NEW signing Neil Wainwright was the star attraction on Saturday, but with 65 minutes gone and Darlington heading for a goalless draw, it was his replacement, Richard Hodgson, who stole the limelight.

With his first touch he delivered a deep cross into Harriers' six-yard box where Parfait Medou-Otye, later to be dismissed, barged over Barry Conlon, and Mark Ford converted.

The game needed the goal because until Gary Bennett's tactical switch - he also replaced midfielder Brian Atkinson with right-winger Mark Convery at the same time - Quakers had looked to be running out of ideas having started the game impressively.

The opening stages saw Neil Maddison at the hub of every Darlington move, collecting the ball from deep in his own half and feeding it to the more attack-minded players, Wainwright and Danny Mellanby inparticular.

But the impetus faded away, aided by Sam Shilton's very late challenge on Wainwright who had looked, potentially, Darlington's key weapon until the ex-Hartlepool wing-back was successful in numbing Darlington's most potent attacker.

As a result, Wainwright will now miss tonight's League Cup match at home to Sheffield United.

Assistant manager Mick Tait was relieved to get Quakers' first league win of the season in the bag, especially with tricky matches with Hartlepool and Bristol Rovers to come in the next week.

"We needed the three points after last week. We played really well down at Southend but didn't get anything out of the game so it was vitally important that we took the three points today."

Bennett made a tactical change by dropping Hodgson and Convery - who played alongside Conlon in a 4-3-3 formation last week - to the bench, bringing in Wainwright and Mellanby to play in a 4-4-2.

Mellanby explained: "I think the gaffer wanted Barry to get more help up front, someone to get his flick-ons and play alongside around him."

And the tactic seemed to work as Conlon won plenty of headers with the likes of Mellanby, Convery, Hodgson and Wainwright all being on hand to pick up the play.

"He murdered them today because they aren't the biggest team in the world," said Tait. "But Barry is starting to snatch at his chances a bit."

The opener signalled a frantic five minutes which saw Hodgson cross from the left in the 72nd minute to set-up a dream goal for Mellanby who is quickly writing his own Roy of the Rovers story.

The 22-year-old was a regular at Feethams until he began playing for West Auckland and then Bishop Auckland. Saturday's game was his first start for the club.

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