YOU score one, then we’ll score. You score another, then we’ll score again.

It’s been the nature of Darlington’s season, a goal glut with clean sheets a rarity at either end of the pitch, and Saturday provided a neat summary.

Three times they conceded avoidable goals at Stockport County, three times they fought back to earn a point and stay fourth in the table.

Facing a promotion rival in good form and backed by a large crowd, Darlington showed enormous spirit to keep battling back in what was a thrilling contest.

The Kevan Keegan-patented approach has seen Darlington combine the knack of conceding goals with the ability to score plenty themselves.

Only one team in the National League North division has found the net with greater frequency, yet their tally of 40 conceded in 26 league games is worse than most inside the top ten.

Their defence has been breached 15 times in their past eight league matches alone, three times at Edgeley Park, a venue Darlington visited in the Football League in years gone by and with 3,649 in attendance – more than four of Saturday’s League Two fixtures – there was a greater sense of occasion.

The number included close to 500 fans from the North-East, imbued by last week’s much-needed win and clean sheet against Gloucester City.

“It’s quite easy to fall to pieces when you keep falling behind, but we had great hunger and that’s what we’re about and it kept us in the game,” said manager Martin Gray.

“Stockport are a good team, so to come here and not get beat was the most important thing.

“We’re a promoted team and Stockport are well-established at this level. That’s a strong Stockport team and they have got better as the season has gone on, you could see why they’re in a good run of form.

“The attitude we’ve bred into the players since day one came through in abundance.”

What’s not been bred into the players, however, is being outjumped by the smallest player on the pitch.

Stockport’s Danny Lloyd rose above the otherwise excellent Chris Hunter to head home Stockport’s first on 23 minutes, meeting a right-wing cross by Elliott Osborne for the first of the fixture’s four first-half goals.

It was the former Fylde attacker’s 12th league goal of the season, and he was inches away from his 13th, a free-kick hitting the inside of the post.

Darlington soon levelled with a free-kick of their own, though Josh Gillies’ was unintentional. After Mark Beck was fouled by Michael Clarke, Gillies’ bouncing free-kick bypassed a clutch of bodies and went straight into the net.

Now played end-to-end, like the final five minutes of an evenly-balanced cup tie, Stockport had the upperhand and went ahead again.

It was from a corner taken by Lloyd, but Peter Jameson will not enjoy watching it back.

Curled into the near post, it should have been a simple catch but the keeper dropped the ball into the net to give the hosts a 2-1 lead on 37 minutes.

It is not the first time unwanted attention has been on Jameson, but he recovered and went on to make a couple of excellent stops, including a vital block when one-on-one, and within a minute Stephen Thompson scored his 70th goal for Darlington to make it 2-2.

Jameson released the ball quickly, Hunter’s long ball was headed by Beck for Thompson to finish clinically just before the break, during which Gray replaced the attack-minded Gillies with Josh Falkingham.

“I did think about making it in the first half, but it’s a bit unfair to take someone off before half-time,” said Gray.

“I told Josh that it wasn’t about his performance, it was about making sure we got something out of the game.

“It allowed us to get back into the game, we didn’t allow Stockport to play as much through midfield.

“They had an extra body in midfield in the first half, our extra body was wide but we didn’t get the ball wide enough in the first 45.”

The tactical tweak succeeded in stifling a rampant Stockport midfield, resulting in a tamer second half featuring fewer goalmouth incidents until a late flurry and two more goals.

Stockport went ahead for a third time, making it 3-2 on 76 minutes, with substitute Jimmy Ball making an immediate impact when he blasted home at close-range after Quakers had not cleared a corner.

Jameson then blocked another shot by Ball, before opposite number, Ben Hinchliffe, pulled off a superb save when he stopped Beck’s effort.

Undeterred, Darlington maintained their composure, finally getting their third leveller with four minutes to go when rewarded for patient build-up play, Falkingham and Phil Turnbull working the opening that led to Galbraith crossing for Beck to head in.

Involved in the earlier two goals, scoring the third took Beck’s tally to 12 for the campaign.

Gray said: “It would’ve been easy to sling the ball into the box to try and get something, but we didn’t and it was the best goal of the game.

“We worked on that in training on Tuesday, on moving the ball quickly and making the right decisions.

“Some of the play towards the end of the game, it looked like we were going to get a winner.”