Darlington 2 Morecambe 2

Mar 25 2008 by Paul Cunningham, The Journal

GOALS from Jason Kennedy and Guy Ndumbu-Nsungu in the last 10 minutes salvaged an unlikely point for Darlington.

The goals came out of the blue as Darlington looked set to complete a miserable Easter with a performance that appeared to drain the confidence from fans and players alike.

Manager Dave Penney said: “We must get back to defending better because we are having to claw our way back into games. You can’t fault our character but we know we can play better than this. There are positives to take but we can’t keep giving ourselves a mountain to climb.”

After missing a couple of gilt-edged changes early in the game, Darlington conceded twice in three minutes late in the first half.

Skipper Steve Foster brought down Wayne Curtis in the 37th minute and Garry Thompson stroked home the penalty.

Before Darlington could regain their composure they were two down, Thompson crossing for Jon Newby to stoop low and head home.

Darlington could have pulled a goal back on the stroke of half- time, but Gregg Blundell fired too close to Scott Davies after cleverly making space to shoot.

When Kennedy’s powerful drive came back off the underside of the bar on 52 minutes, Darlington could have been forgiven for thinking it was not their day. But they kept probing and were finally rewarded.

Kennedy, on loan from Middlesbrough, scored his first goal for the club, steering in Foran’s knock-down from Neil Austin’s cross.

Then Kennedy set up substitute Ndumbu-Nsungu to score with a 20-yard shot into the bottom corner two minutes from time.

Hereford’s defeat at Lincoln leaves Darlington a point off third place in League Two, the same position as before Easter, despite only picking up a point over the holiday programme.

DARLINGTON: Stockdale, White, Foster, Joachim, Blundell (Ndumbu-Nsungu 60), Parker, Wright (Austin 64), Valentine, Foran, Hodge (Purdie 53), Kennedy. Subs (not used): Liversidge, Miller.

Booked: Foran.

Goals: Kennedy 84, Ndumbu-Nsungu 89.

MORECAMBE: Scott Davies, Yates, Bentley (Artell 22), Stanley, Curtis, Thompson, Drummond, Burns, Newby (Twiss 76), Blinkhorn, McStay. Subs (not used): Jalal, Hunter, Baker.

Goals: Thompson 38 pen, Newby 41.

Attendance: 3,719

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)