Darlington 2: Swansea City 2 - Darlington were denied a winning start to their home campaign when Swansea City grabbed a late leveller to steal a point at Feethams last night.

Quakers came from behind to take the lead, but Steve Watkin's 89th minute goal was a sickening blow to Tommy Taylor's side after they had overcame a drab first-half to take control of the game in the second period.

But it was former Darlington man John Williams who caused the problems when he came on as a substitute, as the visitors sent an extra man upfront in a bid to grab a draw. The move paid off as Williams provided the delivery for the equaliser.

Taylor was annoyed with his side, but admitted he would have settled for four points from the first two games of the season.

He said: "Our two wingers were behind our two full-backs so if they were in the right positions Swansea wouldn't have even got a cross in.

"What's so hard about playing in a 4-4-2 formation? The wingers are meant to be ahead of the full-backs.

"But it's not too bad because if we'd have drawn on Saturday away from home and then won tonight we'd have been satisfied.

"I'm angry because we've chucked two points away tonight. I'm disappointed because with two minutes to go, if we'd kept our shape and kept it tight we would have won the game."

Darlington, fielding an unchanged line-up apart from keeper Chris Porter coming in for injured Andy Collett, created the game's first scoring opportunity just before the ten-minute mark and it was Saturday's goal hero, Ashley Nicholls, who almost gave Quakers the lead. Barry Conlon held the ball up well, fed Ian Clark who passed to Nicholls who turned and blasted the ball just over from 18 yards.

The game sauntered along at a steady pace with the hosts failing to create many clear cut chances while keeper Roger Freestone was more than capable of dealing with any crosses.

The Welshmen however found it hard to penetrate Darlington's commanding back-line and produced just a handful of wasted corners in the first half.

The game came to life in the second period with the visitors breaking the deadlock. A low 25-yard effort from left-back David Smith through a crowd of players flew into the corner of the net. Then a long throw was only half-cleared and Quakers hit back through Clark - the man who can do no wrong in a Darlington shirt.

He fired low past Freestone after latching on to a Conlon flick-on in a repeat of the duo's combination at Cambridge, and six minutes later Quakers took the lead through fans' favourite Craig Liddle.

The captain powerfully headed back across goal and into the net from Neil Wainwright's pin-point right-wing cross as Darlington took control in impressive fashion.

However the Swans weren't finished and after Adam Rundle's 35-yard volley was tipped over by the alert Freestone they struck back.

The visitors raced upfield and Watkin was given space to head in a Williams' cross to dampen what had been a buoyant atmosphere inside Feethams.

MATCHFACTS

Goals: Smith (61mins, 0-1), Clark (65, 1-1), Liddle (71, 2-1), Watkin (89, 2-2)

Bookings: Clarke, Jenkins (fouls) Wainwright (diving)

Attendance: 3,914

Referee: Eddie Evans (Manchester)

DARLINGTON (4-4-2): Porter 6; Betts 6, Liddle 7, Clarke 7, Valentine 6; Wainwright 8, Maddison 7, Nicholls 7, Rundle 8; CLARK 8, Conlon 7. Subs not used: Reed, Naylor, Keltie, Sheeran, McGurk.

SWANSEA (3-5-2): FREESTONE 9; J Smith 6 (Sharp 77), O'Leary 6, Evans 7; Jenkins 7, Murphy 8, Philips 6 (Watkin 77), Reid 6, D Smith 6; Wood 5 (Williams 55, 7), Thomas 6. Subs not used: Marsh (gk), Mumford.

MAN OF THE MATCH

ROGER Freestone - The 33-year-old rolled back the years with a fine display

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