DARLINGTON grabbed a point yesterday at Altrincham after scoring a penalty deep in injury time, but should have been awarded a second spot-kick even later in the contest.

That was the view of Quakers' officials and players, including Josh Gillies who spoke out after the final whistle at Moss Lane.

After Kevin Burgess had been tripped Terry Galbraith’s coolly-taken 96th minute penalty saved a deserved point for Darlington, making it 2-2, yet before the final whistle blew Tom Portas was felled inside the 18-yard box.

The substitute hit the ground with close to 100 minutes on the clock, but referee Anthony Tankward waved play on seconds before blowing the final whistle.

“We’re glad to get a point but we should’ve had another penalty,” said Gillies, who was making his Darlington debut and supplied the pass for Portas to run on to.

“It was definitely a penalty, but with the referee already having given us one he probably thought he couldn’t do it again.”

Attacking midfielder Gillies had already reason to disagree with Tankard after a second-half shot from long-range went wide.

“I thought it deflected off a defender and we should’ve had a corner, so I had a little pop at the ref,” said the play-maker.

Gillies played the entire 90 minutes, plus stoppage time, in his first official outing in Quakers colours having joined the club a fortnight ago after being released by Gateshead at the end of last season.

Having been a free agent, he has not had a full pre-season, but says he felt fit enough to make a contribution.

He said: “I’ve played a few games in pre-season, but the more I play the better really and we’ve got lots of games over the next few weeks.

“The second half I tired a bit, but that was probably down to the heat as well, it was a red-hot day.

“I think we grew stronger as the game went on, so that’s a good sign.”