Darlington 1, Lincoln City 1.

DAVE Penney may be finally resigned to League Two football for another year, but the Darlington manager has warned his players there is still plenty to play for this season.

Penney's men can forget about any outside chance of promotion after yesterday's 1-1 draw with Lincoln City at the 96.6TFM Darlington Arena.

With 12 points still to play for and Quakers four points adrift of a top seven place, mathematically the play-offs are still attainable.

But after extending their run to four games without a win yesterday, and dropping to 12th place in the process, there is little to suggest Quakers will collect even four more points between now and the end of the season, let alone catch their rivals.

Penney has been far from oblivious to Darlington's problems, having made wholesale changes to the squad since his arrival in October.

And the Quakers boss will use the remaining games to determine which players are good enough to make a renewed assault on League Two next season.

"I said to the players today that we needed a win to have a chance of getting in the play-offs," said Penney.

"It's going to be a long old haul if we are even going to get there now.

"There are players who are out of contract at the end of the season so they still have a lot to play for.

"We let six or seven go during the January window and there are still players here who need to prove they are good enough to be here next season.

"They shouldn't really need that as a motivation. They should want to play and win every game they play in.

"There are 15 or 16 contracts up at the end of the season and they will be told then."

With another year to run on his Quakers contract, club record signing Julian Joachim will be at Darlington next season, despite disappointing for most of his time at the club.

But it was through Joachim that Quakers led in the 39th minute yesterday with his 13th goal of the season.

With just 14 minutes remaining, Imps defender Lee Beevers all but consigned Quakers to another season in the Football League basement.

For all that was at stake, there was little to suggest, in the first half at least, that either side had designs on promotion.

The fact that a mediocre side like Lincoln are fifth in League Two speaks volumes for the standard of the division.

Disconcertingly, Darlington still fall short of the likes of Lincoln and, after results elsewhere yesterday, Penney's men now sit mid-table in League Two.

Darlington produced their best display of the season against Lincoln in the corresponding fixture back in November. Only four of the players who started in the 3-1 win at Sincil Bank in November were in the starting line-up yesterday.

With Penney deciding to rest the out-of-sorts Martin Smith, Rory Prendergast was handed his full debut. And it was the on-loan winger who was Darlington's brightest player in the opening exchanges.

The inclusion of Prendergast heralded yet more changes to Penney's starting XI, which has also been disrupted by the departure of central defenders Ian Miller and David Wheater.

Indeed, if Quakers do fail to make the top seven then the loss of the pair can be used as a mitigating factor.

Patrick Collins and Mark Phillips are Darlington's latest defensive pairing and it was the latter who was beaten to the ball in the 17th minute when Mark Stallard powered his header over the bar.

After rescuing a point at former club Chester on Good Friday, Gregg Blundell should have given Quakers a 25th-minute lead. Neil Wainwright's deep cross from the left was half cleared and Blundell, unmarked at the back post, could only fire low at Alan Marriott as the Imps goalkeeper saved with his legs.

In the short time he has been at the club, Phillips has shown that he can become a more than able replacement for Wheater.

However, the on-loan Millwall man was caught out when Danny N'Guessan got the better of him, but Darlington were thankful there was no Lincoln player to meet his pull back in the box.

But it was the home side who created the better opportunities in the first half as Joachim pulled his effort wide from Blundell's pass.

Shortly afterwards Joachim returned the favour to cross for Blundell, whose reaction header was directed over the bar.

The next time the pair linked up, however, proved successful.

In the 39th minute Blundell whipped over a teasing cross and Joachim nipped in front of his marker to head past Marriott from six yards.

Phillips might have doubled Darlington's lead but sent a weak header straight at Marriott from Prendergast's cross.

Seconds later Neil Wainwright fired over from ten yards after meeting Prendergast's pass.

Evan Horwood almost saw his 30-yard free-kick creep in as Marriott scrambled across his line to tip wide.

It wasn't until the 55th minute that Quakers goalkeeper Sam Russell was finally called upon as he produced a reaction save to deny Ryan Amoo's powerful drive.

But with Quakers just 14 minutes from a valuable three points Beevers redressed the balance, heading home Jeff Hughes' corner after Horwood had needlessly conceded the set-piece.

It got worse for Quakers when, just 11 minutes after his introduction, Smith departed with concussion.

Lincoln could easily have nicked it when goalscorer Beevers saw his header rebound off the post, before Ravenhill appeared to use his hand in keeping out Junior Mendes' effort.

* Darlington are exploring the possibility taking part in a pre-season tour of southern China.