Looking back to Darlington v Stoke City 1991

By Ray Simpson

Looking back to Darlington v Stoke City 1991

Frank Tweddle looks back to Darlo games over the years.Today, it's the old Third Division game betwe...

Frank Tweddle looks back to Darlo games over the years.

Today, it's the old Third Division game between Darlo and Stoke on 7th September 1991, the season after we won the old Fourth Division championship.

Darlington 0 Stoke City 1. Division Three, Attendance 4,230.

We were holding our own in our new surroundings in the old Third Division with two wins and two draws from our opening four games, when Stoke came to Feethams for the first time since November 1925. Player-manager Frank Gray stuck with the eleven that had defeated Bolton Wanderers at home just four days previously which meant that he played at left back. Stoke were the fourth big name in succession we had faced, the others being West Brom, Bolton and Birmingham. We matched the Potters throughout the first half, but after 57 minutes Tony Ellis grabbed the match winning goal for the visitors. Lee Ellison made his first appearance of the season as a sub, but we went down by a solitary goal.

Darlo team: Prudhoe, Coatsworth, Gray (sub Cork), Willis, Smith, Trotter, Cook, Toman, Borthwick (sub Ellison), Mardenborough, Tait.