BEFORE going into training this morning, Darlington's two-goal hero will be making more use than normal of his razor having ended a run of nine games without a goal.

Until Saturday, Barry Conlon hadn't notched since the 1-1 midweek draw at Macclesfield in late September, and as the dry-run developed, so did a goatee beard on his chin which he vowed not to shave off until he finally scored.

"This little beard will have to come off now, it's getting a bit much and I've been getting a bit of stick from the lads," admitted Conlon, two weeks after equally superstitious teammate Paul Campbell had confessed to not having his hair cut while his own run of good form continued.

For the majority of the game, and especially until he scored Darlington's second, Conlon had been on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse from the York fans who, ironically, now herald Darlington misfit Lee Nogan as their goal hero.

Nogan's arrival at Bootham Crescent in February pushed Conlon down the pecking order and as a result the door opened for a move to Feethams in the summer. And Conlon, although narrowly denied a hat-trick in the dying seconds, was delighted with his two-goal show.

He said:"It was brilliant to score against my old team, I really enjoyed it, as you could see from the celebrations!

"I still live in York and keep in touch with their players so they'll get a bit of stick.

"Everyone wants more goals but it's nice to set other lads up for their goals too."

The 23-year-old is awaiting referee Paul Alcock's decision after the Quakers appealed against the forward's harsh red card received early in the 7-1 defeat at Scunthorpe last week.

And on Saturday Darlington fans feared lightning was going to strike twice.

At Glanford Park, Conlon jumped for a high ball with Nathan Stanton, and although Conlon's arms were raised, television pictures showed how he made contact with Stanton's right-shoulder.

In the ninth minute on Saturday, a free-kick was awarded against Conlon when it appeared his challenge with Darren Edmondson was fair.

He explained: "I went up for a header and I probably made contact with him but it was just a clash of heads, I know Darren Edmondson and he admitted it was a clash of heads."

Paul Heckingbottom breathed a sigh of relief when Chris Brass missed the chance of pulling the score back to 2-1 when he dragged his spot-kick well-wide of Andy Collett's goal.

The left-back fell over when attempting a back header to goalkeeper Collett who then upended Lee Bullock, but Brass did Darlington a favour.

Heckingbottom explained: "I've got a bad jaw now. I'll not be eating sandwiches; I'll have to stick to soup. You never want to make a mistake, especially one that leads to a goalscoring opportunity.

"I didn't really see the penalty incident because I got a bit dazed, I just saw Colly arguing with the ref, so I presumed it was a penalty.

"I was stood right behind him and he just pulled it wide. He went to play it towards Colly's left hand and then played it towards Colly's right hand putting it three or four yards wide.

"I had a little chuckle to myself about it after that."

Read more about Darlington FC here.