A DESIRE to remain competitive until the final whistle, and sometimes snatching points at the death, has been a hallmark of Darlington’s approach since 2012, and it returned on Saturday at Leamington.

The characteristic has been somewhat lacking this season, however, with Darlington enduring a testing campaign, but Stephen Thompson grabbed an injury-time winner on Saturday to complete his hat-trick and a 3-2 win.

“We did what we’ve been doing for the past six years and that’s keep on going and we got there in the end,” said the forward.

“A good core of us have been here for the last few years and anybody that comes in has to buy into that mentality – keep going.

“It has to be the same for the rest of the season, just keep going and keep picking up points.

“This has been a different season from all the other ones. We’ve had a lot of success and now we’re at the other end of the table, but it still matters the same to everybody. We’ve got to keep winning, keep getting points.”

Saturday’s treble was Thompson’s fourth in Quakers colours, and his first for four years having also netted three against Sunderland RCA (7-2, March 2013), Burscough (7-0, December 2013) and Wakefield (5-1, March 2014).

“That’s another one for the collection,” he added. “That’s four now. It’s been a good day for me and a good day for everybody.”

He got off the mark on Saturday with a penalty having reclaimed spot-kick duties in light of Reece Styche’s miss against Salford City.

Thompson explained: “Terry Galbraith used to take them, then he missed a couple, so he said I could have them and I scored at Boston.

“Then Stychey came in and I let him have one so that he could get off the mark, and he kept them until he did his dink against Salford, so there was only me who was going to be taking them after that.”

Asked if he would consider an audacious effort such as the one that backfired for Styche against Salford, Thompson added: “I wouldn’t dare! I couldn’t do it now anyway after the way I went on at Stychey on the pitch.

“It was just frustration, because Salford scored straight away, but I texted him that night to say don’t worry about it, but at the time I was frustrated because I want to win, we all do.