A goal in the final minute meant Darlington threw away victory at home to Peterborough United.

Last week a goal in the last minute meant they lost 1-0 at MK Dons, and on Saturday Dave Penney's side surrended a one-goal lead with just 22 seconds to play.

Despite a scrappy performance, thanks to Tommy Wright's header Quakers had appeared set for all three points until Craig Mackail-Smith popped up to ram home a loose ball to send Darlington players and supporters home in misery for the second week running.

But sub Xavier Barrau should feel worse than anyone as, with Quakers leading, he was sent off after being shown two needless yellow cards on his debut.

Darlington were forced into making two late changes with leading scorer Pawel Abbott hurting a knee in the warm-up so his place went to Gregg Blundell who had been named as a sub.

Goalkeeper David Stockdale was also missing from the teamsheet after injurying a shoulder in training on Friday so that meant a recall for Andy Oakes while the Posh also made a change between the sticks.

Mark Tyler hurt his back in the warm-up and was replaced by reserve Shwan Jalal, but Quakers failed to test the stand-in stopper while Oakes was called upon to make three good saves in an frantic opening ten minutes.

Peterborough put pressure on Darlington from the off with Jamie Day seeing Oakes tip his effort over the bar while Quakers' reserve keeper twice denied Charlie Lee to ensure Darlington stayed level.

The remainder of the half was scrappy with the Posh enjoying more of the ball, but failing to create scoring chances, while Darlington looked anything but a top-of-the-table side.

As Penney aimed to provide the spark Quakers so clearly needed by sending on Barrau for his debut shortly after the restart, but it was Peterborough who almost took the lead when Lee burst into Darlington's penalty area but saw his shot deflected wide.

However, Darlington suddenly snatched the lead with their first effort on target. Julian Joachim provided a pin-point cross from the right for Tommy Wright to guide past Jalal with a powerful header from 12 yards.

His fourth goal of the season was a huge boost for Quakers who had struggled to find any rhythm, their hopes of seeing the game out were threatened when, with 16 minutes still to play, Barrau was deservedly sent off for a second booking.

He had been yellow-carded for a foul ten minutes after coming on, and then 12 minutes after that he was booked again, this time for a needless foul on former Hartlepool defender Chris Westwood.

The dismissal put Darlington on edge and gave Peterborough the impetus to go looking for an equaliser which finally arrived in the dying seconds.

Quakers were unable to clear the ball from their own penalty area and it dropped to striker Mackail-Smith to prod home to make it 1-1.

Watch the match highlights from Monday, October 1