ANOTHER goal by Kevin Burgess gave Darlington their first away win of 2016 on a windswept afternoon on Merseyside.

Away to struggling Marine, Quakers were up against the elements as well as a team fighting against the drop, but Martin Gray’s side passed a supreme test of character to take another three points.

While a strong wind and intermittent hail hampered any attempt to play decent football, Darlington were on top throughout and were rarely troubled by a Marine side which had only one shot from open play.

Darlington had a substantial wind at their back throughout a first half in which they were on top throughout, getting the ball in the net early on through Nathan Cartman, but the goal was ruled out for offside after the striker had met Terry Galbraith’s free-kick.

The tone was soon set with the first of several fine saves by Marine’s Matthew Cooper, the goalkeeper stopping Lee Gaskell on a handful of occasions.

He blocked at close-range to prevent Gaskell from scoring after a low Galbraith cross, and then denied the Darlington striker again when he was one-on-one after a Stephen Thompson pass, but keeper did well to block.

Dominant Darlington kept the goal attempts coming, Thompson shooting wide on the turn after a Galbraith throw, and then when Thompson finally beat the from 22 yards with a thunderous effort, it was deflected onto the post and Cooper recovered to collect the loose ball.

Marine, who started the day fifth bottom of the table, were putting up little resistance, their occasional forays doing little hurt Darlington, and on 36 minutes Quakers got the goal they craved, Burgess scoring.

The move began with two crunching tackles on halfway by Gary Brown, the defender then passing to Adam Mitchell who advanced in possession before picking out Thompson, with his ball into the area being converted by Burgess.

Before half-time another save by Cooper drew applause from the crowd, the No.1 beating away a Thompson drive.

After a nondescript start to the second half, Darlington made a double change on the hour with Tom Portas and David Dowson on for Adam Mitchell and Nathan Cartman.

With the changes Quakers switched to 4-3-3, Gaskell central, Thompson and Dowson wide.

Most noteworthy, however, in the absence of any chances for either side, was the wild weather with supporters and players having to endure intermittent hailstones and an icy horizontal wind.

 


 

The conditions were hardly conducive to good football, but Thompson was unlucky not to score a wonderful free-kick, his curling effort tipped over the bar by Cooper.

On the whole a toothless Marine were kept at bay by Darlington, however in the five minutes of injury time came a big miss by Daniel Mitchley.

The Marine man had only Peter Jameson to beat from 16 yards, but the striker fired somehow wide with the home side’s first shot of note.

It was a let-off for Quakers, but they fully deserved the points from their eighth away win of the season.

Goals: Burgess (36, 0-1)

Bookings: Scott (11, delaying free-kick); Hessey (25, foul), Wainwright (63, foul)

Referee: James Wilson (Stockport)

Attendance: 552

Marine (3-5-2): Cooper; Hessey, Nicholas, Willis; Wainwright, Foley, Burton, Peers, Short; Mitchley, Sharp (Ellams 85). Subs (not used): Clair, Bellew, Codling, Sharman

Darlington (4-4-2): Jameson; Hunter, Brown, Burgess, Galbraith; Mitchell (Portas 59), Turnbull, Scott, Thompson; Cartman (Dowson 59), Gaskell (Armstrong 86). Subs (not used): Provett (gk), Nowakowski