Match Preview - Durham County FA 'Frank Pattison' Challenge Cup 1st Round - Wednesday 7th October 2026 - Darlington Town (A) - Kick-off 19:30pm

It's midweek cup action for Park View as they travel to fellow Ebac Northern League Division 2 colleagues Darlington Town on Wednesday night. It's the 1st round of the Durham County FA 'Frank Pattison' Challenge Cup.

The home side entering the competition for the first time this season. Park View on the other hand had to play and beat Sunderland West End at home on the preliminary round to earn the right to a 1st Round tie.

They did that in some style recording a 6 - 0 win over West End. Charlie Loveday and Niall Armstrong with a brace and Alex Clark and Ben Gallagher adding their goals to help Park View cruise through.

Now two sides who have already played each other this season will face off at the Eastbourne Sports Complex both bidding to go further in Durham's most prestigious cup competition.

The previous meeting this season was back on the 12th August when Park View were the home side in a League game that ended all-square at 1 - 1. Brandon Mallaburn putting Darlington in front on 39 minutes.

Jacob Mallinson producing an equaliser a mere three minutes after Darlington Town took the lead and that's how the game finished with a point a piece for both sides.

The current league table shows Park View in 4th place on 28 points after 17 games whilst Darlington are in 11th with 20 points from 14 games. Should Town win all three games in hand they would go above Park View in the table.

Top scorer for Darlington is Nathan Stephenson who 11 goals in all competitions. That's made up of 10 in the league and one in the FA Vase, a competition Town are still in.

Park View's top scorer so far this season is Charlie Loveday who netted twice against West End in the last round and also has 9 league goals to be on 11 for the season thus far.

It all points to a well-matched contest between two sides that is very difficult to call and many a punter would lose money on after considering all the odds. Kick-off at Darlington is at 7:30pm as the sides look to progress to the next round.