A thrilling afternoon saw Darlington fight back from a half-time deficit to defeat play-off rivals Merthyr Town with each of their three strikers on target.
Jack Maskell, Aidan Rutledge and Cedric Main were all on target at Blackwell Meadows in the second half with Quakers recovering from trailing 1-0 at the break.
In what was a thoroughly entertaining affair, Darlington were relentless in their pursuit of an equaliser and once it came there looked like being only one winner.
Darlington, who made five changes from the midweek 1-1 draw with Worksop, made a bright start by winning a handful of corners and forcing three shots on goals in the opening stages.
Tom Tweedy hit the side-netting inside the first 30 seconds, Nathan Stanton brought a save out of Jamie Cogman and Maskell hooked a shot wide.
But the visitors came closest to opening the scoring. They were denied what looked like a certain a goal when Kallum Griffiths executed a highly impressive slide-tackle inside Quakers’ penalty area, the defender dispossessed key player Lee Twamley after the Merthyr man had rounded debutant keeper Rory Watson.
For all of Darlington’s possession, they were kept at arm’s length by Merthyr, who went 1-0 up after half an hour with Cawley Cox scoring. Lee Lucas provided the crucial pass forward, Cox beating the offside trap and rolling the ball underneath the outrushing Watson.
The second half saw Darlington continue to press and edge closer to a goal.
Cogman made his second fine save when he tipped away Main’s header following a Tweedy cross, but Darlington got the equaliser they had threatened after a free-kick on 67 minutes.
It was flicked on to the centre of the goal where Maskell, making his first start since early December due to injury, poked under the goalkeeper for his ninth goal of the season.
Quakers were now firmly on top, and Cogman’s next superb stop saw him tip a Main blast onto the bar, leaving the Darlington striker stunned that he had not scored.
Merthyr’s Lucas hit the post in a rare attack, but the under-strength visitors tired and Quakers continued to attack, going 2-1 ahead on 87 minutes.
Stanton played the perfect pass into the penalty area for substitute Rutledge, who arrowed a low shot into the net.
On the day Darlington marked the death of club stalwart Gordon Ellis - a steward for many years and a familiar face for decades at Quakers matches - with a minute’s applause before kick-off, it was perhaps apt that Ellis Stanton played such a key role in the win. Watson later said he was probably Darlington’s best player today.
The gloss was put on the performance in added time, when Quakers took advantage of Merthyr goalkeeper Jamie Cogman going AWOL. He had hoped to emulate the midweek heroics of Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, who scored a crucial Champions League after going forward for a free-kick.
Cogman had no such luck, however, as Darlington broke quickly, on halfway Main dispossessed team-mate Allan – who didn’t look best pleased – leaving Darlington striker to make it 3-1 with his 11th goal of the season.
While Darlington had made five substitutions, Merthyr manager Paul Michael did not make a single change from the bench and later pointed out his squad needs strengthening. He had youngsters among his subs and said two senior players - Alex John and Kieran Evans - were not fit after picking knocks up in midweek.
It was a deserved win for Darlington, who next week going to Southport looking for their first win there since 1970. Having overcome their Chorley hoodoo – where they had no won since 1989 – they will have no fear.
Referee: Darren Rogers
Attendance: 1,500
Darlington (3-5-2): Watson; Griffiths (Hedley 78), Lees, Forbes (Barrow 59); Howells (Allan 66), Platt, McLaughlin, Stanton, Tweedy (Scott 88); Maskell (Rutledge 75), Main. Subs not used: McGrath, Barton
Merthyr Town (4-4-1-2): Cogman; Handley, Ryan-Phillips, M Harris, Smerdon; Evans, Lucas, Jarvis; Twamley; Xavier-Jones, Cox. Subs not used: A Harris, John, Evans, Bourne, Williams, Caswell
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