When victory has been secured on an afternoon when three points are essential, most post-match analysis is redundant, certainly as far as Martin Gray is concerned.

Points in the bag, on to the next one.

His Darlington team are among a clutch of clubs jostling for position outside the play-offs, a point off fifth place and aware that from now on there can be no more mistakes.

Saturday saw a comfortable 1-0 win at struggling Stalybridge Celtic, Darlington deserving winners on a day they were hardly tested by weak opposition.

It was a more convincing victory than the scoreline suggests.

Goalkeeper Grant Shenton made a handful of saves to prevent Darlington adding to the penalty scored in the first half by Mark Beck, while Quakers wasted a few chances too.

Not to worry. The points were won and, remarkably, Darlington did not concede a goal.

For only the third time this season, and for the first game since April 2016, they kept a clean sheet away from home, albeit against a team with the worst scoring record in the division.

Crucially, there was no repeat of the surrender at Worcester a week previously, though Darlington stay seventh as Halifax and Stockport, the teams immediately above them, also won.

“We should have won comfortably with the chances we had,” said Gray, as he reflected on Saturday’s seventh away win of the season.

“I’ve lost count of how many really good chances we created, but at this stage of the season it’s all about the victory.

“It was about getting a win and the performance was good. We’ve got a clean sheet and a win, so it’s been a good day.

“The mentality was important, we had to stay focused and not give free-kicks away.”

Anything other than an away win would not only have seriously jeopardised play-off ambitions, it would have been rough justice as Darlington were on top for the bulk of the encounter, particularly the first half.

After a bright start, they took the lead on 27 minutes, David Ferguson tripped Aaron Chalmers after good work up the left involving Beck and Josh Falkingham.

With usual penalty taker Terry Galbraith again a substitute, Beck took responsibility and he tucked home his 14th goal of the season.

Gray said: “It was a great bit of play leading up to the penalty, nice and composed. There were three or four passes, then Ferguson with his pace got there before the full-back.

“It was a simple one for the referee.

“With Galbraith not being on the pitch, Becky took it and I like that – he wanted the ball and that’s the mentality you want in any player.”

Darlington should really have had the game wrapped up by half-time as they spurned several chances while playing some decent football in spells.

The sand-covered pitch did not hamper Darlington and despite its appearance the playing surface held up well. Celtic’s army of volunteers deserve credit for getting the game on – their first on home soil for nine weeks.

Phil Turnbull and Falkingham both played key roles in the centre of midfield, the latter drawing a smart save out of Shenton with a volley.

Being dropped at Worcester seemed to bring the best out of Turnbull on his return to the side, and the hardworking Nathan Cartman was also in good form, the striker only denied a goal by Shenton’s reflexes.

After a passage of play on the left, Stephen Thompson swung the ball over to the back post where Dave Syers headed it back across for Cartman, who looked certain to score until Shenton intervened.

A third terrific Shenton save came when he kept out a Beck shot after Cartman headed back across goal.

“I thought Turnbull’s performance is what he’s all about,” said Gray. “He managed the game, he used the ball, and apart from getting a goal Nathan had a good game too.

“His all-round game was good, he just needed a goal. Both of those boys did very well.”

There were penalty appeals at both ends inside 60 seconds midway through what was a largely even second half, first when James Roberts collided with Gary Brown.

Referee Gareth Rhodes played on, as he did when Matty Hughes appeared to handle a Cartman shot.

“Stalybridge didn’t really give us any problems in the second half,” added Gray.

“They had a bit of pressure towards the end, but you’d expect that because they had nothing to lose.

“They’d made three substitutions to give themselves a bit more energy up front, but we dealt with it.”

Two of Stalybridge’s subs almost denied Darlington victory in the closing stages as they rallied.

In scenes reminiscent of Worcester’s equaliser a week previously, they attacked down their left, Keano Deacon cutting inside and firing in a shot that Ed Wilczynski did well to save, and Mathias Bakare was first to the loose ball, but Brown blocked his goal-bound effort.

Relief all around for those of a Quakers persuasion.

n Gary Brown reached ten bookings on Saturday, ruling him out of Saturday’s match with Brackley and next Wednesday’s game with Bradford PA, both of which are at Blackwell Meadows.