Altrincham 2 Darlington 2

18^th August 2010

It had been a testing first 45 minutes for Mark Cooper’s side who started brightly before fading, though shortly after the restart Richard Offiong was about to shoot from inside the penalty area but Shaun Densmore executed a superbly timed tackle.

The opener then came thanks to a Sam Russell error. Three days after being man of the match against Newport, the keeper attempted to take the ball past a forward but his touch was too heavy and he handed Chris Denham an open goal to make it 1-0.

Manager Mark Cooper must have hoped the goal would spark his side into action, but the next chance fell to Damian Reeves who got between Quakers’ two centre- backs, Ian Miller and Danny Hone, and was inches away with a header.

Josh Gray on for Chris Senior, who received warm applause from the home fans, signalled a switch from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and the new width immediately saw Quakers create a chance with Gary Smith racing down the right but the resulting ball was cleared from inside the six-yard box.

But with 12 minutes to go came what appeared to the match-clinching second goal for the hosts.  Right-back Paul Arnison conceded a disputed free-kick and from the resulting setpiece, taken by Kevin Holsgrove, Dale Johnson tapped into the net.

However, almost immediately Darlington were back in it. Gary Smith’s floated ball into the penalty area saw Tommy Wright challenge Coburn but neither got a clean connection and the ball flew into the net. And in the final minute Darlington grabbed a dramatic leveller – this time there was no doubting the scorer.

Gray worked himself into a good position on the left byline and chipped a cross that Wright headed back across goal into corner of the net.

Quakers: Russell, Arnison, Hone, Miller, Austin, Terry, Chandler, Smith, Senior, Hatch, Offiong.

Subs: Wright, Smith, Jack, Clarke, Gray