IMMEDIATELY after savouring what he hopes will prove the first of many moments of glory, Mark Sheeran soon swapped his forward position in favour of being a sweeper.

But the 19-year-old super-sub hadn't decided to partner Craig Liddle in the back four.

Instead, his achievements on the pitch - when he scored a dramatic late double to secure a win over Luton - didn't earn him a reprieve from the chores required of him as one of the club's apprentices and he spent some time sweeping up the home dressing room.

It may have been the swift ego -bashing many a young player requires once they've starred on the big stage for the first time.

But Sheeran, rejected by Hartlepool before signing a three-year scholarship at Feethams aged 16, admitted he'd have been satisfied with simply getting on the pitch.

He said: "I didn't think I was even going to make the bench so I had to make a late phone call to my mam and dad so they were in the crowd.

"After I scored one of the goals I couldn't believe it. I just looked at Hodgy and started laughing and I was thinking, 'what's going on here?' "To get on the pitch is a bonus because I haven't been playing much. So to score two goals to win the game is great.

"The manager told me to go on and try to nick a goal and then I went and scored."

Had the linesman been a touch more lenient, Darlington would have had their first hat-trick hero since Glenn Naylor bagged three in the FA Cup against Sudbury in November 2000, but the officials deemed Sheeran's impressive diving header to be offside.

"I didn't know I was offside," he said. "I was away celebrating until I saw the linesman had his flag up. I'm still not sure if it was offside.

"I gambled on the first goal because there was the chance Hodgy was going to miss. I followed it up and was glad to see it hit the back of the net.

"For the third, out of the corner of my mind I saw the keeper coming off his line so I flicked it off the top of my head over the top of him.

"But I think I'll be back on the bench on Tuesday so I'll just have to come on and score."

At the final whistle the fans in the Tin Shed could have been mistaken for singing "Shearer" and that acted as a reminder of what Quakers missed out on over the weekend.

But it also confirmed Darlington had new hero to praise.

Despite unearthing Sheeran, Tommy Taylor is hoping to make some progress in his long-running striker hunt this week as he attempts to bring in Sunderland's Michael Proctor.

Chairman George Reynolds, who wasn't present on Saturday, is understood to have given Taylor the green light to open transfer talks with the Black Cats.

Tonight the Aycliffe branch of the Darlington Supporters Club hold a meeting at the Iron Horse where Tommy Taylor and Luke Raine will be in attendance.

Plymouth continued their seemingly inevitable march towards promotion with a 4-2 win over Oxford which extended their lead at the top of Division Three to nine points.

The victory at Home Park made it just two defeats from 25 League games for Paul Sturrock's men although they were made to work hard for the three points.

Argyle looked in complete control after Graham Coughlan (21) and Lee Hodges (24) put them 2-0 up, but David Morley (34) and Paul Powell (41) hit back to pull Oxford level.

Ian Stonebridge netted a superb free-kick on the stroke of half-time to ensure the hosts went into the interval 3-2 ahead.

And it was the young striker who picked up where he left off just 22 seconds after the re-start with his seventh of the season to secure the points.

John Hollins got the better of the side which sacked him in September as Rochdale maintained their promotion bid with a 2-0 win over crisis-club Swansea at Spotland.

Ex-Darlington man Michael Oliver (40) put the home side into the lead and luckless Neil Sharp then put through his own net on the stroke of half time.

Hull got the better of fellow play-off contenders Shrewsbury with a 3-0 win at Boothferry Park, all the goals coming before the break.

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