Darlo chase Pools unbeaten record
17 February 2007
Swindon 1 Darlington 1
In Neil Wainwright's 250th game for Darlo, Darlington stretched their unbeaten run to eight games by coming from behind to earn a point at promotion candidates Swindon Town and in doing so did their local rivals Hartlepool a favour.
Darlington had the best of the opening exchanges as Cummins blasted high and wide from a tight angle in the second minute and Horwood made good progress in opening up Swindon's flanks.. In the fourth minute Swindon responded through Shakes but his close range header lacked any power and was gathered by the grateful Jones.
However, after nine minutes Swindon Defender Andy Nicholas notched his first goal of the season, slotting home after Darlington failed to clear Jamie Vincent's long free-kick and Martin Smith levelled for Darlo from 12 yards.
Swindon decided to work harder than the Darlington players and they took over the game as Darlo became a very disorganised side, the Darlington defence too slow to deal with the Swindon forward line.
In the second half Darlo were more of a force but they still lacked quality in midfield and Swindon were too anxious to protect their lead failing to take the game to Darlo. Darlington were unable to convert the chances they created and their ineffectiveness up front was topped off by Armstrong's air shot on 60 minutes. Wainwright worked well down the wing and played a lovely ball across into Armstrong's path which he swung a boot at and missed.
There was an unpopular substitution when Wainwright was taken off to be replaced with Joachim. He looked upset and was clearly asking Penney why he had to come off. Penney indicated that he wanted to change things up front. To be fair, Wainwright's replacement had an instantaneous impact, racing down the wing, crossing the ball and in so doing setting up Smith to prod the ball home!
A hard earned point!
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