CONCEDING a late goal and being held to a draw on the back of three consecutive wins would normally be considered as two points lost.

But despite Darlington's marked improvement this season, manager Gary Bennett wasn't too downhearted that his side's winning run was brought to an end at Sincil Bank on Saturday.

Lincoln City are a good team and will finish high up the table this season. They deserved their point after enjoying the majority of possession, especially in the second period when Quakers struggled to keep the ball in their opponents' half.

Manager Alan Buckley has transformed Lincoln, well renowned long-ball merchants in recent years, into a slick passing team which includes some pacy attackers. And they threatened an equaliser to cancel out Mark Ford's first-half penalty throughout the second period.

But for all their good passing moves and possession Quakers - to their resolute credit - restricted the Imps to long-range efforts as they never really pierced a rearguard which is fast becoming one of Bennett's key assets.

The manager was quick to praise his side and admitted he was satisfied with a point.

"I am disappointed the winning run has ended, but I can't fault the performance,'' he admitted. "We defended well and created better chances than Lincoln.

"But they are a useful side so this is a good point. We battled very hard to preserve the lead and that shows the character in the side.

"We restricted them to long range efforts and they scored from their one clear chance. We came here looking for a result and but I think we played well, contained them well and I think we had five or six clear cut chances.

"Their goalkeeper's made some great saves; at the start of the second half we've had three good chances in the first five minutes."

Darlington's opener came in controversial circumstances when referee Graham Salisbury, in his first year in the League, awarded the visitors a penalty after Barry Conlon had his shirt tugged.

The decision stunned both spectators and players alike, but the fact Mr Salisbury had managed not to give Quakers what appeared to be a clear cut penalty a minute earlier may have played a part in the referee's thinking.

Lively Danny Mellanby had worked his way into the penalty area and took the ball past a couple of defenders before firing across the six-yard box. Guisborough-born centre-back Steve Holmes handled but to everyone's amazement the game was allowed to continue.

But Quakers didn't have to wait long for their second penalty of the season as Ford stepped up to coolly slot home another effort after notching in the 2-0 win over Kidderminster a fortnight ago.

Both sides had chances to add to the scoring before the break with Lincoln's appeals for a penalty falling on deaf ears when Lee Thorpe, in the team after recovering from a back injury, was felled.

Three good chances came Quakers way at the beginning of the second 45 minutes, with goalkeeper Paul Pettinger managing to tip over goal-bound Neil Wainwright effort.

From the resulting corner, Craig Liddle brushed off his marker but his header went a couple of yards wide.

A minute earlier Richard Hodgson had crossed for Mellanby who flung himself at the ball but the 22-year-old, who again impressed, just failed to get a toe to it.

The remainder of the half saw plenty of probing but not enough penetration from Lincoln until the 79th minute when substitute Dave Cameron denied Quakers victory just four minutes after entering the field.

Although pleased with a point, Bennett lamented some of the referees' decisions. Cameron's goal came after Liddle was adjudged to have given away a free-kick for which he was given his third yellow card of the season.

And despite being far from a dirty side, Quakers have accumulated 14 bookings this season; including four at Lincoln and five in the win Hartlepool where the hosts were only awarded one yellow.

"Some of the bookings we're getting are ridiculous," said Bennett.

"I don't think Liddle touched the lad, but having a go at referees is a waste of time. There was a time when Danny got to the by-line and their lad has pushed it away with his hand.

"And another time someone was trying to pull Mellanby's shirt off and he caused them problems throughout the game.

"It's credit to the players, they keep going game after game after game, they keep the ball down and pass it around. They've gone about it the right way."

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