The look on Mick Tait's face said it all on Saturday.

Not for the first time this season football's longest serving caretaker boss was left to rue and shake his head at what might have been after seeing his side squander a perfect opportunity to pull clear of a relegation scrap which is becoming increasingly uneasy for everyone connected with Darlington with every week that passes.

Tait must be getting sick at the amount of times he has had to explain why his side have came away with less than he feels they've deserved.

After a truly forgettable first half in which Darlington did little to suggest they were any better than the Football League's bottom club, a quick fire double from striker Danny Mellanby early in the second half soon pepped things up for Quakers, who looked a changed side and in full control until some Devine intervention from the visitors rescued a precious point.

Sean Devine's 70th minute leveller was well worthy of winning any encounter but that would have been a tad unfair on Quakers, who dominated in the second half. "It was a nothing game in the first half and we were really disappointing," admitted Tait.

"I spoke to them at half time and asked them why we're letting them dictate the pace of the game. We knew that we had to raise the tempo, pressurise them in their own half and as soon as we did that they just collapsed.

"They pinched a second goal which they never really deserved and then we missed a few chances towards the end."

And Tait, who celebrated his first game in charge with a 4-0 win at Exeter back in October, knew that there would be no repeat of that scoreline against a Grecians side lifted under new boss Gary Peters, who extended his side's unbeaten run to four games. "They've got a new manager in and they've been doing very well so we knew it would be a difficult game," said Tait.

"I believe we have better players than them and we showed it in the second half. We should have won the game easily but we gave two bad goals away."

Quakers looked edgy in the game's opening exchanges and Carl Pettefer did little to calm their nerves when he put the visitors in front in the 18th minute.

Gary Pearson's attempted clearance was intercepted by Steve Flack and his cross from the left found Pettefer who lost his marker at the back post before ramming home past Andy Collett.

It was Flack, a former boxer and subject of an £80,000 bid from Hartlepool two years ago, who continued to cause problems with his height; and his flick on almost brought a second goal when Devine's low drive was well saved by Collett after half an hour.

Ashley Nicholls came within inches of levelling when he had Grecians keeper Kevin Miller well beaten with a bending effort even Exeter chairman Uri Geller, watching from the stands would have been proud of but the ball whistled just over the angle of the goal.

Whatever Tait did say at half-time seemed to do the trick and with less than two minutes of the second half played Quakers drew level. Mellanby's third goal of the season will not win any prizes for style but under current circumstances who cares?

The striker, making only his third start of the season after a troublesome back injury, pounced on a Nicholls miss-kick to poke the ball beyond Miller in true predator-like fashion.

Feethams was still celebrating when Mellanby claimed his second of the afternoon.

Again the 23-year-old was in the right place at the right time when he latched on to a sweetly struck Pearson free-kick before sending the ball past Miller with a confident finish.

Indeed Mellanby's coolness seemed to rub off on his teammates and unlike the first half Quakers looked far more settled on the ball after the interval.

With more confidence they began to open up their opponents and defender Matt Clarke almost doubled his side's lead when he headed straight at Miller from Nicholls' corner.

On other occasions this season Exeter have been easy prey for teams after going a goal down - as Quakers themselves proved in October. But even at 2-1 down the plucky Grecians seemed determined to salvage something from the game.

Andy Roscoe came close with a free-kick which whistled just over the bar while the impressive Brazilian Santos Gaia sent a header over at the far post from Roscoe's set-piece from the left.

Their next attack, however, did bring a goal and it came courtesy of Devine, who conjured up his chance almost out of nothing.

The former Wycombe striker created space for himself on the edge of the area before firing low past Collett who did manage to get a touch but without success.

Substitute Ian Clark should have made it 3-2 with ten minutes to go after great work by Jim Corbett down the right.

Corbett, making his first appearance in a Quakers shirt since arriving on a month's loan from Blackburn, got the better of Graeme Power down the right before squaring for Clark, who waited too long in judging the path of the ball on an uneven surface and his effort was deflected wide by Chris Todd.

Quakers head to another struggling side when they take on Boston on Wednesday night and Tait moaned: "I think we should have been going to Boston with a win under our belt."

Result: Darlington 2 Exeter City 2.

Read more about the Quakers here.