Darlington 1, Peterborough United 1

It is well documented that Darlington signed several players in pre-season and, with the club among the early-season pace-setters, most of them have started their Quakers careers in style. Xavier Barrau's debut however, will go down as one of the worst in recent history.

Having waited a month to take his bow he emerged from the substitutes bench on Saturday fired up and eager to impress his new boss and supporters intrigued by the Frenchman they had yet to see.

Just 22 minutes later he was walking back to the dressing rooms after being sent off for two yellow cards, the second booking particularly stupid.

In his brief time on the pitch the French winger was booked first for persistent infringements and then for a totally unnecessary lunge on Peterborough's Chris Westwood.

Penney said that Barrau apologised to his team-mates who, thanks to the Frenchman, had Tommy Wright's one-goal lead to defend for the final 15 minutes.

After a scrappy performance, Wright had put Quakers ahead with a header midway through the second half, from Quakers' first effort on target, after which Darlington stepped up a gear and appeared set for an undeserved win.

But 12 minutes later Barrau saw red and with just 22 seconds of normal to play Peterborough equalised, meaning that, for the second week running, and the third time this season, Quakers lost points thanks to a late goal.

Had Barrau kept his head however, Darlington may still have been top of the table and Penney effectively blamed the Frenchman.

There is no guarantee that even if Barrau been on the pitch Quakers would have won. But they would certainly have had a much better chance.

As he trudged off the pitch and past the dug-outs, Barrau was lucky his disappointed manager not hand him his P45 there and then. As debuts go, it was about as bad as it gets.

"I was angry with him at the time and he has just apologised in the changing room to the rest of the lads," said Penney.

"It was over eagerness to do well on his first appearance. He knows, and we know, that if we had kept 11 men on the field we would have gone to win that game.

"The first yellow was for pulling the player's shirt, the second yellow was for smashing into their player so there's no arguments from me. As soon as he did the second one I knew he was off.

"He's been chomping at the bit to play and he's obviously been looking to do well but he got two bookings and we were hanging on after that."

Barrau's debut debacle was typical of Darlington's weekend. The signs were ominous on Friday in training when keeper David Stockdale hurt his shoulder which meant a recall for Andy Oakes, and then in the pre-match warm-up leading scorer Pawel Abbott hurt his knee and had to drop out. In his place came Gregg Blundell.

Posh had problems too as their keeper, Mark Tyler, hurt his back while warming up so he was replaced by rookie Shawn Jalal.

But Jalal was not tested at all in the whole of the first half whereas Oakes had three saves to make in the first ten minutes as Darlington struggled.

Peterborough, particularly on the left, caused problems but the closest they came to scoring was Dean Keates' effort from six yards that was tipped over the bar by Oakes.

Thereafter, although Posh saw more of the ball, goalmouth action was minimal. But after Penney switched the more forward-thinking Purdie to right-back instead of Miller, Darlington began to show flashes of decent football.

And they went ahead with Wright's fourth goal of the season after 63 minutes. He craned his neck to guide a 12-yard header past Jalal following Joachim's right-wing cross and suddenly Quakers were 1-0 up when, for a long time, it had seemed an unlikely prospect.

Just seconds before the goal, Barrau pulled Craig Morgan's shirt and so collected a booking for persistent infringements. At the time innocuous, it proved decisive 12 minutes after Wright's strike when the Frenchman flattened Westwood.

Positioned on the touchline near halfway, the defender posed no threat at all and was hardly inviting the kind of last-ditch, match-saving tackle that Barrau seemed to think was required.

A foolish thing to do, even if he had not already been cautioned. Barrau trudged back to the changing rooms where he must have been keeping his fingers crossed that his team-mates would save him from further embarrassment.

They couldn't.

Just as against MK Dons and Notts County, Quakers conceded late on with Craig Mackail-Smith pouncing on a loose ball as Darlington failed to clear.

Just prior to the goal however, after Blundell had been treated for a head wound, the referee instructed Posh's keeper should receive the ball from an unchallenged drop ball, even though Quakers had been in possession before Blundell's injury.

From the resulting attack came the equaliser which left Darlington feeling frustrated, but despite the manner of the goal Peterborough deserved the point.