Darlington skipper Kevin Burgess said that it was important that Quakers avoided unnecessary injuries and saved energy in the second half against Ilkeston on Tuesday night.

Quakers comfortably won the game 3-1 after scoring three times in the first half, and they didn’t hit the same level of performance in the second half with so fourteen league games still to play by April 23^rd.

“We started the game like a house on fire, we were unbelievable right through the team,” said Kev.

“We were too physical for them, and before the game, Martin said that our setpieces should win us the game – and sure enough, we got all our goals from setplays, a throw in and two corners.

“To be fair to Ilkeston, they didn’t give up the fight and scored a goal, which was great for them, but disappointing for us because we wanted to keep a clean sheet.

“It was important to conserve energy and avoid injuries, and so we were pleased that we had the game won by half time. The last thing we wanted to have was a really close, hard fought and fast game over 90 minutes with a couple of injuries along the way, especially with two games per week until the end of the season -- and three in one week.

“So we took our foot off the pedal a bit in the second half. We need all our players fit and healthy.”

Quakers are now up to third in the league, ten points behind leaders Blyth with four games in hand, and one behind Salford with four games in hand.

“If we keep winning all our games, then we can close in on Blyth and put more pressure on them.

“But in the meantime, we’re just taking our season one game at a time, and we’re all focusing on the trip to Matlock.”