Match Report

Darwen hosted top of the table Nelson where they dominated a thrilling 3-1 win.

The Salmoners came into the game sixth in the league table, 11 points from the play-offs, with visitors Nelson four points inside the automatic promotion place.

I met with manager Leighton Mills for a pre-match interview, which can be found in full on X (@LDownesSport), where we discussed the game, his side’s form against the top five and the new signings Yacin Amarzou and Pawel Zuk.

The league leaders got off on the front foot at the Anchor Ground, with centre-half Charlie Lloyd being called to action a number of times in the opening five minutes.

Darwen avoided an early scare when former player Max Cane broke away with no defenders in sight, however goalkeeper Louis Hood rushed out to smother the chance with a great save.

New face Yacin Amarzou proved he had already settled in the squad, combining nicely with Mohamed Wassa and Joshua Abbott a number of times down the right wing, but goal-scoring opportunities were few and far between for the hosts early on.

21 minutes in Max Cane did get his goal.

Despite a solid start defensively, the number 10 found himself one-on-one with Hood again, this time rolling the ball into the bottom left under pressure from Charlie Lloyd.

The rest of the half was purely attacking threat from The Salmoners.

Connor Hughes hit the post five minutes on from the opener, with Bruno Severino failing to convert the follow-up, after creating the chance brilliantly with a breakaway from inside his own half.

Joshua Abbott came close to his first goal for the club a minute later with a clever run in behind, before Bruno Severino levelled the game with yet another high quality finish.

The midfielder took the chance alone from 20 yards out, shifting the ball onto his left foot and bending the shot into the bottom left corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Two minutes later Darwen took a deserved lead.

Abbott delivered a free kick for captain Christopher Bailey to latch onto, turning the ball into the top corner on the volley and grabbing his second goal in two games.

The home side saw out the remainder of the half with class, Severino, Wassa and Kit Lloyd running the middle of the pitch with help from Abbott dropping back to control possession.

Nelson started the second period similar to the first, hardly letting Darwen out their own half in the first 10 minutes.

Kit Lloyd kept his side ahead on the 57th minute, blocking two shots from close range after Hood was clattered in a 50-50 tackle.

From that point on Darwen demonstrated their quality, every man controlling the pace of the game well.

Akim Samms replaced new winger Amarzou with 20 minutes to go, introducing even more firepower to the attack and coming close to a goal from a Connor Hughes cross.

Nelson almost had themselves back level when Ismail Usman lifted the ball over Hood into the back of the net, but an offside call ruled out an equaliser.

A minute later Connor Hughes doubled the lead and put the game to bed.

Abbott brought the ball down excellently before finding Hughes, who placed his effort in the bottom corner from just inside the box, rushing off to celebrate the result with his bench.

The drama wasn’t done for the day as Nelson captain Billy Priestley was dismissed by two yellow cards in a heated exchange with the referee, before struggling to find his way back to the changing rooms.

Darwen wrapped up a brilliant team performance with Leighton Mills’ side picking up another three points against the play-off place teams.