Mansfield Town 0 Darlington 1

Perhaps it is a measure of Darlington's standards this season that they can win away from home and still not be entirely satisfied.

At a club where they had not won any of their previous seven meetings, Quakers ground out a third win eight days without matching the performances of any of their previous seven away wins this season.

Their seventh victory on opposition territory came on an energy-sapping pitch at Morecambe last Tuesday and it showed on Saturday as a jaded Quakers struggled to finish off Mansfield Town who had their chances to snatch a point.

Perhaps it showed in Morecambe's result too as they lost 2-0 at Shrewsbury Town, but it is a testament to this Quakers team and Dave Penney that Darlington did not suffer such a scoreline.

Penney's three second half substitutions - including the arrival of new signing Ryan Valentine - injected some energy into a laboured performance that earned an eighth away win.

That is the most since 1999/2000, when Darlington last won at Mansfield. Quakers have three more points than they had at this stage eight years ago when they went on to finish in the play-offs.

But if Darlington continue to produce results when they are not at their best and Penney can carry on making key tactical changes then there is no reason why Quakers can not better the fourth position of 99/00.

Currently third, though they could drop to fourth if Hereford pick up a point against Chesterfield tonight, in the weeks to come Quakers have a great opportunity to move even higher as the fixtures appear to be in Darlington's favour.

Starting with back-to-back home games versus Macclesfield and Accrington, only one of their next 12 games is against opposition currently in the top ten.

In Darlington's favour at Field Mill was fortune. Though not a lucky win, the first half penalty, scored by Richie Foran, was of the variety rarely awarded.

With the ball in flight following Paul Mayo's corner, referee Mike Jones noticed Dan Martin push Ian Miller and he pointed to the spot, sparking a moment of stunned silence while fans and players digested his decision.

Mansfield boss Billy Dearden was less than pleased, he said: "Everyone was stunned when he gave the penalty as the ball was nowhere near.

"I will have to have a look at the video but I think the lad had conned the referee whether he had a hand on him or not."

From the moment Foran slotted home his third goal in eight matches Mansfield must have feared the worst as only once this season had they recovered after going 1-0 down.

However, with Darlington failing to find their rhythm and Stags players perhaps with an eye on securing their place for Saturday's televised FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough, the outcome was never certain.

Before the penalty Quakers' best chance saw Mansfield keeper Carl Muggleton tip over Micky Cummins' 16-yard shot following a quick passing move between Neil Austin and Julian Joachim.

Mayo took all six of Darlington's first half corners and his final effort resulted in Martin's push on Miller, giving Foran the chance to score from the spot.

Quakers' biggest scare of the first half saw captain Steve Foster make an uncharacteristic and dramatic error.

Running back to his own goal and under pressure from Michael Boulding, with a bizarre back pass, Foster almost managed to lob David Stockdale who reached out to concede an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area.

Darlington breathed a collective sigh of relief when Foster redeemed himself by blocking Martin's resulting shot.

In the second half Rob Purdie replaced Micky Cummins and Keltie brought some much-needed drive from midfield as Darlington became more of a force with impetus of fresh legs.

With Wright and Ricky Ravenhill subbed, Penney put Foran up front, Purdie left-midfield and created a new partnership in midfield of Keltie and Valentine who has been playing in that position for Wrexham.

"Kelts was brave and got hold of the ball instead of us just kicking it upfield like we did for a good hour," said Penney.

"When you're tired the easy ball is to just kick it away as quick as you can. So the freshness of the three subs coming on made sure we kept the ball better.

"On the bench it was the hardest game we've had a for a long time. We had to look to see where we could freshen it up and how we could change things to get us going.

"If we hadn't had a strong bench and been able to change things we might have lost. With the addition of Ryan we had a strong bench and could change a few things around."

The changes were enough to put Darlington in the driving seat for a period, though Mansfield had a spell of pressure in the closing stages but Stockdale was not forced into any saves.

The closest they came to scoring was John McAliskey's shot which skimmed the top of the bar and then Boulding headed over from six yards.