AGAINST a backdrop of supporter angst, Darlington successfully completed their revenge mission in style by putting on a good performance against one of the division's promotion chasers.

But George Reynolds wasn't there to see Quakers' best performance for many a week. (The 5-0 trouncing of Halifax can be discounted because the opposition that day were abysmal.)

The chairman was elsewhere on Saturday afternoon but he is sure to have been displeased to hear about the banners and protests so prominent at Feethams.

Supporters angry that captain Craig Liddle, who was once again tremendous, can leave on a free transfer if he does not accept a pay cut, made their feelings very clear.

Hundreds of posters proclaiming "Liddle must stay" decorated Feethams and the captain received strong vocal-backing throughout, which the former Middlesbrough man later admitted made him feel emotional.

It's hard to imagine one player could have ever received such visible backing from Darlington fans.

Before the game Liddle has said beating Scunthorpe would help to redress the balance after they put seven goals past Quakers in November, but for some Darlington fans revenge has been even longer in coming.

In 1996 Scunthorpe spoiled Quakers' promotion party when the Iron sent Darlington into the unsuccessful play-offs instead of automatic promotion, and seven years earlier they relegated Darlington to the Conference.

So by turning the tables and putting a massive dent in their promotion bid, was a result much-appreciated by many supporters, including Hartlepool fans who, for once, had been crossing their fingers and toes in the hope of a Darlington win against their play-off rivals.

But Darlington boss Tommy Taylor does not share the same rivalry as the clubs' fans and admits he'd be quite happy to see Pool reach the play-offs.

He said: "Everybody's been saying to me that if we beat Scunthorpe it'd help beat Hartlepool but I just think good luck to them. They've been near the play-offs for most of the season.

"I'm not worried about Hartlepool. They've been doing the business and that's why they are where they are.

"If we'd lost our supporters would've been upset and my job and the players' job is to win games of football and not worry about anyone else."

In a first-half in which Darlington dominated, Scunthorpe's closest chance came when Peter Beagrie hit the bar with a free-kick, but ten minutes later Ian Clark was brought down in the penalty area and the former Pool man picked himself up to convert from 12 yards.

With a thunderous drive which flashed over the bar, Paul Heckingbottom was just inches away from giving Darlington the half-time lead they deserved, and the break provided as much incident as the first 45 minutes.

The Hit The Bar competition saw the worst attempt of the season so far when, with the chance to win a car already gone, Dave Hardisty's third effort came closer to hitting the bar in the cricket pavilion.

And that was followed by an incident in which the officials were also way off the mark in their over-the-top response to a banner being unfurled and fastened to the back of the Tin Shed.

While one banner reading "One man, one club, one Craig Liddle" was allowed to be displayed throughout the game, a banner proclaiming "Hodgson for chairman" was swiftly ripped down as stewards and police waded into the crowd.

It displayed a lack of sense of humour but the players came back on to the pitch to finish off a very satisfactory afternoon.

The first 20 minutes of the second half saw the visitors pile pressure on Darlington, but Quakers stood firm and restricted their chances while Phil Brumwell gave Beagrie a taste of his own medicine when he dummied the winger before taking the ball past the former Middlesbrough man in much the same fashion as Beagrie has done for much of the season against Division Three full-backs.

Leading by just a single goal, Liddle proved his value when he anticipated a shot to block a goal-bound effort and minutes later Quakers scored a killer, second.

Liddle's vital contribution just minutes before Clark's second goal was typical of the man and demonstrated just why he could walk into any Third Division side.

The second goal came at a vital time as Scunthorpe had been forcing the pace of the game and looked likely to draw level until Mark Sheeran set-up Clark for his 14th of the season.

Shortly afterwards Lee Hodges danced through the home defence but as if to clear-up any doubts over his importance, Liddle calmly stole the ball off the forward's foot and set up another Darlington attack.

With seconds to go of normal time Martin Carruthers gave Quakers a scare when he converted a chance after Scunthorpe took advantage of a quickly-taken free-kick but Taylor's side proved capable of hanging on to victory as the visitors drove forward in the closing stages.

The chairman will not have welcomed the supporters' show of discontent, but some fans couldn't help wondering if the PA announcer was also trying to make a point with the choice of pre-match music which consisted of Money's Too Tight To Mention and We're On The Road To Nowhere.

Having spent millions of his own money on a tremendous new stadium for the Quakers, Reynolds will clearly have a different point of view - but maybe someone at Feethams has a sense of humour after all.

Read more about the Quakers here.