HAUNTS THE YET AGAIN...
MARCUS Dinanga again caused Darlington’s downfall, coming off the bench to earn Kidderminster Harriers victory at Blackwell Meadows two seasons after doing the same for AFC Telford United.
In December 2019 the striker was a second-half super sub at the same venue and scored a hattrick in a 3-2 Telford win.
Only one goal was required this time to be Harriers’ hero.
“Marcus always seems to score against me for some reason,” said frustrated Darlington manager Alun Armstrong.
“He did it when I was Blyth manager and he did it here two years ago with Telford. It’s so frustrating because we deserved something out of the game.
“It’s a sickener because I thought the lads did well. It was a decent game between two sides who play football the right way, we cancelled each other out.
“It had 0-0 written all over it, so the goal came out of nothing.”
Kidderminster captain Sam Austin, a scorer in last week’s FA Cup shock against Reading, had the first shot of the game from 18 yards, Quakers goalkeeper Tommy Taylor equal to it by diving low to his right.
While there was little between the teams in what was a competitive encounter, Darlington were neat in possession but failed to give Harriers goalkeeper Luke Simpson a save to make.
At the other end, Taylor did well to save from Ashley Hemmings just before the break.
Referee Richard Aspinall caused confusion seconds after the restart. Austin shrugged off Alex Storey, and Harriers’ captain then shot past Taylor to seemingly open the scoring, but, bafflingly, Aspinall instead awarded a foul against the Darlington defender.
Quakers’ best chance of opening the scoring came after an hour, Jack Lambert blasting wide after Jake Cassidy had flicked on Jarrett Rivers’ rightwing cross.
Harriers’ substitutes played a crucial role in the second minute of added time to notch the winner.
Ethan Freemantle and Jaiden White combined to set up Austin, and his cross teed up Dinanga to head home just three minutes after coming off the bench.
“When you make changes and bring subs off the bench you hope they’ll have a positive impact and they were all involved in the goal,” said Jimmy O’Connor, Harriers assistant manager.
“It was two well-organised sides who didn’t want to give anything away. We had a number of chances and defended superbly throughout.”
DARLINGTON: (4-3-3): Taylor 7; Griffiths 7, Ellis 7, Storey 6, Smith 7; Hatfield 7, Rose 8, Purver 7 (Wheatley 63, 5); Rivers 7 (Dos Santos 85, 6), Cassidy 6 (O’Neill 73, 6), Lambert 6. Subs not used: Hedley, Beeden
KIDDERMINSTER: (4-3-3): Simpson 6; Penny 7, Lowe 8, Bajrami 7, Richards 7; Austin 8, Carrington 6, Martin 6; Hemmings 6 (White 72), Morgan-Smith 7 (Freemantle 78, 6), Sterling 6 (Dinanga 89, 6).
Subs not used: Foulkes, Redmond
STAR MAN: Danny Rose (Darlington)
ENTERTAINMENT: