Bloods victorious in front of bumper crowd

Over one thousand people were in attendance for Droylsden’s first home match of 2025 on Sunday, as the Bloods edged out a 3-2 win over Darwen.

Victory sees Dave Pace’s side continue to stay within touching distance of Atherton and Nelson as we approach the final stages of the season.

The Bloods are unbeaten at home this season, but they were in trouble just three minutes into this game when Christopher Bailey opened the scoring for Drawen, heading home from a corner.

The visitors nearly doubled their lead a few minutes later. Connor Hughes’s shot from range was tipped over by Jordan Latham to prevent his side from being two down in the early stages.

Thankfully for the Bloods, they found a route back into the game shortly after when Fuad Kasali’s low-driven shot beat Louis Hood to score his seventh goal of the season.

Dave Pace’s side would take the lead just before the half-hour mark. George Kattah got on the end of Harry Shipton’s long ball, and despite the keeper making a save on his first effort, it rebounded back into his path. He then slotted home into an empty net.

Darwen would score early into the second half to level things up once again. Bruno Severino capitalised on a mistake from Latham before looping the ball into the open net.

However, Droylsden would respond quickly, this time from Nellson Van, firing home his eight of the season after a ball from Harry Forshaw.

The home side had chances to score a fourth, two coming within moments of each other, but Wood was able to make a double save to keep out Kattah and Kasali. But Droylsden was able to hold on for all three points in another big win for the club.

Droylsden now returns to action this Saturday at the Butchers Arms when they take on Daisy Hill, which saw a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture.