LIVE SPORTS BLOG - Saturday, October 20, 2012 (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

5:25pm

Spoke to Tony Mowbray, Marvin Emnes and Jonathan Woodgate after Boro's 1-0 win at Brighton - it's fair to say they're pleased with the result. Match report - here

4:50pm

Five minutes of added on time here at the Amex. Not sure where they've got that from. There's been six substitutions and no goals, and no other stoppages to speak of. Tony Mowbray is not happy, that's an understatement.

4:48pm

Ishmael Miller misses a golden opportunity to kill this game off for Middlesbrough. The on-loan striker races on to a long ball, is in on goal but pokes his shot wide of Kuszczac's goal.

4:45pm

Boro sub - Reach on for McDonald. 86 played.

4:44pm

Subs at the Amex - Smallwood on for Emnes; LuaLua on for Lopez. Still 1-0 Boro. Leadbitter saw a decent shot tipped around the post by Kuszczak moments ago - Boro's first attack of the half.

4:43pm

Three minutes of normal time to come at Hartlepool - this is another home defeat, a predicatable one at that  

4:43pm

Three minutes of normal time to come at Hartlepool - this is another home defeat, a predicatable one at that  

4:41pm

A few nerves at Darlington, they’re not used to these one-goal leads. Paul Brayson’s just mis-kicked wide when meeting a cross from Steven Baptist. Canny team Bedlington, staggering to think Spennymoor put six goals past them – shows how good Spenny are. 85mins, 2-1.

4:36pm

Cracking one-handed save by Darlington keeper Jack Norton, pushing over a Steve Bowey blast after Clark Keltie had been caught in possession. 80mins, 2-1.

4:34pm

Think I’ve managed to trace five or six of the missing 17 who haven’t come to Darlington this week, despite being here for the 6-1 win over Ashington seven days ago. They will be named and shamed in the Echo on Monday. 78mins, 2-1.

4:32pm

Boro sub - Miller on for McEachran.

4:29pm

Substitution for Bedlington, keeper Craig Pickering off injured. With no keeper on the bench, he’s replaced by former Darlington midfielder Stuart Elliott.

Pickering was injured in a collision when racing out of his area to clear, the ball span to Leon Scott, but with the keeper prone on the turf, Scott was unable to take advantage.

Bedlington broke quickly with Bowey taking the ball forward and although Adam Nicholls intercepted the forward pass, it went straight to Paul Brayson, but his shot was off target. 73mins, 2-1.

4:29pm

Albion subs - Dobbie and Buckley on for El-Abd and Crofts. 70 played, Boro lead 1-0

4:24pm

Substitution for Bedlington, keeper Craig Pickering off injured. With no keeper on the bench, he’s replaced by former Darlington midfielder Stuart Elliott. 68mins, 2-1.

4:23pm

I've seen some great goalkeeping this season, but I've just seen a save by Middlesbrough's Jason Steele that beats them all. Think Gordon Banks but at closer quarters. Ashley Barnes heads goalwards from inside the six-yard box, Steele claws away, and Mackail-Smith loops the rebound over. Sublime goalkeeping from young Steele.

4:18pm

Change at Hartlepool - sub, with Luscombe on for Noble. Poole gone ujp front with Howard. Noble under par again. 

4:18pm

Change at Hartlepool - sub, with Luscombe on for Noble. Poole gone ujp front with Howard. Noble under par again. 

4:11pm

Back under way here in Brighton - and a bit of clarification for you. Marvin Emnes' goal took a wicked deflection off Gordon Greer to completely wrongfoot Tomasz Kuszczak. And when I say 'wicked', I don't use it in the way that you youngsters use it. I mean 'cruel'. Still 1-0 to Boro.

4:07pm

Attendance at Darlington is 1,481, so that means 17 people haven't turned up who were here last week - who are they?! I want names...NOW! 51 minutes gone, 2-1 still.

3:57pm

For Darlington’s smartly-worked second goal, which put them 2-1 up on 41 minutes, Stephen Harrison played in a low free-kick, Stephen Thompson held the ball up, waited for Dowson to make a run and then played a pass into the forward’s feet to lash home.

3:50pm

Just before half-time there was a chance at each end of Heritage Park, with Quakers almost scoring a cracker.

Darlington’s Amar Purewal crossed for Thompson who controlled the ball on his chest before turning and without the ball touching the floor turned and blasted a volley that keeper Pickering gathered at the second attempt.

Then Bowey, scorer of Bedlington’s goal, saw a shot deflected wide for a corner.

3:48pm

HT: Hartlepool 0 Crawley 1. 

No complaints - visitors one up and could be three or four. Pools, again, offering little going forward, lacking the drive to hurt or test the opposition. 

Flinders has made a pack of decent saves (again) which means Pools are in with a sniff - if they are capable of upping their game that is. 

3:46pm

HALF-TIME: Darlington 2 (Tait, Dowson), Bedlington Terriers 1 (Bowey). 

3:46pm

Middlesbrough still 1-0 up at Brighton, not much to report here. Although Wayne Bridge fired a howitzer well wide a few minutes back. Boro have been quiet since the goal. Albion fans are restless.

3:43pm

An escape for Darlington. Leon Scott’s header back to Jack Norton was too weak and Bedlington's Paul Brayson nipped in, but the striker was unable to finish. 43mins, 2-1.

3:41pm

GOAL: David Dowson puts Darlington 2-1 ahead on 41 minutes with a well-worked free-kick, obviously worked on in training.

3:40pm

Bedlington's lightning quick Alan O’Brien raced down the left, beating Darlington's Stephen Harrison for pace, and his cross found Paul Brayson, but his first-time effort was side-footed wide. 40 minutes gone, 1-1.

3:33pm

Pools one-down, no confidence and no spark to get back into it. Could, in all honesty, be three down and only two cracking Flinders saves and a bad miss keeps it at one.

Crowd gave a big - and to be fair to them rare - negative reaction when Crawley missed two chances in seconds. 

Nice touch now - 25 mins in and the crowd are applauding in memory of Michael Maidens. He died five years ago this week and wore the No 25 shirt. 

3:32pm

Middlesbrough's Jason Steele has pulled off a fine save to deny Mackail-Smith on the volley from Wayne Bridge's sweeping cross. The Boro keeper pawed the Brighton top scorer's effort over for a corner. Fine goalkeeping.

3:29pm

GOALS: Bedlington go 1-0 up at Darlington on 23 minutes with a goal from Steve Bowey. He tucked home after striker Paul Brayson pulled the ball back from the byline.

But three minutes later centre-back Joe Tait beats Bedlington keeper Craig Pickering to the ball to head home from a Stephen Harrison free-kick. 1-1 after 29 minutes.

3:23pm

On 19 minutes there was a nice bit of trickery on the edge of the penalty area by Darlington's Stephen Thompson – a couple of neat touches without the ball touching the floor - led to a volley that flashed over the Bedlington bar.

Quite an even game so far, as the league positions – 1st versus 3rd – suggested it would be.

23 minutes gone, 0-0.

3:19pm

On 17 minutes Darlington's Amar Purewal fired over the bar after a move that began with David Dowson holding the ball up.

A meaty challenge on Quakers’ Adam Nicholls by Bedlington’s Chris Carr, signed this week from West Auckland, went unpunished. Whereas a minute or so earlier a similar tackle by Darlington’s Adam Clough on Brayson led to a free-kick.

18 minutes gone, 0-0.

3:14pm

Darlington got out of jail on seven minutes after another error from Jack Norton. He felled Bedlington Terriers striker Paul Brayson outside the penalty area, but referee Joe Simpson awarded only a yellow card and the resulting free-kick came to nothing.

Brayson had chased a long ball over the top of the defence that saw the striker, with 12 goals already this season, get beyond Quakers captain Gary Brown.

14 minutes gone, still 0-0.

3:14pm

Early exchanges shaded by Brighton here - Craig Mackail-Smith registering a couple of half chances while Middlesbrough's Andre Bikey got his head in the way of an Andrew Crofts shot. 0-0.

3:02pm

2:57pm

Middlesbrough news: Kevin Thomson is out of today's fixture. He's got a tight calf. Andy Halliday replaces him on the bench. Make sure you all alter your teamsheets at home.

2:56pm

Not far from kick-off here in Brighton. Line-up wise I think they'll be much the same as each other, 4-3-3. Brighton's front three play like two wingers and a front man, while Boro are more centrally minded. One thing is certain - both teams like to get it down and move the ball around. Should be a decent game.

2:48pm

Bedlington include former Quakers Mark Convery and Stuart Elliott with the former in the starting XI and the latter on the bench.

Convery 31, had two spells with Darlington, from 2001 to 2005 before playing at York and Cambridge and then returning to the Arena in the 2009-10 season.

Elliott was with the club for most of the 2000-01 season, and although his stay was brief he did score one of the most remarkable goals in recent times against Nottingham Forest.

An effort from the centre-circle, after a mistake by keeper Dave Beasant, sealed a shock Darlington win in the League Cup at the City Ground.

Elsewhere in Division One today, second-top Spennymoor are at home to Celtic Nation.

2:46pm

Darlington midfielder Leon Scott is in a hot streak of form having scored six goals in his last six games, including two last Saturday in a 6-1 win over Ashington.

He got Quakers’ first goal seven days ago, something he has done in each of Darlington’s last four matches at Heritage Park.

2:46pm

Darlington are aiming to maintain their 100 per cent record against third-top Bedlington Terriers who boast a strong away record as Keith Perry’s side have won five of their six games on the road in all competitions.

But ten days ago Bedlington were stunned by Spennymoor, losing 6-0 at home to the side reckoned by many to the Northern League title favourites.

Paul Brayson has 12 league goals – one ahead of Shaun Reay – which makes him the division’s leading scorer.

2:45pm

Darlington: Norton; Harrison, Brown, Tait, Richardson; Nicholls, Clough, Scott, Amar Purewal; Dowson, Thompson. Subs: Turns (gk), Reay, Keltie, Emms, Smith

Bedlington Terriers: Pickering, Baxter, Cave, Morton, Carr, Leeson, Convery, Baptist, Brayson, Bowie, O’Brien. Subs: Pell, Bannister, Wrightson, McKenna, Elliott

2:42pm

2:41pm

Darlington have an unnamed team as they bid for their tenth win in as many home games today when they host Bedlington Terriers.

New signings Clark Keltie and Craig Turns are both on the bench, as is left-back Dan Smith who returns from injury.
Making way from the substitutes bench are Steven Johnson, Arjun Purewal and Carl Morris.

Quakers are top of the Ebac Northern League having won 14 of their 15 games, including all of their games at Heritage Park.

2:36pm

Three changes for Hartlepool today. Walton, Collins and Poole in. Hartley and Murray are both injured, with Humphreys on the bench.

Injuries kicking in and it's fair to say the bench isn't the strongest Pools have ever had.

Crawley are bossed by Ritchie Barker, ex Pools striker and a big crowd favourite from his time at the Vic. 

HARTLEPOOL UNITED: Flinders; Austin, Collins, Baldwin, Holden; Poole, Walton, Sweeney, Franks; Howard, Noble. Subs: McHugh (gk), Humphreys, Luscombe, Rutherford, Richards, Buddle, Hawkins.

CRAWLEY TOWN: Jones; Sadler, McFadzean, Akpan, Simpson, Adams, Byrne, Jones, Davis, Alexander, Forte. Subs: Connolly, Clarke, Torres, Hunt, Ajose, Bulman, Kuipers (gk).
Referee: Kevin Wright (Peterborough)

2:22pm

2:21pm

There's a whole load of Sunderland v Newcastle build-up on the website including an in-depth chat with Steven Taylor, which is bound to stir tensions up even further - what do you think? Comment on this story or tweet us using the hashtag #echosport

2:19pm

Middlesbrough team news to follow - in the meantime, here are the preview pieces for today's game - Mowbray on the violence in Serbia and his thoughts on Brighton.

2:14pm

Good afternoon from The American Express Community Stadium, in Falmer, near Brighton for Middlesbrough's trip to Brighton and Hove Albion. It'll be easier for us all from now if I refer to the ground as the Amex.

It's chilly, overcast and a bit dull here and, as yet, there is no team news. Well, none in my hands anyway.