A YEAR of mixed fortunes saw Darlington win almost as many games as they lost and score nearly as many goals as they conceded, summing up a mediocre 12 months in which they saved the best until last.

Boxing Day’s thumping 5-1 win against York City was the team’s best performance of 2018: a big win and fully-deserved victory in front of a large attendance.

Matching it three days later against Ashton United on Saturday was always going to be a big ask.

It was low in entertainment, lacking the Boxing Day thrills, yet supporters still left Blackwell beaming after a 2-1 win and seeing Andrew Nelson add two more goals to his collection, the second one a blockbuster that will surely not be topped this season.

It came in the 83rd minute with Quakers already ahead 1-0, Nelson collecting possession near halfway on the left, holding off an opposition player before heading for goal.

He took five touches as he carefully nudged the ball forward before reaching shooting distance, advancing until 25 yards from goal before looking up and larruping the ball beyond goalkeeper Luke Pilling.

Hit so cleanly that the ball bounced off the net and back on to the pitch, the strike gave Quakers a two-goal lead and back-to-back wins for only the second time this season.

Manager Tommy Wright admitted: “It’s a contender for goal of the season. It has given Jordan Nicholson a run for his money.”

Nelson was more modest, saying: “A nice little bobble lifted the ball up and that took it into the net.

“Ben O’Hanlon was screaming for the ball and I was in two minds about whether to play it or not, but I kept my head down, they backed off and the space opened up so I thought why not.”

Both goals were scored by Nelson, the 21-year-old again underlining how important he has already become to a team that just a few weeks ago could not win a game.

He scored twice on his debut against Chorley, set two up last week in a 3-3 draw at Altrincham and has now bagged a brace against both York and Ashton.

That makes it six goals in four appearances, and manager Wright, as well as the fans, want him to extend his stay beyond the one-month loan from Sunderland.

Wright said: “We were lucky to get him and I’m still hopeful that we can keep him.

“I want him to stay, he is loving it here. Every striker wants to score goals and that is what he is doing at the minute.

“He got two assists away to Altrincham and scored two goals in each of the other three games, it’s a hell of a contribution, eight goals in four games is massive.”

Where would Darlington be without Nelson’s contribution? Much closer to the relegation zone, that’s where. Instead, they are now six points above the drop zone and 15th.

It is difficult to see how Quakers would have won without Nelson on Saturday, he was the difference between two teams that created little in a largely flat encounter.

Quakers can at least take solace from winning ugly, coming out on top despite not playing as well as they can.

Wright said: “Ashton went 4-2-4 and pinned our wingbacks back, it didn’t let us get out and that worked well in their favour.

“Two or three weeks ago we would’ve crumbled. It was a test of character and I’m delighted that passed the test.”

He named an unchanged starting XI and made a promising start without giving Pilling a save to make, Liam Hughes heading wide and Nicholson firing over.

Amid a subdued atmosphere Ashton, second-bottom of the table, enjoyed their best spell of possession just before Nelson’s goal against the run of play on 38 minutes, a defensive mishap playing in the striker who carefully played the ball over the top of onrushing Pilling.

But the goal did not awaken the teams from their slumber and the second half was similarly uneventful.

Both teams enjoyed long-awaited wins on Boxing Day, so perhaps the excesses of Christmas had taken a toll and they just wanted a leisurely afternoon to blow the cobwebs off.

There was an escape for Quakers when James Jones volleyed over when unmarked after an Ashton corner was flicked on, but then Nelson intervened with his belter.

It was Quakers’ 66th goal of the year, and at that point equalled the total they had conceded in 2018 until the 88th minute when Ashton’s Liam Tomsett headed in at close-range after meeting a right-wing cross, denying Darlington a clean sheet for the eight game in a row.

Darlington showed resolve to see out the contest, and go to York tomorrow hoping to maintain momentum at the start of a new year.