Darlington kicked-off a month of very tough fixtures with a defeat at Luton Town on Friday night, and although it will be of no consolation to Gary Bennett or the hundreds of Quakers fans who made the trip, the match was a hugely entertaining affair.

Seven goals, three penalties, two of which were missed and six bookings made for a superb game of attacking football which Luton deserved to take all three points from after finishing much stronger following a first hour in which either side had chances to win.

The defeat means Darlington have yet to keep a clean sheet in six away games and now know they must take something from next Saturday's game at home to Mansfield if they're to keep track with the division's pace-setters.

Despite injury concerns over several players, Darlington made just two changes, one of those being the inclusion of Neil Wainwright while Mark Ford failed to recover in time from his knee injury and didn't travel to Bedfordshire, with his place being taken by Phil Brumwell who came in for his first start of the season.

The three other doubts: Barry Conlon, Brian Atkinson and Danny Mellanby all declared themselves fit for action having missed training this week while Neil Maddison remains sidelined with his bruised foot.

Neither side could stamp their authority on the game in the opening stages and it took until just before the 20 minute mark for Darlington to force their first chance when Simon Betts whipped in a deep cross which Richard Hodgson connected with a the volley but fired wide.

Quakers were gifted the lead minutes later when Luton goalkeeper Carl Emberson made a hash of a Matthew Taylor backpass. His first-time clearance went directly to Mellanby on the edge of the penalty area who made no mistake in dispatching the ball past the embarrassed keeper for his fifth goal of the season.

Although it gave the match some spark, the goal was harsh on Luton who'd created just as much as Darlington with the hosts' French left-winger Jean-Louis Valois performing well. But the Hatters, watched by club director and ex-FA Chief Executive Graham Kelly, didn't have to wait long for an equaliser.

Darlington couldn't clear 25-yards from goal, and Matthew Spring picked up the loose ball to lash home superbly, giving Andy Collett no chance.

With a cooler head in front of goal, Mellanby could have given Quakers a half-time lead when he received the ball 18 yards from goal with the keeper off his line, but the ex-Bishop Auckland hitman shot into the arms of the grateful Emberson.

Within five minutes of the re-start both sides nabbed a goal each, with the hosts' impressive Valois, who played in the Champions League for Lille last season, providing the ammunition from a corner for Luton's second strike of the evening.

His pin-point cross found ex-Hartlepool striker Steve Howard who headed into the net to give the hosts the lead - for two minutes.

Craig Liddle's pass was picked up by Wainwright - back in the team ahead of Mark Convery who dropped to the bench - who cut inside before firing a goal-bound effort which took a deflection on it's way into goal.

But Quakers hopes of grabbing a first away since the derby at Hartlepool were extinguished midway through the second half with Dean Crowe and a Kevin Nicholls penalty doing the damage.

Crowe added the third after a mix-up between Liddle and Alex Jeannin and then Liddle was adjudged to have brought down Howard, despite the the former Tow Law frontman heading away from goal.

Luton had played some good, quick passing, but didn't deserve to be two goals in front, and certainly didn't warrant their three goal cushion; although the strike was of outstanding quality and bettered Spring's first half effort.

Valois cut in from the left and with his weaker right foot blasted the night's seventh goal from outside the penalty area.

And if the evening's proceedings hadn't been enough, the game's last five minutes saw two more penalties - one for either side- and both were saved.

After Mellanby was obstructed by Nicholls, Conlon saw his effort from 12 yards palmed wide before Collett saved with his legs to prevent Spring from scoring his second of the night after Simon Betts brought down Valois.

Goals: Mellanby (24mins, 0-1), Spring (35, 1-1), Howard (48, 2-1), Wainwright (50, 2-2), Crowe (67, 3-2), Nicholls (73, pen 4-2), Valois (84, 5-2).

Sendings off:

Bookings: Howard (foul), Wainwright (foul), Crowe (encroaching), Nicholls (foul), Conlon (foul), Valois (encroachment)

Attendance: 7,210

Referee: John Brandwood (Staffordshire)

LUTON: Emberson; Boyce, Coyne, Perrett, Taylor; Mansell 7 (Hillier, 85), Nicholls 7 (Forbes 88), Spring, Valois; Crowe, Howard. Subs not used: Ovendale (gk), Forbes, Fotiadis, Dryden.

DARLINGTON: Collett; Betts, Liddle, Jeannin, Heckingbottom; Wainwright, Atkinson, Brumwell, Hodgson 6 (Jackson, 78), Mellanby, Conlon. Subs not used: van der Geest (gk), Convery, Harper, Pearson.

MAN OF THE MATCH - Jean-Louis Valois

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