The latest instalment of my look back at Darlington's 1990/91 season. Click here for August, September, October, November, December January and February. Or for the whole season in one handy post, check out this at the superb The Two Unfortunates.
Darlo came into March on a great run, undefeated and not scored against in all of February, and it was a very busy month, playing 8 games, a lot of them against other promotion chasing sides. They kept the winning run and clean sheet streak going with another win in their first game of the month against Stockport County, 6'7" Kevin Francis et al. This was quite possibly the best game Steve Mardenborough had for us, he played really well, had several chances, and ended up scoring the only goal of the game, topped off with a fabulous run/jump/dance celebration.
Next up was a Tuesday night home game against Wallsall, and yet another clean sheet for Mark Prudhoe. Gary Gill was back after missing a couple of games, and Lee Ellison was back again as John Borthwick's partner, but the glory and the only goal in this game went to Mick Tait. It's probably one of those things that my memory has embellished over time, but I remember it as him winning the ball at about the half way line, taking a couple of touches and a few yards forward before belting it from about 40 yards out and just inside the post in front of the Tin Shed. According to my Mother, my reaction was simply an astounded "Fucking Hell". It probably wasn't actually as good as I remember it now, but it's in the top 3 Feethams goals for me (Kevan Smith vs Cheltenham, Lee Ellison vs Hartlepool) and maybe it's for the best that it's not out there on youtube to make it less special.
By now Darlo had built a healthy lead at the top of the table, which is good because they were about to enter a fairly rough stretch, starting at Torquay where they finally let in a goal, and also let in a last minute winner, losing 2-1, with Ellison getting the goal. The goalless streak, stretching over 7 full games was a club record at the time, and presumably still is, a fitting tribute to a great goalie and defence.
Darlo set off on another unbeaten run, starting with another top of the table clash, this time in front of over 8,000 at Peterborough, and it ended in a 2-2 draw, Smith and David Cork with the goals. It had been over 2 months since Cork had been a regular in the team, but he'd play every game from this point on.
Next up was two home games against more of the top teams, Doncaster Rovers were first up and Darlo struggled, but got a 1-1 draw, Toman scoring and Smith with an own goal, but we still had an 8 point lead as other teams around us also struggled. That was followed by another 1-1 game, against Blackpool, Smith scoring again, and Prudhoe having another great game, I remember one diving reflex save from a header being particularly impresssive.
The run of draws continued as a Les McJannett goal got us a 1-1 draw at Hereford, before we finally got back to winning ways in the last game of the month at home against Aldershot. A 3-1 win sounds like it would be one of the better games, but it was one of the dullest games I can ever remember watching. Aldershot were a very poor team, and on the verge of going out of businesss, but we couldn't really take advantage and needed two Frank Gray penalties, as well as a Borthwick goal to get the three points. That game saw the debut of Mitch Cook, in his second go round with Darlo, a replacement for Paul Emson who we shipped off to Kettering. I'm fairly certain it was very early in this game, if not the first time the ball came to him that he went to kick the ball, completely missed and fell over. A cult hero was born, at least in my house, and we ended up naming our dog in his honour.
Coming up: April, the stumble towards the finish line continues, then that game at Northampton.
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