Every team, good or bad, has its fans' favourites and Darlington are no different.

Among the supporters' players of choice is Neil Wainwright. An unrelenting determination and the knack of scoring the occasional goal will always be enough to satisfy the wants of most, and the former Sunderland winger has fitted that bill for some time.

But those characteristics, such a regular feature in Darlington's team over the last four seasons and more, could have been part of the Kidderminster side on Saturday. But the Harriers had their approach turned down last week - much to the relief of many a Quakers fan and the player himself who says he wants to remain at the club.

A relatively long-serving player and a first-team regular with over 150 appearances, he is second only in games played to Craig Liddle in the current squad.

Wainwright is seen by many as a reliable pro who can always be depended upon. Seven goals last year proved his goal threat while he has seven assists this year, making him the club's top goal provider.

Explaining why he turned down the approach, manager David Hodgson admitted he would have allowed Kidderminster speak to Wainwright if they were intending to offer a long-term deal.

"If they had said we want to give him a two or three-year deal I would have said to Neil, 'this is an opportunity for some security, it is up to you'," explained Hodgson.

Despite that admission the manager clearly still rates the Warrington-born winger whom Hodgson originally brought to the club to help Quakers' promotion cause in 1999/2000. He's missed only six of the manager's 62 games since Hodgson returned to the club last season.

Darlington demand high standards from all players, so to have been such a prominent feature over a lengthy period of time says as much about the manager's opinion of Wainwright as it does the 27-year-old himself.

It's that determination, that trademark work ethic of Wainwright that endears him to Darlington fans - not that there's anything unusual about that.

British football supporters have always the loved the battler, the trier - the one that gives their all. Liddle is all of the above.

Trying to play with a broken shin against Hull in 2001 epitomises him, but it's Liddle's quality over a lengthy period which has made him a Darlington legend.

Wainwright has some way to go before he can be considered in such esteem, but he did score the last ever goal at Feethams - in the May 2003 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient - and fans still remember the explosive manner in which he started his career with Darlington.

The first six games of a 17-match loan spell in 99/00 coincided with a six-game winning run in which Wainwright scored four goals - not a bad way to introduce yourself to a new club.

After the loan he went back to Sunderland before returning in a permanent transfer in August 2001, but that loan spell remains fresh in the memory of many. The pacey winger became renowned for beating defenders and whipping in dangerous crosses as well scoring the odd goal.

On Saturday he could have done with a stunning performance to reassure everybody he belongs at Darlington but there was little opportunity to demonstrate his offensive ability.

Northampton were impressive going forward, switching play from left to right with every midfielder and forward posing a threat, meaning Darlington had to defend for long periods.

What Wainwright did was show the work ethic Hodgson demands of his players. He provided cover at full-back for long periods, most tellingly when he raced back to take the ball off Eric Sabin's toe as the striker was about to shoot inside Darlington's penalty area.

"I had a couple of goes at them early in the second half but I spent the majority of the game defending," said Wainwright who played at left-wing on Saturday. "Sometimes you've got to do that job for the good of the team."

That kind of committed defending was typical of Quakers' battling display at Sixfields, although he did feature in the final third occasionally. Wainwright played only a handful of telling passes; one in-field to Adrian Webster put the midfielder through on goal and his one good cross was spilled by the Northamton keeper and almost capitalised upon by Webster.

He also did well to win a second half free-kick on the edge of Town penalty area after cutting inside from the left wing, the position in which he started his career at Wrexham and earned his move to Sunderland.

But Wainwright earns most of his brownie points with his workrate and Saturday was a day for that - although he did set alarm bells ringing with one sliced clearance late on.

However, the hard-working winger was, typically, on hand to made amends by clearing the danger.

Unfortunately however, Wainwright was in no position to stop David Galbraith's late, but deserved, equaliser.

Deserved maybe, but it was a disappointing end to a wholehearted Darlington performance. Wainwright said: "It's especially disappointing because the back four were magnificent, they were superb in fact, we defended well as a team.

"Everyone from Sam in goal to Clyde up front put loads into their game so it makes it disappointing we let victory slip away.

"When the final whistle went we were all totally deflated, to think we were winning 1-0 for all that time, it looked like we were going to get the three points."

Read more about the Quakers here.