Barnard Castle FC left to rue missed chances

23 Oct 2026

Wearside League Premier Division Barnard Castle 2 Ferryhill Athletic 4

It was another case of what might have been as Barney suffered their fourth league defeat of the season at the weekend.

Once again, despite being in a strong position for much of the match, Barnard Castle failed to turn dominance into goals.

Avoidable errors at both ends of the pitch are proving costly but manager John Close believes there’s still plenty to play for this season.

“We need to reflect on the big picture,” he told the Mercury. “We’ve won almost as many as we’ve lost in the league and, in the cup, we were eliminated on penalties after drawing those matches.

“We’ve also been badly hit by injuries, so we do need to look at the squad. But we’re sitting mid-table, it’s very early in the season, there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic.”

Barney lost influential skipper Tom Merryweather during the Ferryhill match after he was sent off for two yellow card offences.

It was the visitors who took the lead but Finlay Thomas and Zack Blythe scored either side of half-time to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.

Barney were in a strong position until Ferryhill equalised with a long-range shot that the keeper failed to stop and they took the lead soon after.

“We went from a winning position to scrapping for a draw,” said a frustrated Close.

“You’ve got to say they deserved the win but the margins are so narrow.

“If the keeper doesn’t make the error for the second goal we probably win the game or at worst draw.”

Brandon United 0 Barnard Castle 3

Tom Merryweather led by example as Barney got back to winning ways on Wednesday night. The skipper, who was sent off at the weekend, scored twice in a 3-0 victory at Brandon with Zack Blythe also netting.

Barney face two tough away games next, travelling to Windscale tomorrow (Saturday, 2pm) and Willington on Wednesday (7.45).

North Riding Football League Division One Grangetown Boys Club Reserves v Barnard Castle Reserves – postponed

Barney Reserves were unable to field a team at the weekend due to a lack of players.

However, they are back in Division One action tomorrow (Saturday, 2pm) when they host Whinney Banks at Tens Field.

Darlington Sunday Invitation League League Cup, quarter-final Darington Spartans 0 Staindrop Wheatsheaf 3

Spartans and Staindrop met for the third time in just two months at the weekend.

The sides went into the League Cup tie level at one-win apiece so far this season with Wheatsheaf winning the league encounter and Spartans edging a Division One Cup clash.

It was Wheatsheaf who made it two wins out of three as they progressed to the semi-finals of the League Cup after beating the hosts 3-0. Jonny Robinson opened the scoring on the half-hour mark and Aaron Reed added a second on 63 minutes before Sam Hodgson wrapped up the victory late on.

Darlington Spaire 2 Evenwood Town 7

Jamie Lamb scored a hat-trick as Evenwood knocked Spraire out of the League Cup. Not surprisingly, Lamb was named man-of-the-match while Gareth McMahon (2), Luca McMahon and Liam Blighe also netted for the visitors.

Middleton Wanderers 2 Rolling Mills 9

Alan Rusk Shield, round one Barnard Castle Rangers 2 Gainford Cross Keys 6

Rangers took the lead in a high-scoring clash with Cross Keys when Adam Perkins netted on 10 minutes.

But the visitors responded with two goals from Cameron Gilbey before Joshua Murphy added a third on 37 minutes. Jamie Scott pulled one back for Barney just before the half-time break but Cross Keys added three more in the second half through Murphy, man-of-the-match Ben Moore and sub Alastair Stephenson.