Darlington are champions

Darlington are champions of the Northern League after sealing the title with a 3-1 win over Team Northumbria today.

It was a tense affair, but Quakers did enough to take victory which secures promotion to the Evo-Stik First Division - a year after being handed a four-division demotion by the Football Association following administration.

They will receive the Northern League trophy on Wednesday when they play Guisborough Town, something they have secured by winning 39 of their 45 games.

They’ve been pushed all the way by Spennymoor Town, who won 3-2 against Durham City, but Jason Ainsley’s side can no longer catch Quakers.

It was a tense occasion at Heritage Park, though, as the visitors made Quakers work hard for the three points which sealed the title.

Team Northumbria took a shock lead just before half-time, Tom Davies heading home after a free-kick, but within a minute Chris Emms tapped home an equaliser following good work by Stephen Thompson.

Only a win would give Darlington the title today and they finally went ahead for the first time on 52 minutes with Amar Purewal scoring his first of the day.

He met a Stephen Harrison cross to head his 22nd goal of the season and put his team on course for victory.

But the one-goal advantage stayed in place for the remainder of the half, so there were nerves among the Darlington fans.

Eventually, though, deep in injury time, Purewal was put through one-on-one by Jonny Davis and he was the calmest person in the ground as he slotted home to start the celebrations as the club enjoys its first promotion since 1991.