ALUN ARMSTRONG praised his Darlington players for their second half reaction after they came from behind to claim a 3-2 win over Boston at Blackwell Meadows.

There were plenty of talking points in the game, including a hotly-disputed penalty for Boston, two more valid penalty appeals for Darlington, a red card, three goals in 14 minutes for Quakers and a late fightback.

After a half-time reboot, Quakers showed their goalscoring potential with a three-goal blast in the second half, but then took their foot off the pedal and nearly paid the penalty.

“We had a good chat at half-time,” said Armstrong. “We tweaked the formation and got Jack Lambert in between the lines. It caused chaos. For the first time in a long time, we got our rewards for shooting. But then we dropped deep and let them get back in the game with a second goal, and we were hanging on, which was baffling.

“I was disappointed we conceded a second goal, but overall, three points are the most important thing. We have to give credit to our lads. They took everything they were told at half-time on board, and took that on to the field.”

For the third time this season, Quakers found themselves up against ten men.

“It was a mixed game,” added Armstrong. “We started off a bit slow, then for some unknown reason the referee gave a penalty, he said that Jassem (Sukar) pulled their lad. But if he gives that one, he’s got to give two on Mark Beck.

“Their kid’s sending off looked daft, he went in two-footed. It’s a sending off in today’s game, I don’t know what he was thinking of, but he gave us a lift.”

Quakers started the game confidently, and nearly took the lead twice, firstly, with a shot by Lambert that went just over the bar, and then Jacob Hazel forced Boston keeper Sam Long into a full-length save.

Bottom-of-the-table Boston, without a win in six games, went close themselves with a header by Scott Pollock that was cleared off the line, and Quakers had a goal disallowed when Lambert found Hazel in the box, but after the striker put the ball in the net, he was penalised for handball when the ball had bounced up and hit him.

Boston took the lead from a hotly-disputed penalty on 20 minutes. Referee Richard Holmes ruled that Byron Harrison was pulled back by Sukar – although there didn’t appear to be much contact, if any – and Pollock sent Tommy Taylor the wrong way from the spot.

Darlington had a clearer penalty appeal turned down a few minutes later when Beck’s shirt was pulled as he went for a corner, but Holmes didn’t want to know.

Just as Gloucester did on the first day of the season at Blackwell, Boston had a man sent off. Lambert picked the ball up inside the Boston half, started running towards goal, and was taken out by a two-footed lunge by Lebrun Mbeka.

Quakers capitalised when Beck found enough space to power a header into the top corner from Adriano Moke’s cross for his fourth goal of the season.

Lambert nearly made it 2-1 with a powerful low shot that Long fumbled and Hazel was flagged offside as he headed wide. But that was just a practice run for the summer signing, when Long again palmed out Lambert’s low shot, and he was there to head his second goal of the season.

Quakers thought they’d sewn up the points on 64 minutes when Lambert cut in from the left, switched the ball to his right foot, and hit a shot that was going wide until defender Jake Lawlor turned the ball in.

Darlington relaxed, however, and Boston made it 3-2 with two minutes left as Pollock controlled a cross and poked home but Armstrong's men held out.