Just when Darlington's panic-stricken fans were reluctantly forecasting a long season ahead, Carlisle United served a reminder that it could be worse.

The Cumbrians, so often the perennial strugglers of Division Three football and surprise, surprise the current occupants of the Football League basement, arrived for their first visit to the Reynolds Arena, without a single win this season and with just one League goal to their name.

And while victory perhaps should have been expected, Mick Tait's men showed their support in the best possible way for the Quakers boss, whose position at the club was under scrutiny last week when several names were linked with the Darlington hotseat.

Tait will have no doubt been encouraged by the response of his players after last week's 4-2 woeful reverse at Rochdale and admitted the result was far more important than the performance.

"It was important that we won that game," said Tait. "It didn't matter about the performance that much because it was the result that mattered.

"But we put in a good performance, we created plenty of opportunities and we could have won the game by a lot more.

"We've created quite a few chances in the last few weeks and it was nice to see a couple of them go in." And, while Tait was relieved to see his side claim a morale boosting three points, he insists it would be premature to make any judgement on their prospects this season.

"I've been trying to say to people all the way through this that it still is early days," said Tait.

"It's not nice to get off to a bad start but we have and there's nothing we can do about it other than make things better.

"Everybody has been talking about the doom and gloom all week and I think after five games why is it like that?

"Hopefully this has given everybody a lift around the place and we can continue from that."

And Conlon especially will have had his spirits raised after going five games without a goal.

It took the big Irishman just seven minutes to get off the mark on Saturday when he made the most of some static defending from the visitors to head home Chris Hughes' long throw into the box.

And seven minutes later the 24-year-old doubled his tally again, courtesy of non-existent marking in the Carlisle box, where he was able to head past Cumbrians keeper Matt Glennon.

A slip by Lee Andrews then let in Matt Clarke down the left but the defender-cum-striker found the angle too tight and sent his effort into the side-netting.

Youngster Hughes should have done better when he dragged wide from Clark Keltie's pass before Conlon was denied his hat-trick, with half an hour on the clock, when Glennon saved bravely at his feet.

Determined to claim the match ball, Conlon came within a whisker of connecting with Clarke's flick on early in the second half, as Quakers continued to dominate against a sorry Carlisle side, whose fans were reduced to pleading "Can we have a shot at goal?"

And it wasn't until the 68th minute that their wish was finally granted, as former Quakers winger Adam Rundle recorded the visitors' first strike on target, which was easy pickings for Andy Collett.

At the other end Conlon almost capitalised on a defensive mix-up, between Glennon and Andrews, but the Cumbrians keeper managed to redeem himself to fist clear with the Quakers striker lurking.

Unselfishly Conlon opted against a shot at goal late on, preferring to play in Hughes, who look destined to score, only to pull his shot wide.

And with time running out Quakers were reduced to ten men when Pearson was made to walk after picking up his second yellow card after a challenge on Peter Murphy.

"It might not have been so enjoyable if it had gone the other way but it didn't and I think with the amount of work the players have put in this week they've deserved it," said Tait, who will be hoping his side can steer themselves further away from the bottom of the table when Doncaster Rovers visit the Reynolds Arena this Saturday.

Result: Darlington 2, Carlisle United 0.

Read more about the Quakers here.