Cummins earns draw for Quakers

IN the first leg of their Christmas double-header at home to two of their promotion rivals, Darlington had chances to win a game in which a draw was a fair result.

Visitors Rotherham United had won eight of their previous nine games and gave Quakers one of their toughest tests of the season, putting them under the cosh for several periods.

Quakers were second best before the break, but after half-time were much-improved and equalised through Micky Cummins fourth goal in three games.

By the end Dave Penneys side looked the more likely winners in front of 6,965 C the biggest league crowd of the season.

Another big gate can be expected on Saturday when Quakers host leaders MK Dons, who are now six points clear after a last-minute goal gave them victory at Notts County yesterday.

Darlington remain third, but would have been second had sub stitute Pawel Abbott not smashed the ball against the bar from close-range in the dying stages of a thrilling finish.

Penney stuck with the same team that won at Lincoln 4-0 on Saturday and said: I think we deserved a point at least. If were being greedy, if Pawels shot had been a bit lower or Gregg Blundell had been on target from the rebound we would have won.

We werent at the races in the first half but we got better as the game went on. Having said that, we opened them up twice in the first half and Gregg had two oneon- ones with the keeper.

I think they had more possession than us in the first half but we had the better chances.

We always felt that as the game went on, we would get better.

We freshened it up a bit by putting some subs on, we got the equaliser and could have nicked it at the end.

The Darlington Supporters Club had been urging fans to bring a friend on Boxing Day and most of them did so as the crowd, including a large contingent of travelling fans, was more than double the previous games attendance of 3,002.

That meant, yet again with a large crowd in attendance, kickoff was delayed by 15 minutes, but Rotherham were not slow in their start to the game by putting Quakers under pressure.

However, it was Blundell who had the first chance with just five minutes gone as he broke clear but saw the first of his one-onone scoring opportunities saved by keeper Andy Warrington.

Soon afterwards Rotherhams Derek Holmes somehow put a simple free header over the bar as he rose unchallenged.

Penneys side then enjoyed a purple patch with Blundell again escaping his marker. This time Julian Joachim played in the striker but Warrington again proved equal to his former Doncaster team-mates effort.

Two minutes later Joachim was involved again. His ball into the area was cleared by Ian Sharps for a corner, taken low and hard by Clark Keltie only for Alan White to volley narrowly wide.

Quakers spell on top was to prove all too fleeting as Rotherham began to enjoy more of the possession but their only efforts on goal were fired over by Pablo Mills and headed off target by Chris OGrady.

Both chances came following attacks up Quakers left, which is where Rotherhams goal came from after 36 minutes. Quakers were unable to clear the ball from their penalty area and OGrady turned to fire in from 18 yards.

The goal was the first Darlington had conceded in the first half of a home game this season and the visitors were only denied a second by last-ditch defending.

Lee Ridley tackled Mark Newsham in the penalty area, then in injury time Steve Foster and Ridley combined to block shots.

After ten uninspiring minutes of the second half Penney made a double change with Neil Austin replacing the below-par Ridley at left-back while Abbott went on for leading scorer Wright.

Within two minutes Rotherham almost scored again. O- Grady beat Foster in the air but his header landed on the roof of the net.

Quakers could have been a man down when Richie Foran challenged Marc Joseph on the byline with both feet. Much to Rotherhams annoyance, it brought only a yellow card.

The tackle sparked the match into life and Darlington, beginning to show signs of recovery, drew level after 68 minutes.

Blundell crossed from the right to Cummins, whose first shot was blocked but he kept his composure to stab home the rebound.

It was Darlingtons first goal at the Arena in front a crowd of over 6,000.

Having previously played in front of seven other crowds of that size, Quakers had waited since the ground opened in 2003 for that moment.

Cummins would have repeated the feat had captain Graham Coughlan not blocked another shot soon afterwards as Darlington stepped up the pace.

Keeper David Stockdale ensured it stayed level with a fingertip flying save to deny Derek Holmes, then Coughlan almost diverted a Foran cross into his own net during a frantic finish.

With time almost up a goalmouth scramble saw Abbott rattle the crossbar and Blundell fired the loose ball across goal, but a Darlington win would have been tough on Rotherham.

ö Darlington last night confirmed that chief executive Jon Sotnick has left the club with low attendances pin-pointed as a reason behind his departure.

Rumours had been circulating about Sotnicks position and the club has now released a statement confirming his departure, though Quakers say Sotnick is to work for another of chairman George Houghtons companies.

The statement read: Jon Sotnick is leaving Darlington Football Club by mutual agreement.

He had been with the club since arriving in the summer of 2006, having left Boston United where he had been chairman.

The statement continued: Despite the exceptionally good performance of the league-topping squad, gates have not yet met expectations and costs need to be controlled.

This is a responsible approach by the chairman and Jon Sotnick fully appreciates the reasons behind the decision.

During Sotnicks initial months at Darlington, David Hodgson was sacked as manager, Dave Penney was appointed as the new boss while the clubs transfer record was broken with the arrival of Julian Joachim from Sotnicks former club Boston.

In recent months Sotnick has been working on securing planning permission for a series of facilities the club plan to build at the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena.