Successful teams always seem to have the uncanny knack of taking points when the opposition have done enough to earn all three.

On Saturday, Darlington had to rely on injury-time goals in each half to secure a point which they scarcely looked like earning. Only during a brief spell after Carlisle's second goal did Darlington look anything like the side which had chalked-up ten points from the previous four games.

Darlington fans must wait until May before discovering whether Saturday's fortunate point was the first taken after a below-par performance, or was it simply the first scrappy display?

At this stage of the season it's hard to judge, but the fact Gary Bennett's side put in their worst performance of the season and still managed to earn a point is a compliment to the players' fitness and determination.

Although Quakers sit seventh, nobody should take any notice of the statistics until another three or four games are played, because, as Saturday proved, with only six games played the table can be misleading. Are Shrewsbury really going to placed second come next May? Before Saturday, Carlisle had yet to win, and had scored twice all season.

Manager Bennett was dismayed with his team's performance as the standards of recent weeks slipped.

"I'm annoyed that we were in that position," he reflected. "I think we were sloppy from the kick off, and that showed in our play. We were 2-0 down and chasing the game but we got the break that we needed before half-time.

"We weren't at the races all over the park."

That was certainly true in a first half which saw the Cumbrians double their season's goal tally with strikes from ex-Hartlepool forward Stephen Halliday and Irish striker Ritchie Foran who was later to make a contender for howler of the season.

Eager to prove a point on first game back at Feethams after departing earlier this year, Stuart Elliott will claim the assist for Halliday's strike. The fiery midfielder's shot from distance took a deflection off David Brightwell and the static home defence was slow to react, leaving Halliday time to prod beyond Andy Collett.

Quakers ignored the wake-up call and remained in a comatose state, leaving Carlisle to run the game.

It wasn't until Foran scored, a penalty awarded after Craig Liddle had handled, that Quakers began to cause the visitors any problems. Danny Mellanby put Neil Wainwright through and after cutting inside from the right, the ex-Sunderland winger was provided with an opportunity in front of goal which he seized to score his first since signing last month.

But the goal failed to kick-start a revival and the second-half showing wasn't much better than the first with Quakers only forcing a handful of chances.

Foran wasted the opportunity to wrap-up the points when he made a hilarious contribution to the Christmas bloopers videos.

Two yards out and with an open goal at his mercy, Foran, whose manager Roddy Collins says will be worth £1m after playing ten matches, spooned his effort over the bar after a right-wing cross eluded everybody.

With just over 15 minutes to play, and with Darlington heading for their first home defeat of the season, Bennett made the surprising decision to switch a defender for a defender when substitute Paul Heckingbottom swapped with Steve Harper, putting Simon Betts at right-back.

The move paid off because it was from Heckingbottom's long-throw that Barry Conlon tapped into the back of the net to score his second goal in a Darlington shirt and his second in as many home games.

Bennett said: "People are wondering why Paul Heckingbottom is coming on when we're losing at home, but it proved to be a good thing because he got a couple of crosses in and it was his throw for the goal."

Despite being held at home, Bennett was delighted Darlington remain unbeaten over the last five matches.

"It's five unbeaten now. You might look on this as two points dropped, maybe a point gained last week, but we kept going and that's the main thing," said the Quakers boss.

"We didn't pass the ball as well as we would like. We got into a battle with them and played too many high balls. But, credit to the team, they kept going to the final whistle.

"We've got another game on Saturday. We'll pick ourselves up, get three points there and then we're up and running as long as we don't get beaten."

On the evidence of the season's first six matches, Quakers have a healthy chance of pushing for promotion but the players must certainly produce better displays in the coming months if they are to build on their good start.

And Saturday's trip to lowly Torquay presents an opportunity to stretch the unbeaten run to sixs, because the Gulls have lost two of their first three matches at Plainmoor. But don't listen to the statistics just yet

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