Please note that some fixtures have been added for this coming Sunday. Also, our Under 18s' game has a different venue and kickoff time. Our Under 7s and Under 8s have no games.

All outdoor matches were postponed. Here is manager Neill Caville's report of the Under 7s' game against Mill Hill at the Powerleague Soccerdome :

Squad

Ivan Tang, Edward Holden, Matthew Ready, Alex Cawtherly, Callum Woods, Josh Yates, Josh Brown

In a match were Darwen dominated for long periods of the game, goals from Matt and Alex gave us a deserved lead, which we managed to hold onto.

With the lads now settled in after the Christmas break, the passing is becoming more evident, but still requires more work.

Josh in the nets pulled off some great saves, that kept us in this game.

Moment of the match a long range shot and goal from Alex, and Edward in goals facing the wrong way as the ball is coming down from a high clearance turning around and dropping on the ball. Coolness beyond even Mario Ballotelli standards.

All reports received are now on the site.

Here is manager Ste Walker's report of the Under 13s' great 3-0 win at Crown Paints :

Darwen Rangers Blue Team
Ben Hosker, Ryan Brindle, Thomas Pilkington, Alistair Gordon, Jordan Martin, Ardit Rrahmani, Jack Collins, Luke Duxbury, Lewis Bullcock,Toby Meadowcroft, Leon Makinde, Matthew Dodds, Taylor Walker and Konrad Kujawa
Man of the Match : Thomas Pilkington

1st Half

Darwen Rangers started brightly after what feels like a long winter break from football. Coach Ste Walker had not been long in the UK after arriving back to Manchester Airport at 3am sunday morning following a holiday break. As always we prepared for the game with coaches Martin Dodds and Alan Brindle assisting with the pre match warm up. Ardit Rrahmani was put through on the left wing taking on the crown paints full back and striking the ball sweetly scoring in off the far right post. It was an excellent finish which prompted further positive attacking play from Rangers. Well done Ardit. It was not long before Jack Collins scored a fine finish from outside the area. Well done Jack. Several chances were created and unfortunately not taken by Rangers. With only a few minutes to play Rangers were given a corner. The corner was well taken by Ardit and superbly headed into the back of the net by Taylor Walker on his debut. Well done Taylor.

2nd Half

In the second half Darwen Rangers did not perform as well as they did in the first half. Crown Paints got on top in the second half working very hard to break down the Rangers defence and gave our defence a hard time. Unfortunately we did not play our usual passing game as well as we can however to finish on a positive note Rangers defended exeptionally well and Ben Hosker you were simply brilliant in goal today so well done and keep it up. Welldone Ryan for doing a great job at left back and well done Matthew Dodds who is getting better following returning from injury. Welldone Taylor Walker after your first appearance in a Rangers shirt. You did very well and scored! Keep it up. Thomas welldone for an outstanding performance at the back today, and well done Toby who started off many attacks with some great long passes from the back. Welldone Leon for a fine display at the back making crucial interceptions in the dying seconds.

Welldone all.

Four rearranged fixtures have been added and are now on the Fixtures bar.

All outdoor fixtures were postponed due to frozen pitches. The only teams that played were the Under 7s and Under 8s at the Powerleague Soccerdome.

Here is Neill Caville's report of the Under 7s' game against Blue Star :

Squad
Josh Brown, Alex Fenwick, James Furnell, Dario Ponti, Ivan Tang, Callum Woods.

After being beat by Mill Hill Boys the lads really bounced back. With James in the goals and a strong defence of Ivan and Dario I knew we could win this game.
Blue Star took the lead after 7 minutes but this only made Darwen play with more determination. Callum and Alex soon opened up our account and we took a well deserved lead which we would never squander.
With Callum and Josh in midfield helping out all over the pitch we managed to hold Blue Star to the odd attack. Another goal from Callum and a superb freekick from Alex saw us comfortably see out the game.

Many games from the first fixture list of the new year were postponed due to waterlogged pitches.

All reports received from the games played are now on the site.

Here is Garry Fowles' report of the Under 12 Lads' 5-2 win :

First game of the new year was against Great Harwood Rovers who are just below us 2 points behind so this game was important to both teams.
This game was a great game to be a part of. It had goals, great saves, good football, and some great tackles. Great Harwood really played their part and put in a great performance.We started really well with some really nice football being played - you wouldn't think we hadn't played since 27th of November. The first chance we had got blocked and Great Harwood broke away- Mason Brandon ran the full length of the pitch to make a great tackle but we were slow to react to the ball and the lad slotted the ball inside the post 0-1 Great Harwood. But the lads got on with the game and battled on to get a goal which im sorry Tom I missed and I think most of the crowd did as well but I beleive it was a great goal. Well done Tom Pennington for playing to the whistle 1-1. We carried on playing the way we had played all game making chances after chances but some great saves from the Great Harwood goalkeeper and some bad misses (Luke Skelton) we will talk about that one in training (LOL) half-time 1-1 great game. Second half was the best i have seen at Sandy Lane since i took over but Great Harwood got their noses in front with a goal from a corner to make it 1-2 Great Harwood. But the lads continued to get themselves back in the game with Luke Brooks scoring at the second attempt to make 2-2 game on.Great Harwood had a great chance to take the lead only for man of the match Mason Brandon to somehow i don't knowhow he did it but he kept the ball out of the goal for a great save. We went up the pitch with Harry Brannigan cutting inside to smash the ball into the top corner 3-2 Rangers.Great Harwood heads dropped and the lads ran riot with Harry getting his second of the game with a shot which went under the keeper 4-2 Rangers.With the game won Luke Skelton made up for his early miss with a easy tap in at the back post 5-2 Rangers final score.

TEAM
Oscar Cosgrove
Mason Brandon(MOM)
Louie Staffa
Sam Yates
Jake Robinson
Luke Skelton( 1 goal)
Lloyd Harwood
Luke Brooks (1 goal)
Tom Pennington (capt- 1goal)
SUB
Harry Brannigan (2 goals)

WELL DONE LADS!! I cant praise you enough you all played out of your skins and deserved your win.

Many thanks to all parents for support and help with the set up and the tidy up and thanks to Anthony and Neil for doing the line.

(by Neil Cameron)

At this moment in time we have played half of our league fixtures (9)
but we have played two teams twice and so have to still play Mill Hill
and Lammack.
We have had a great season so far and are currently 3rd in the league
with a record of :- P9, W7, D1, L1, Points 22.
We have also won our 1st two rounds in the cup and are waiting to find
out who we play in the next round.
Our aim for the rest of the season is to try and beat the teams we have
already beaten, hopefully for a second time. This will not be easy and
will require the lads full effort and concentration in every game as
the Red League is very competitive and there is little difference
between the teams at the top and the bottom of the league. Also we
obviously want to do as well as possible in the cup.
We have played some good football and the lads have a good team spirit
and work hard for each other. In some of the close games, e.g.-against
Fulledge Red, the team spirit and commitment has been the reason for
winning narrowly and drawing instead of drawing and losing. This is
great to see and the lads need to keep this up for the 2nd half of the
season. We have scored 33 goals in 11 league and cup games and it is
pleasing to see that the goals have been well spread throughout the
team. We have also defended well and apart from against Knuzden and
Fulledge Blue we have not conceded more than 2 goals in a game. This is
also due to Charlie who has been great in goal for us.
As I said at the beginning of the season, whilst I expect the lads to
give 100% effort and commitment in every game, player development,
especially at this age is more important than the results. To this end,
I will try and play the lads in different positions, within reason, to
improve their overall game.

(by Neill Caville)

For the past 8 years we have used the pitches at Sandy Lane to stage our mini football games (7 v 7 and 9 v 9).

These pitches are rented off the Lower Darwen United Reform Church and are shared with Darwen Cricket Club.

On average we will stage 60 7 v 7 games and 45 9 v 9 games per season. This season we have 2 teams at  U9, U10, U11 and U12 using this facility. The U12 blue team playing on a Saturday.

Over the years we have invested in this facility, New metal railings, fitting doors to the changing rooms, new dog bins, and new pipe work in the kitchen, but alas we now need to start looking at a real investment in the pitches. Those of you who have played or spectated at Sandy Lane will have realised that we need to level out the pitches, were the ground has settled, and the road way and parking needs to be improved. This will involve an estimated investment of £10000 plus. No small investment for a club like ours but we will start searching out grants and fund-raising methods throughout the start of 2012.

Prior to the start of next season we also want to improve the changing rooms, toilets and kitchen area.

Changing rooms need new insulation to the roof and eaves and frost protection to all the water pipes.

The toilets want re painting, frost protection to the pipes and insulation to the roof and eaves along with new windows.

The kitchen needs frost protection, insulation, new kitchen units, new worktops, a new serving hatch and hot water to the sink.

All of this work will cost about £3000 but will give us a facility to be proud of.

Our aim by carrying out this work top the changing block is to be able to offer hot and cold drinks and food on match days, thus allowing us to earn extra income, and make an atmosphere suitable for children’s football, where everyone gets on as friends.

One initiative we want to put into place for next season is that we give all players from opposition and home teams a free drink and snack after the game.  All officials will also get a free drink.

When the girls teams played at sandy Lane we always did this as a matter of course, and as parents and players we all chatted after the game with no animosity and as friends. This also helped us at away matches as opposition teams started returning this compliment.

When this work does start we will be out with the begging bowls for equipment and labour, so if you are replacing your kitchen, got spare paint, or a skill, painters, plumbers, electricians, joiners etc. please let me know if you can help, the more people the better. You don’t even have to have a skill, just turning up and helping out will be greatly appreciated.  I do understand that your time is precious but please try and help.

The refurbishment work will be carried out in August 2012 but we need to start the planning early March, so if you can help please contact me on 07816358694, email neil.caville@sky.com or let your team manager know your details and they will pass on the information to me.