After opening his account with two goals at Accrington Stanley, striker Pawel Abbott revealed he had a half-time rollicking to thank for finding the back of the net.

He had failed to score in his first two games and reached half-time on Saturday still awaiting his first goal since his £100,000 move.

But just four minutes after the restart the former Swansea City forward made it 2-0.

Manager Dave Penney and assistant Martin Gray had told Abbott he should be getting into the opposition's penalty area more regularly and their words of wisdom paid dividends.

Abbott, who completed 90 minutes for the first time this season, explained: "The gaffer and Martin had a bit of a go at me at half-time, they told me I needed to get into the penalty area more because I was lagging behind and letting other players get in the box.

"So when I played the ball out to Chris I did have that in mind. I tried to get into the box as quickly as possible and just managed to get a foot to it.

"You don't always got your rewards for them runs, you've just going to keep on hoping that one will come your way.

"I started pre-season a week later and then missed nearly two weeks before the season started and you can probably tell.

"So it was good to get my first 90 minutes of the season under my belt and these goals will give me a boost."

His second goal came from the penalty spot in injury-time after a foul on sub striker Gregg Blundell who had replaced Tommy Wright, the scorer of Quakers' opening goal.

But Abbott was keen to pay tribute to the Darlington defence who were kept occupied for a lengthy spell during the second half.

"It was a good all-round performance but the defence were really good," said Abbott. "They worked hard to keep a clean sheet and without that we might not have won.

"Me and Tommy scored the goals but a lot of praise has to go to the defence for keeping the goals out. The sign of a good side is a good defence and I think we have one."

Midfielders Ricky Ravenhill (hamstring) and Kevin McBride (knee) picked up injuries at Accrington and their condition will be assessed today, but Clark Keltie (hernia) and Micky Cummins (groin), who was used as a sub on Saturday, are both returning to fitness.

Both Keltie and Cummins could feature in the Quakers second XI, who will play their matches at Norton & Stockton Ancients' ground, against Sheffield Wednesday tonight at 7pm.