Another disappointing season came to a close with a double cause for celebration as Darlington secured a win at Oxford and afterwards Tommy Taylor declared that Craig Liddle will not be leaving the club this summer.

Taylor's surprise statement almost paled the victory into insignificance, especially as Quakers were sure to finish the term in midtable obscurity regardless of the result.

For two weeks Craig Liddle has looked almost certain to follow Paul Heckingbottom out of Feethams this summer after being asked to take a wage cut.

At the end of last Monday's game with Plymouth he addressed supporters and wished them luck next season in what was interpreted as a farewell speech. But while Heckingbottom certainly did play his last Darlington game on Saturday, Taylor says Liddle does have a future at the club afterall.

"We will keep Craig Liddle," stated Taylor. "He is under contract, the chairman has said he is not going on a free and we will keep Craig Liddle. He will be playing for Darlington next season and that is the end of it."

Liddle is a firm fans' favourite and their backing was again evident at Oxford as an impressive 320 made the journey to the new Kassam Stadium for a meaningless game and again they made their feelings for absent chairman George Reynolds clear.

At the end of the game Liddle threw his shirt into the crowd which at least meant one lucky fan got value for money after paying £17 for admission.

That is a shocking price to watch Third Division football, and, in hindsight, the first half's entertainment wasn't worth 17p.

Taylor admitted the first 45 minutes were not the best and he explained: "We came out to try and kill the game off and see if we could pass the ball through them. We knew they were going to sit deep and they are quite big at the back so it was never going to be any good trying hit balls up to the centre-forwards."

It took 23 minutes for the game's first chance, but Oxford's Paul Moody wasted a free header.

Darlington's opening shot at goal was a Richard Hodgson chip which sailed over after his run was spotted by Ian Clark.

Mark Ford was unfortunate not to connect as he flung himself at the ball when Clark drilled across goal shortly after Heckingbottom missed an opportunity to mark his last Darlington appearance with a goal when he put a header over the bar.

Simon Betts, playing his first game since February, gifted United the lead when his backpass dropped dreadfully short of Chris Porter and Jamie Brooks, who was awarded all four Oxford player of the year awards prior to the game, nipped in to round the keeper and score the day's first goal.

The goal was an unwelcome introduction for former Shildon youngster Clark Keltie who had been on the pitch just 120 seconds when Oxford scored. Seconds later his pin-point cross almost produced a goal but Heckingbottom fired wide.

As both sides finally began to pick up the pace, Quakers drew level with a fine goal which rewarded Darlington's neat passing. Hodgson's ball to the left was headed back across goal by Ford to the far post where Glenn Naylor had the simple task of tapping into an empty net.

The goal was Naylor's first since returning from a year on the sidelines through injury but having incurred an arm injury earlier in the game he was immediately replaced by super sub Mark Sheeran.

The teenage terror capped a fine season when, with 13 minutes remaining, he side-stepped a defender close to goal and blasted into the roof of the net after being set-up by Clark.

However, Quakers' only League double of the season was soured when Ford received his second red card of the season after appearing to kick out at David Waterman.

Taylor pleaded his player had been provoked, saying: "Fordy has got a massive stud mark on him where the lad had stamped on him. He's just retaliated."

The rival sets of supporters shared the same feelings at the final whistle. Both had endured poor seasons and both were united by their clubs' spending money on stadiums before investing in their teams.

Oxford manager Ian Atkins seemed to agree. In his programme notes he summed up what angry Darlington supporters have been saying for a long time, saying: "New stadiums don't win games or promotion - players do.

Read more about the Quakers here.