Scunthorpe 1 Darlington 1

Naylor can't do much wrong at the moment, and in the last fortnight has acquired the knack of being in the right place at the right time. Quakers will be hoping that he doesn't lose it while the rest of the team fire blanks, although Scunthorpe keeper Tom Evans pulled off some good saves.

Darlington fans saw two familiar aspects of their team in the game. For the first fifteen minutes, they defended shakily, with Scunthorpe looking increasingly dangerous from corners, but the Iron also seem to be affected by the same malaise as Quakers in front of goal. Maybe it's spreading.

For the rest of the game, Quakers played their trademark football, passing the ball well and making good runs with and without the ball. And that was despite losing injured left back Gary Himsworth after six minutes, which forced a tactical change from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 . There were some good individual performances, with Brian Atkinson doing well in his first game after injury, and he was well supported in midfield by Thomas Butler and Richard Hodgson.

"We could have had three points," said manager Gary Bennett. "The football we played was delightful to watch, and we created a lot of chances, especially after we had to make changes early in the game.

"As the game went on, we got stronger and stronger. Leading up to half time we were causing them a few problems, and the second half proved that. "We had three or four chances in the last ten minutes, and Brian Atkinson and Glenn nearly pinched all three points. I thought that Scunthorpe couldn't handle our passing and movement in the second half, and they were a bit surprised with the way we passed the ball around.

" I got the response I wanted after the defeat by Kidderminster, and I thought we achieved the standards we set earlier in the season "It wasn't the best of starts, but you have to pay credit to their lad because it was a good finish."

Naylor is now the club's leading scorer with five goals, and Bennett said; "I've said before that I'm looking for a striker, but at the end of the day, I might have one underneath my nose.

"He's shown in the last few matches that he knows where the goal is -- he's in a good patch, so long may it continue. "I won't have time anyway to look for a new striker this week, because of the games we have in midweek."

For the seventh successive league and cup game away from home this season, Quakers conceded the first goal. They had a nervous start to the game, in which they were pushed back by a series of Scunthorpe corners. Left back Andy Dawson put over some dangerous corners, from which firstly Alex Calvo-Garcia fired wide and then Gareth Sheldon's header was tipped over the bar well by keeper Andy Collett.

Quakers had to reshuffle after 7 minutes when left back Gary Himsworth twisted awkwardly when he conceded a corner and had to be helped off, so Adam Reed replaced him.

Scunthorpe's early pressure paid off after 9 minutes. Dawson's corner reached Guy Ipoua on the other side of the box and he drove the ball fiercely towards goal where Stuart Elliott, in trying to clear, could only slide the ball into his own net. Quakers have now conceded seven goals in the opening fifteen minutes of matches this season, although three of those were against Bradford City.

There were two more dodgy moments for Quakers. Collett managed to palm away a header from Steve Torpey, then he stopped Lee Hodges after the midfielder made a good run. Andy Woodward also got behind the defence to set up Bjarni Larusson, but the midfielder blazed wide from ten yards. But Quakers steadily came more into the game, with the midfielders and strikers pushing forward at every opportunity. Lee Nogan beat two men as he cut in from the left, but his shot was touched around the post, then Craig Liddle's header from Hodgson's corner was cleared off the line. And after Collett pushed a Russ Wilcox header following another left wing corner around the post, Quakers levelled just before half time.

Lee Nogan pulled the ball back from the goalline for Butler to head powerfully towards goal, and even though Scunthorpe keeper Tom Evans blocked the ball, the alert Hodgson nodded the ball back into the six yard box for Naylor to head past Evans.

Quakers improved visibly in the second half, with the Scunthorpe defence often back-pedalling. Elliott blasted a free kick straight at Evans, who then saved at Nogan's feet after the striker seized on a poor backpass by Mark Jackson.

The keeper then went full length to deny the rampaging Butler, who then supplied a delightful low cross into the six yard box which Naylor just failed to convert. Evans denied Nogan after another good run, but the keeper saved his best until two minutes from time, when Nogan laid the ball off perfectly for Atkinson to volley towards the top corner, but Evans flew across his goal to push the ball away.

And in the last minute, he was relieved that Nogan headed into his hands from a driven cross by Elliott.

Matchfacts

Scunthorpe 1 Darlington 1 (HT 1-1) Goals; Elliott (9 mins, own goal, 1-0) Naylor (41 mins, 1-1) Bookings; Naylor, Jackson, Reed, Sheldon (all fouls), Ipoua (timewasting) Attendance; 3,298 Scunthorpe (4-4-2); EVANS 8, Dawson 7, Stanton 6, Wilcox 6 (sub Jackson 35 mins, 6), Woodward 6; Sheldon 7 (sub Morrison 79 mins), Larusson 6, Hodges 7, Calvo-Garcia 6 (sub Graves 88 mins); Ipoua 7, Torpey 6. Subs not used; Miotto (g/k), Stamp Darlington (4-4-2/3-5-2); Collett 8, Elliott 7, Liddle 7, Aspin 7, Himsworth (sub Reed 6 mins, 7); Hjorth 6, Atkinson 7, Butler 7 , HODGSON 8, Nogan 7, Naylor 7. Subs not used; Skelton, Angel, Tait, Van Der Geest (g/k) Referee; Paul Carson (Hinckley) Man of the match; Richard Hodgson -- proved a few people at Scunthorpe wrong with a versatile display.