Darlington defeated

Unlucky Darlington suffered their first defeat in six games thanks to an early goal at Shrewsbury, but the match ended in controversial circumstances.

Quakers finished with only ten men following a late red card shown to Ricky Ravenhill who was dismissed for two bookable offences, the second a particularly dubious decision.

He was shown a second yellow for attempting to wrestle the ball away from an opponent as Quakers attempted to take a quick free as they looked for an equaliser.

Referee Andy Woolmer had already upset Darlington with a string of questionable calls, failing to award a penalty for a push on Pawel Abbot being chief among them.

He also failed to spot a clear backpass, collected by Shrewsbury keeper Luke Daniels, and ignored a push on Quakers captain Steve Foster in the build-up to the only goal of the game.

All of those incidents came in a first half that Darlington dominated but failed to take any of theur numerous chances so were unable cancel out the only goal which came after just five minutes.

It was a scrappy effort, somewhat fortunately scored by Richard Walker. Steve Leslie fired in an off-target shot from the edge of the area which ricocheted off team-mate Ben Davies and the ball fell kindly for Walker to tap home from close-range.

Quakers were close to falling further behind 60 seconds later as Davies beat Neil Austin to right-wing high ball which Gerken fumbled the effort and caught at the second attempt.

Darlington responded well and soon created two good openings. First, keeper Luke Daniels parried a Danny Carlton effort and Pawel Abbott appeared to be fouled as he attempted to prod home the loose ball.

No penalty was given, and then Alan White saw a shot at the near post saved by Daniels after a right-wing free-kick delivered by Rob Purdie.

Carlton was in the starting line-up as Liam Hatch had failed to recover from a hamstring strain sustained in last week's 5-1 win over Luton.

Quakers' positive spell continued as they played some neat passing in the opposition's half and one such move presented Purdie with a shooting chance that was deflected over.

Then Abbott snatched at an opportunity, shooting low straight at Daniels from the edge of the area.

Graham Coughlan headed over after meeting a Davies corner, but that proved only a temporary respite for the Shrewsbury defence who were soon under more Darlington pressure.

A Jason Kennedy dribble through the middle ended with Abbott shooting at goal but his effort was blocked by a defender's lunge, and then Purdie saw his follow-up effort deflected off target.

Ten minutes before the break yet another chance came Abbott's way, this time the York-born striker pulled a left-footed strike narrowly wide of the target.

Such was Darlington's misfortune, before the break Abbott had three more chances with two shots being blocked by team-mates – Franz Burgmeier and Carlton – and then the ball rolled under his foot when in a great shooting position.

Abbott had been involved in all of Darlington's best build-up play, the striker proving elusive to the Shrews who only had Quakers' profligacy to thank and some fortune of their own for the 1-0 lead at half-time.

At the beginning of the second half neither keeper was troubled with Darlington initially unable to recapture their form of the first half when they could not have done much more in their attempts to equalise.

Darlington may have been wondering if they would be left to rue not taking those chances, but the Shrews showed little attacking intent after the break and again scoring opportunities came Quakers' way.

Carlton saw a shot blocked and both Ravenhill and Abbott failed to hit the target from outside the area, then Abbott tried a spectacular volley from 30 yards.

He collected a Carlton knock-down and aimed a high, dipping effort at goal that was turned over the bar by Daniels and from Burgmeier's resulting corner Carlton was denied by another Daniels save.

Soon both Abbott and Carlton were off the field as manager Dave Penney replaced Darlington's tiring front pair with Gregg Blundell and Curtis Main.

But it was a Shrewsbury sub, Marc Pugh, who instigated the next attack. He dribbled the length of the pitch, shrugging off tame challenges as he went, and into Quakers' penalty area where he went to ground following a Steve Foster challenge.

However, Woolmer awarded neither a penalty against Foster, or a yellow for Pugh going to ground so easily.

Woolmer's most significant involvement was to come seconds later.

Having booked Ravenhill in the first half for a foul, Woolmer then saw fit to book the Darlington midfielder for a second time as he attempted to retrieve the ball from Leslie.

Leslie, Penney said after the game, could have been booked for time-wasting, but it was Ravenhill who was punished and Quakers were outraged by the decision and so followed a bout of pushing and shoving involving almost every player on the pitch.

Quakers keeper Dean Gerken was the only absentee as the players came together in the middle of the pitch after which Foster and Leslie were both booked.

After being reduced to ten men for the last six minutes and the five minutes of injury time, Darlington did not look like scoring an equaliser, despite the est efforts of Blundell and Main.

Abbott and Carlton had linked up well but were subbed with Tuesday's game at home to Rotherham in mind. However, Ravenhill will miss out against the Miller due to his suspension.

On Tuesday Quakers will be aiming for a swift return to the top seven having fallen five places to eighth today.

Goal: Walker (5mins, 1-0)

Bookings: Ravenhill (15mins, foul); Leslie (85, unsporting behaviour); Foster (85, unsporting behaviour)

Sending-off: Ravenhill (84mins, two bookable offences)

Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire)

Attendance: 5,140

Shrewsbury Town (4-5-1): Daniels; Moss, Langmead, Coughlan, Cansdell-Sherriff; Humphrey, Ashton, Murray (Pugh 80), Leslie, Davies (Chadwick 46); Walker (Hibbert 70). Subs (not used): Jackson, Hindmarch

Darlington (4-4-2): Gerken; Austin, White, Foster, Ryan; Burgmeier, Ravenhill, Kennedy, Purdie; Carlton (Main 80), Abbott (Blundell 78). Subs (not used): Kazimierczak, Valentine, Hulbert

*Billy Clarke scored a hat-trick in his first game for Northampton Town this afternoon.

The striker recently finished a six-month loan with Darlington and returned to Ipswich, but has since joined Northampton who beat Crewe 5-1 today.