WHAT a year this is turning out to be for Darlington striker Danny Mellanby.

First, during the summer, he was offered the chance of professional football with his favourite club - and then he goes and hits the winner against arch-rivals Hartlepool United in a 2-1 victory at Victoria Park.

And, with every supporter at Feethams delighted with the form he has shown since arriving for free from UniBond League Bishop Auckland, the 22-year-old looks as though he could be one of the finds of the season.

Warranted, the Quakers have only played three Third Division matches and Saturday was Mellanby's first league start but this is a player who looks like he is not going to be overawed by the pro game after already finding the net twice.

And the forward, who notched 28 times in 53 outings for Bishops last campaign, is determined to keep his feet on the ground and continue to stake his claim for more goals.

"I could not have wished for a better strat," said Mellanby, who scored after his uncle - Brian Atkinson - had cancelled out Mark Tinkler's opener seven minutes earlier.

"And to grab the winner against Pools . . . well it's just unbelievable isn't it. Fantastic. Now all I am focusing on doing is trying to make sure I continue to improve and score more goals.

"No matter how many more I score this one will take some beating."

Quakers' manager Gary Bennett and his number two Mick Tait took a gamble on the Newton Aycliffe-born attacker and it is proving a successful move.

And former Pool boss Tait admitted that, although pleased with Mellanby's performance, there is still an awful lot to come from him.

"We are delighted with Danny," said Tait. "It was a case of bringing in the lad at the right time and t looks as though we have done that.

"He is looking every bit a goalscorer at the moment. He really is showing what potential he has.

"I've never been afraid to look at non League players because there are plenty of good ones out there. Sometimes those players don't have that little bit extra hunger and they don't have the right attitude, but if you wait and pick the right ones out they are usually very hungry to do well."

And Tait has a good track record with non-League findings - he took Jon Cullen from Morpeth to Pool and turned him into a £250,000 player and was desperate to sign then Morpeth front man Kevin Henderson before he moved to Burnley.

Even though Pool enjoyed most of the possession at Victoria Park, Quakers deserved to go away with the points.

Darlington keeper Andy Colett, again so inspirational for Bennett's men in a derby game, was on hand to save superbly when required but Pool were unable to breakdown the visitors defence for the majority of the game.

Chris Turner's strikers Henderson and Ritchie Humphreys did not have the most fruitful of days; in stark contrast the pair's markers, Craig Liddle and David Brightwell, were solid.

The hosts rightly took the lead after 15 minutes when Tinkler headed in a Paul Stephenson's corner. It was the former Leeds United trainee's second of the season after his splendid strike against Shrewsbury a week earlier.

Collett had previously blocked an Ian Clark drive to keep Pool at bay and from the rebound Humphrey's spooned the ball over the bar from close range.

The keeper might not have hit the heights reached when he single-handedly kept Pool at bay at Feethams last season - but he still proved an almost unbreachable barrier.

Surprisingly, it was not until Widdrington's close friend Neil Maddison had limped off for Quakers that the away side came more into the clash.

Maddison's replacement Richard Hodgson had an immediate impact and from his position, wide left, he came inside and shot from 25 yards, but Martin Hollund gathered.

However, Hollund's safe hands got a little slippery on 35 minutes when Darlington equalised.

Summer signing Barry Conlon brought the ball down well and turned before laying the ball for Hodgson, whose dangerous cross should have been dealt with by Hollund.

But instead the Norwegian stopper failed to see the ball to safety and the ball rolled out to Atkinson who powerfully drilled the ball into the Pool goal.

It was Hollund's second mistake in two games and Turner may opt to bring back Anthony Wiliams between the sticks for today's clash at Leyton Orient.

Collett made another classy save, this time from Widdrington, before Mellanby completed the scoring. His goal was created with a mixture of good fortune and skilful running from Neil Wainwright.

With Ian Clark already on a yellow card for bringing down the winger, Wainwright cut in from the right across Clark and ran fully 30 yards before the ball fell into Mellanby's path in the Pool penalty area and the latter poked his shot past Hollund.

With Clark subdued by the early booking, Wainwright spent the rest of the game on top, causing problems with his pace and willingness to run with the ball.

Turner used his tactical acumen to try to change things by introducing first, Darrell Clarke and Jermaine Easter, and then later Anth Lormor, but once again the killer pass proved elusive.

Quakers kept their house in order though and deservedly held firm. They could have added to their lead when good link up play between Mellanby and Hodgson created an opening for Wainwright but, with his ex-manager Peter Reid watching in the stands, he rattled the bar with a volley from six yards.

The current campaign may still be in its infancy but signs are good for these two clubs, a play-off place could well be on the cards come May if Turner and Bennett get the best out of their squads.

Read more about the Quakers here.