Darlington 1 Cheltenham Town 1

RARELY can a goal have been greeted with such relief at The Northern Echo Arena.

When Darlington’s Kevin Gall tucked the ball past Cheltenham Town keeper Scott Brown almost all his teammates raced to congratulate the scorer.

Although there were again fewer than 2,000 inside the stadium it sounded like more as Quakers were finally able to celebrate a goal, a goal that gave Darlington a deserved 1-1 draw.

It might not have been a last-minute winner, or a winner of any sort, merely an equaliser with 19 minutes to play, but the sense of relief was palpable.

It has been a miserable time of late so when Justin Richards gave Cheltenham the lead midway through the first half a familiar story appeared about to be retold.

But Gall’s goal ended a losing run that had seen Darlington defeated in each of their first four league matches, plus the Carling Cup game with Leeds United.

Had they suffered a fifth league defeat the team would have earned themselves a place in the history books for completing club’s worst start to a season.

Darlington’s first goal on home soil in four games was also Gall’s first league strike since August 2007, which came for Carlisle United, whereas Quakers had been unable to score since the first day of the season at Aldershot three weeks ago.

But Gall’s effort put a smile back on Darlington faces, including that of manager Colin Todd, who said: “We’re all relieved to get a point on the board. We’re now not the only club without a point.

“There was more go about us, more purpose but we still need more quality in terms of passing.

“Until we scored I thought we passed it pretty well at times but we did became frustrated with ourselves once we conceded.

“It’s brilliant for the boys to get off the mark.

“It’s a confidence boost. We could’ve had a lot more confidence had those two (missed) penalties been scored, or had we not conceded the late goal against Crewe.

“None of that has helped.

Life could have been much easier for us, but it’s all history now.”

The latest of the two penalties was last week at Port Vale, when Quakers were poor, and before the break on Saturday there was only marginal improvement while the visitors wasted plenty of scoring chances.

David Hutton and Marley Watkins both fired over from good positions and Quakers keeper David Knight saved a tame effort from a free-kick from Hutton before an unmarked Richards tapped into an empty net on 32 minutes.

He was allowed to score after Watkins took the ball past Ian Miller and sent the ball across goal to Richards.

Soon afterwards the striker, again unmarked, should have had a second but he headed over from close-range.

Early in the second half Josh Low pounced on a misplaced Jordan Cook pass and raced at goal, but a weak shot was easily stopped by Knight and from there on, Quakers upped the tempo.

Gall, in for the dropped Lee Thorpe, added much-needed pace to the attack, the impressive Jamie Chandler was again effective in midfield while wingers Jordan Cook and Nathan Porritt both regularly raided down the flanks.

Porritt was frequently involved as Darlington went in search of a goal which finally came on 71 minutes.

Matt Plummer, on at the break in place of right-back Rikki Bains, provided a cross that was missed by Cheltenham’s Drissa Diallo and fell to Gall, who calmly stroked home from near the penalty spot.

Only Knight and captain Steve Foster, recalled ahead of Plummer, opted out of the instinctive desire to thank the scorer in a moment of pure joy.

The supporters may have been low in number but they were high in volume and Todd said: “Even when we were a goal down they could see players were trying to take responsibility and trying to do the right things so they got behind us.

“I told the players afterwards that the supporters had been brilliant.”

Darlington suddenly had belief and with the crowd behind them they pushed forward.

They could even have snatched a win had David Dowson not fluffed an attempted back-heel from a Cook cross.

But supporters still gave the team generous applause as they left the field after a game in which Darlington finally scored, recorded a longawaited point and avoided entering the history books.

They may remain bottom of the table, but the performance provided optimism.

Matchfacts

Goals: 0-1: Richards (32, tapped home following Watkins’ run down the right) 1-1: Gall (71, swept in from near penalty spot following Plummer’s right-wing cross)
Bookings: Gall (28, foul), Windass (60, dissent), Haynes (90, foul)
Referee: Kevin Wright (Cambridge) – very lenient towards Diallo, who drew blood when he elbowed Windass 6
Attendance: 1,840
Entertainment: ✰✰✰

DARLINGTON (4-4-2):

7 Knight: Safe handling and not a hint of an error this week
5 Bains: One mistake in the first half almost led to a Cheltenham goal. Subbed at the break
6 Miller: Watkins took the ball past him en route to Cheltenham’s goal
6 Foster: Recalled at the expense of Plummer and appeared comfortable
5 Bower: Steady defending but lack of pace sometimes exposed
7 Cook: Showed a willingness to run at the defence, though one error almost gifted a goal away
4 G Smith: Hauled off at half-time following a disappointing 45 minutes
7 Chandler: Another tigerish display from the committed youngster
7 Porritt: A vast improvement on the previous week’s performance at Port Vale
6 Windass: Took a battering from Diallo but came close to scoring with a free-kick
7 GALL: The striker’s pace offered a different dimension to Thorpe and deserved his goal
Subs: Plummer (for Bains, 45): Provided the cross for Gall’s equalising goal 6 Bennett (for G Smith, 45): Teamed up well with Chandler in midfield, providing some crunching tackles 6 Dowson (for Windass, 70): proved his worth as an impact player with willing running 6 (not used): Liversedge (gk), J Smith, Thorpe, Convery

CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Brown 6, Bird 6, Townsend 7, Diallo 6, Ridley 6, WATKINS 7 (Alsop 78), Gallinagh 7, Hutton 6 (Low 41). Hayles 5 (Haynes 85 6), Richards 7. Subs (not used): Richardson (gk), Denton, Tabor, Durrant

MAN OF THE MATCH
KEVIN Gall – calm finish put a smile on everyone’s face