If you thought Bristol Rovers winning promotion to League One after scoring seven goals against Scunthorpe was impressive, then wait until you hear about newly-crowned Wearside League champions Darlington Town.
When they woke up on Saturday morning ahead of their clash against Annfield Plain AFC, second-place Darlington needed league leaders Chester-Le-Street United to drop points on their travels against Wolviston.
It was going to be a tough task. Chester-Le-Street, who had been top of the Wearside League table for large spells of the season, went into the final day with a +98 goal difference compared to Town's +88. But they had hope.
Darlington knew what they needed to do and in the opening 30 seconds, Lewis Henry smashed the ball across to Ryu Williamson, who tapped in from close range.
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They needed another ten goals, and a slip from Chester-Le-Street, to make it possible.
Eight minutes later, Darlington doubled their lead through Ben Wood after a great piece of play from Williamson before Dec Brown headed in to make it 3-0. So what happened next?
Instead of talking you through all the goals, here's a visual representation of how the next 75 or so minutes played out.
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4-0 Darlo Town – Ryu Williamson (14 minutes)
5-0 Darlo Town – Dec Brown (19 minutes)
6-0 Darlo Town – James “Bushy” Beauchamp (20 minutes)
7-0 Darlo Town – Dec Brown (30 minutes)
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8-0 Darlo Town – Stevie Johnson (32 minutes)
9-0 Darlo Town – Ben Wood (33 minutes)
10-0 Darlo Town – Ben Wood (36 minutes)
11-0 Darlo Town – Lewis Henry (41 minutes)
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12-0 Darlo Town – Lee Hastie (45+ minutes)
13-0 Darlo Town – Stevie Johnson (54 minutes)
14-0 Darlo Town – Lewis Henry (56 minutes)
15-0 Darlo Town – Lewis Henry (60 minutes)
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16-0 Darlo Town – John Jacob (65 minutes)
17-0 Darlo Town – Stevie Johnson (68 minutes)
18-0 Darlo Town – Stevie Johnson (74 minutes)
19-0 Darlo Town – Dec Brown (81 minutes)
Despite some drama at half-time, where some Annfield Plain players refused to come back out and play, Darlington secured all three points with a 19-0 victory, while Chester-Le-Street bottled it on the final day with a disappointing 0-0 draw against Wolviston.
Here's what the Wearside League table looked like at final play.
As you can imagine, the scenes after the full-time whistle at Darlington's home ground were joyous.
It was an afternoon of final day drama on Saturday. Joey Barton's Bristol Rovers secured automatic promotion in the most dramatic way possible after they knocked seven goals past Scunthorpe on the final day of the League Two season.
After results went their way earlier in the week, they needed to outscore Northampton on Saturday afternoon to overtake them on goal difference – and they did exactly that at the Memorial Stadium.
Northampton picked up a 3-1 win against Barrow on their travels as Sam Hoskins scored a brace, but it wasn't enough.
Football ey. What a game.
Topics: Non-League, Football
Jack Kenmare