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Other than the obvious memories of the play-off matches, my other favourites of 2015 are Tom Portas’ goal at Heritage Park in the league fixture against Bamber Bridge, our 2-1 away win against Scarborough Athletic on Easter Monday and our 2-1 home win against Blyth Spartans on the August Bank Holiday.

Tom’s goal was the best I’d seen from central midfield for a very long time. The way he intercepted a Bamber Bridge pass on the half-way line, jinked passed a couple of players then accelerated away, leaving others in his wake before planting an unstoppable shot past the ‘keeper from 20 yards.

[caption id="attachment_15969" align="alignnone" width="300"] Tom Portas celebrates after scoring against Bamber Bridge[/caption]

The win against Scarborough capped off an excellent Easter. We were at a loose end on the Sunday when my wife suggested a stop-over somewhere. So we booked into a hotel in Beverley. We meandered down through the North Yorks Moors and had lunch in Robin Hood’s Bay before arriving in Beverley late afternoon. You can tell there’s a bit of money in Beverley because they have a polo club on the outskirts! We had a very pleasant evening out including a couple of pints in the legendary “Nellie’s”. On Monday we travelled up to Bridlington late morning. The congestion was horrendous as we approached Brid. Surely they can’t all be going to the match? Then we came across the massive car boot sale! It was fantastic to see so many well-known faces from Darlo in the crowd. In the first half, Quakers struggled to make their mark on the game and it was no surprise when Scarborough took the lead, particularly when they’d had a goal disallowed earlier on. Based on the first half display I feared the worst but super-sub Hatchy scored with a shot that I don’t think he had hit particularly cleanly but they all count! Nathan Cartman then put Darlo ahead with an excellent poacher’s goal. I seem to recall some anxious moments in what felt like a very long period of added on time.

[caption id="attachment_15962" align="alignnone" width="300"] Nathan Cartman celebrates his winner at Scarborough. Watch out Tim![/caption]

The match against Blyth was memorable for Whitey’s winning goal. The first half was generally pretty even, although we didn’t particularly threaten and I seem to recall that Blyth missed a sitter just before the break. Blyth went ahead in the second half with a good goal on the counter attack and with their strong defence I thought we might struggle, particularly as we now had a centre-half in the forward line as Whitey had replaced Graeme Armstrong. But I needn’t have worried when Thommo equalised with an excellent volley on the edge of the area, then shortly after Whitey nonchalantly used his left foot to sweep the ball into corner of the net from 12 yards with the coolness of a seasoned striker to condemn Blyth to their first defeat of the season.

[caption id="attachment_15970" align="alignnone" width="300"] Alan White celebrates after scoring against Blyth[/caption]