David Burton has sent us his match report of Saturday's game.

Darlington maintained their position at the summit of the table after a nervy 2-1 win over Mickleover Sports at Heritage Park.

The victory sees Quakers extend their unbeaten run to five games, but it was far from plain-sailing against a side who had been routed 5-1 in the same fixture only a fortnight ago.

Quakers looked to be on course for a repeat performance of that resounding victory after they went 2-0 up after 16 minutes with well-taken goals from Nathan Cartman and Adam Mitchell.

Cartman capitalised on Mickleover’s inability to deal with a long ball, drawing the goalkeeper into no-mans-land with a tantalising lob which glanced off the post on its way in.

The home side doubled their advantage five minutes later when Mitchell picked up the ball 25 yards from goal and hit a fizzing drive low to the keeper’s right.

Darlington could have effectively put the match to bed before the 20 minute mark as Cartman engineered a carbon copy of his first goal, the ball this time however landing agonisingly wide of the far post.

Quakers were punished for this missed opportunity five minutes later as some poor defending of their own allowed the Mickleover number nine, Simeon Oshoboke, to produce a teasing lob over Peter Jameson to halve the deficit at 2-1.

This proved to be the last moment of any significance in the first half as Darlington’s early momentum was killed stone dead in blustery conditions at Heritage Park.

Little changed early in the second period as Mickleover started the brighter, but Quakers started to find their confidence as Lee Gaskell narrowly missed an acrobatic volley from just outside the six-yard box and a Nathan Cartman header forced a good save as four consecutive corners ramped up the pressure on the visitors.

Martin Gray brought on Graeme Armstrong and Tom Portas to alter a side which was unchanged from its 4-0 victory over Workington in midweek, but it was Mickleover who looked the most threatening for the majority of the final 20 minutes.

Darlington rode their luck in the closing periods after surviving a goalmouth scramble and Oshoboke should have done better after scuffing a shot into the relieved arms of Jameson in front of goal.

Mickleover nearly reaped their just rewards in the dying minutes after a dangerous cross could have fell to anyone but Jameson gratefully smothered the ball after it ricocheted off Callaghan’s legs.

In the end, Darlington completed an important double over Mickleover, although it was a much sterner test the second time round than many would have predicted.

Quakers now move on to their fourth home game in a row against Mossley in the FA trophy on Halloween.

Fans will be hoping for more of the same with perhaps a few less frights on what is the spookiest night of the year!