A winner deep into stoppage time by Emily Taylor gave Quakers the points in the Darlo derby against Darlington Spraire.

Quakers were below their best and were 3-1 down at one point, but they never gave up and clawed their way back into the game for a 4-3 win.

Darlington manager Shaun MacKenzie said; “It was a below par performance and the girls didn’t play anywhere near the level they are capable of. However, good teams find a way to win when not playing their best and that’s exactly what happened today. You could say we were fortunate to get the three points, but we made our own luck by staying patient and creating the chances.

“We played a lot better in the second half once we had changed shape and it allowed us to get more bodies forward. It was a frustrating game to watch and I can imagine it was a frustrating game to play in. But we dug in and kept going and credit to girls to come back from 3-1 down and win 4-3. There’s nothing better than an injury time winner and that takes our unbeaten run to six games. We’ve got no game next week, so we will get back on the training pitch and work on putting a few things right for the next game.

Match Report from Chris Barrett:

This week Darlington were up against their local rivals Darlington Spraire Ladies F.C who are currently at the foot of the table but have had some strong recent performances and were strengthened in goal by the return of former Darlington F.C keeper Martina Cuccunato. 

Darlington made a strong start to the game with more of the early pressure being applied to Spraire and Hattie Raine had a good strike from just outside the box that went just went wide of the left hand post. 

On the 9th minute a ball was played by Spraire straight through the middle and the striker got the better of the defence to create a one on one with the keeper and calmly slotted it past the keeper for a Spraire lead. 

The goal was a shock to the system and the early confidence appeared to evaporate and Darlington struggled to put many passes together with some poor choices disrupting the flow of the game with Darlington’s best chance coming from a long range shot from Chloe Ryan. 

It took until the 42nd minute when Hattie Raine found Ryan just outside the box who controlled it and struck the ball low and hard across the goal and found the inside of the side netting to get Darlington an equaliser. 

With half time looming into the 47th minute Darlington gave away a free kick around 25 yards out and were punished for it with a terrific free kick from distance dropping in just under the bar to restore the Spraire lead. 

Darlington looked to come out in the second half with more purpose and had chances with Ava Pearson heading just over from a corner and also some good build up play allowed Hattie Raine to get in and get a shot away but it was well saved by Cuccunato with her legs. 

It could be said that it was against the run of play in the early stages of the second half when Spraire broke and got into the box and a dubious shoulder charge was adjudged to be a foul and a penalty was given. It was duly despatched low to the left by Phillipa Thomas to stretch the lead for Spraire. 

It was only three minutes later when the ball was picked up by Nicole Graham who drove through the heart of the Spraire defence and made it to the left of the six yard box and pulled the ball across the box for Raine to meet and turn it into the back of the net.

A number of changes had been made by Darlington to change the flow of the game and debutant Lana Williams who worked extremely hard in the middle of the park had a good strike from distance that just went wide of the left hand post. 

It was a moment of magic on the 84th minute from January player of the month Hattie Raine who from around 22 yards took the ball and unleashed a great strike high over Cuccunato to give Darlington their equaliser and her 82nd goal for the club. 

Darlington were pressing hard for the winner going deeper into the lengthy 10 minutes injury time due to a number of injuries. The pressure was constant and it was on the 96th minute when the ball was worked down the left and then played into the middle for Grace Dobson to lay the ball across into the path of Emily Taylor who coolly sidefooted the ball back across goal into the net to bag the winner! 

It was one of Darlington’s poorest performances of the season but they showed plenty of resilience and determination to get the goals to squeeze out the win against a determined Spraire side. 

It was a solid debut for Lana Williams and Darlington were also able to introduce Abi Fawcett briefly for her debut for the club. Nicole Graham did a lot of work in the middle of the park to keep a hold of the game and had a fantastic assist but player of the match was awarded to Hattie Raine who worked hard up top and scored two crucial goals to get Darlington the win.