Prescot Cables 0 Darlington 2

IF Martin Gray has learned one thing in his time as Darlington manager, perhaps it’s how quickly a crisis can be defused.

It’s only 20 days ago that his team were ninth on the back of four matches without a win and, for the first time in Gray’s tenure, his position came under scrutiny from some supporters.

Game 101 though, saw Quakers complete their ascent to pole position with a fifth consecutive victory, a 2-0 success at Prescot Cables.

While it’s too early to place too much credence on being top of the table, especially as rivals have games in hand, the team’s position is much better than it was only three weeks ago, but they’d do well to avoid a repeat of their brief spell as leaders last season.

Darlington were top on this date a year ago, after drawing 2-2 with Prescot, yet it was a position they soon relinquished and failed to recover as Curzon Ashton led the way for the remainder of the campaign.

After his 76th win, Gray said: “It’s just another game that we’ve won. We’ve put ourselves in the mix now, even though it’s early in the season it’s important to be up there.

“I didn’t know that we were top, it doesn’t really matter as long as we’re in the mix at the top end of the table and we’ve got to make sure we stay there.”

Salford City can tomorrow return to the top when they face Brighouse, but Darlington have an opportunity to continue their good run on Wednesday at Heritage Park against another lowly side, sixth-bottom Ossett Albion.

That’s another indisputable factor in Darlington’s u-turn, a generous run of fixtures against opposition in the bottom half of the table.

Prescot are 20th and while they have scored goals of late – ten in four matches prior to Saturday – they were no match for Darlington, who were strong at the back, frequently broke into the final third with purpose and did so without Tom Portas, the injured midfielder missing his first game of the season.

In his absence, Leon Scott returned to midfield and opened the scoring on eight minutes, volleying home after Gary Brown’s cross was cleared to the edge of the edge of the penalty area.

It was a goal worthy of Darlington’s bright start. They saw plenty of the ball in the opposition half and should have added to their tally before half-time with Amar Purewal and Graeme Armstrong both given plenty of service.

Terry Galbraith made his first start since recovering from a broken toe, playing left-midfield where he shone at previous club Dunston UTS, and he delivered some cracking crosses.

“We started really well and some of the balls into the box for Armstrong and Amar from general play and set-pieces were great,” said Gray. “Their keeper was probably man of the match, he stopped it being four or five nil.

“Terry was very good and I don’t think there’s many at this level with a left foot as good as his when he’s on top of his game.

“He can play one position further forward, he likes to get forward and join in anyway. So playing left-midfield takes some defensive responsibility away and with that left peg he can deliver quality, but with him having played in defence he’s able to keep the team’s shape.”

On Portas, Gray added: “We could’ve played him if we really needed to, but looking at the squad and the fact we’ve got another game on Wednesday, I just wanted to protect him a little bit. He’s got tightness in the lower back, same as Stephen Thompson, who I kept on the bench.

“It’s always a gamble when you don’t play someone as influential as him, but the lads did a job. Leon put in a workmanlike performance and got himself a great goal.”

Darlington’s momentum dipped toward the end of the half, but they were back on top after the restart with Adam Mitchell almost scoring direct from a corner, his inswinger being punched off the line by Cables keeper Ciaran Gibson.

From another corner, taken by Galbraith, just after the hour mark, however, Alan White headed home his first goal of the season at the near post to make it 2-0.

Prescot came to life in the closing stages, though Quakers keeper Peter Jameson was only involved when he had to push a shot from Mark McLoughlin over the bar.

“He didn’t have many saves to make,” said Gray. “There were one or two indifferent moments, but you’re going to get that when you’re playing against a very direct team who are trying to turn you.

“There was a lack of concentration occasionally, but we were solid as a team.

“We talk about clean sheets a lot and we’ve had Prescot watched, we know they can score goals. They lost 6-3 last week, but they’re better than that, they’re a very hard-working team and their forwards are decent, so we had to defend well.”

The game ended on a sour note though, a hefty challenge on Jordan Robinson resulted in the midfielder suffering a facial injury that saw him fracture bones around his eye as well as jaw and cheekbone. He is likely to be sidelined for several weeks.

MATCH FACTS

Goals: Scott (8, 0-1), White (64, 0-2)

Bookings: None

Referee: T Kirk

Attendance: 361

Entertainment: 3/5

Prescot Cables (4-4-2): GIBSON 7; Griffiths 5, McCulloch 6, Shinks 6, O’Reilly 6; Gardner 5 (Prince 65, 6), Phillips 6, Bannister 5, Corlett 5, Ryan 6 (West 82); Doran 6 (McLoughlin 82). Subs (not used): Stoker, Hont

Darlington (4-4-2): Jameson 6; BROWN 8, White 8, Hunter 8, Watson 7; A Mitchell 7, Scott 7, Robinson 7, Galbraith 8 (Cocks 72); Armstrong 6 (Hatch 58), Purewal 7 (Pennal 87). Subs (not used): Thompson, Farley (gk)

Man of the Match

GARY Brown – A big improvement on recent weeks and was involved in the first goal