Match Report

Darwen made it back-to-back 4-0 wins in midweek as they beat Colne to progress to the Northern second round of the Edward Case Cup.

Akim Samms netted a first half brace to give The Salmoners a commanding lead, forming a deadly partnership with Bruno Severino throughout the opening 45 minutes.

The hosts continued their dominant performance after the break, as Joshua Abbott and Abdullah Zaffar found the top corner with outrageous strikes to make it eight goals in five days.

Samms opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark from close range, tapping into an empty net after a defensive mix-up from Jak McKinlay saw Severino’s cross drop inside the six-yard box.

The pair combined again four minutes later, and not for the last time, when Severino ran onto Nario Baptista’s long ball and squared it to Samms, but the effort was dragged wide in front of a half-empty net.

Eventually the forward did score his second, 45 minutes in, with Severino finding him with the best pass of them all to split the Colne defence in half and send Samms through to a one-on-one, where he picked out the bottom left corner to complete an excellent performance.

The second 45 saw little action other than two thunderbolts which doubled the lead built up in the first half.

Abbott was back in the spotlight just short of the hour mark, when he let fly from more than 30 yards out and saw his strike nestle in the top right corner to take his tally to ten goals for the season.

The Salmoners soon had another goal of the month contender when Zaffar netted a fourth and his first for the club only five minutes after coming on.

The substitute drove the ball from well inside his own half through to the visitors’ 18-yard box, before he ended the exceptional solo run with a powerful effort that found the same top corner that Abbott had 15 minutes earlier.

A second four-goal win in five days made for a comfortable Northern first round tie, with the Edward Case Cup the only competition, outside of the league, that Darwen will still compete in this season.