Finley Denning burst through the Darwen defence with a great run but his shot was blocked by the keeper and as a crowd of players went for the loose ball, the referee decided that Wiggin’s tackle warranted a red card reducing Colne to ten men.

Darwen pushed forward and Turner produced a great save to push a goal-bound shot by Abbott over his crossbar and Mohamed Wassa shot wide from a good chance. After 85 minutes, Darwen pulled a goal back when Bradley Sixsmith found the Colne net with a looping header from a free kick by the visitors. Darwen continued to attack but could not find a way past Turner in the Colne goal as he made a string of vital saves to ensure that the Reds took all three well earned points from the game.

Starting XI: Harry Turner | ⁠Mo Butt |⁠ Sam Lloyd |⁠ David Lynch |⁠ Nathan Bartram | ⁠ Sam Holt |⁠ Jack Holt | ⁠Alex Harvey (c) | ⁠Miles Storey | ⁠Fin Denning | ⁠Barney Wiggin

Subs Used: George Archer | Nathan Cliffe

Unused: Paul Turner | Oscar Cooper | Jamie Walker

Goals: Wiggin (6), Storey (7), J.Holt (10), Storey (16)

MOM: Miles Storey