Darlington 2, Notts County 2

After two consecutive wins, prior to the third match of the season manager Dave Penney had talked highly of the players he felt were consistent, those that he could rely on.

Ironic then that Saturday's game with Notts County saw Quakers throw away their 100 per cent record with a classic example of how not to defend a lead.

At 2-1 up in stoppage time, Darlington were about to become the only club in the division with three wins from the first three games.

Quakers had a throw-in deep into Notts County's half but did not do the sensible thing and try to keep possession. Instead, the ball was soon in Darlington's penalty area and a number of players failed miserably to clear it. The result being that Richard Butcher popped up to make it 2-2 with the last meaningful kick of the game.

'Unprofessional' Penney called it. Frustrated Darlington supporters probably used other words.

Referee Peter Walton did have a bigger role to play than necessary as he ruled out two Darlington 'goals' during the first half when they played their best football so far this season.

Walton also added a surprising four minutes of stoppage time, but Darlington had nobody to blame but themselves and Penney knew it.

"Obviously we're not professional enough in the final third, or certain individuals aren't," said Penney.

"The players know who they are, I'm not going to name anyone now, that was done in the dressing room.

"We were unprofessional and did not close the game down. We had two or three attempts to clear it and had we done that, with there only being a few seconds left, it would've been game over. But we couldn't clear it and paid the price.

"It doesn't matter to me how much injury-time was played. The bottom line is, in those situations you've got to be professional to see the game out and we didn't.

"We've got to learn from that. We've got to learn that we would have taken a 2-1 win and should've wasted time in the corner.

"It's two points dropped, that's for sure."

During the first half, when Darlington put together their most fluid attacking moves so far this season, that they were not going to win was almost inconceivable.

The opening 20 minutes were particularly entertaining as chances came and went with both Tommy Wright and Pawel Abbott believing they had scored, only to see Walton deny them.

Wright's tap-in was ruled out for a foul on the keeper, who had fumbled Kevin McBride's effort, and then Abbott was adjudged to have used a hand when he knocked a rebound off the crossbar over the line.

So convinced that it was a well-deserved goal, even the PA announcer started playing the usual post-goal music, only for Darlington's celebrations to be cut short. And just for good measure Abbott was booked for deliberate handball.

With Butcher's late, late strike leaving Darlington feeling defeated, Penney was left to pick up the pieces and he said: "On the plus side, it was the best we have played so far this season, better than we were at Barnsley.

"In the first half we could've had two or three goals. We hit the post, had a couple disallowed and had one cleared off the line so there were a lot of positives but the negative was that were unable to see the job out.

"Pawel and Tommy were a handful. Tommy upsets people and he knocks defenders about, which is what we want from him and he was on the end of Pawell's good work to score for us."

That goal came five minutes before the break to puts Quakers ahead. Abbott held off two defenders before laying the ball off to Wright on the penalty spot to slam home, giving him his third goal of the season.

However, similarly to last week at Accrington Stanley, Penney's side were tame after the break and this time paid the penalty by throwing away their one-goal lead.

Notts County showed real commitment and sub Any Parkinson attacked down Quakers' left and delivered a low ball which saw Butcher to steal in ahead of Micky Cummins to score his first of the afternoon from six yards.

If it were not for David Stockdale's heroics the visitors would soon have been ahead, but he managed to get a hand to a heavily-deflected Jay Smith shot.

But Quakers were handed a lifeline with just four minutes to go. Neil Wainwright, playing for the first time this season, swung over a cross to fellow sub Ian Miller who headed downwards and over the line to grab a goal against the run of play.

It was a huge relief for Darlington, the points appeared safe. And they would have been had Gregg Blundell not shot well wide when one-on-one with the keeper in the last minutes.

But then came the disaster which cost victory. Darlington had possession deep in County's half but soon, somehow, they found themselves unable to clear from their own penalty area and it left Butcher to volley home a second leveller.

Watch the match highlights from Monday, August 27