A FIRST-HALF goal from Jack Maskell gave Darlington victory at Blackwell Meadows – but Spennymoor were left furious about three penalty decisions.

Quakers are now unbeaten in their last three matches and haven’t conceded a goal in the process, plus they’ve climbed above Moors, who haven’t won now in three, in the table.

It was probably one of the scrappiest matches between these two injury-hit rivals in recent years and Moors will argue they should have had something out of the game, but it was decided by a majestic header by Maskell in the first half.

Darlington manager Steve Watson said: “It was a fantastic result in a local derby. We got another clean sheet and we defended our box brilliantly. But another side of me is frustrated with the way we played, especially with ball retention.

"I thought the top end was okay and we made decent decisions around their box, but when we won the ball back in transition, we invited pressure with the number
of passes we gave away.

"Jack is a great header of the ball, he’s an old fashioned striker who enjoys attacking the ball. Our assistant manager, Terry Mitchell, has been working on that corner in particular, and Matty Cornish got it on the button.

“It was a really tough game, there wasn’t a lot of football played, but it was such an important win.”

Moors manager Graeme Lee was furious with referee Robert Claussen, and said: “I feel as if we should have had two clear-cut penalties and he’s given them one which wasn’t in the box. The decision making from the referee was embarrassing.

“For the first one, their keeper cleared Rob Ramshaw out, but the ref played on. His explanation at half-time made no sense whatsoever. The second one, the foul was outside the box. It was nowhere near a penalty.

“For the third one, Isaac Fletcher drove into the box. He took two players on, rode one tackle and the next one catches him on the back of his ankle and he goes down. The ref books him, but it was a clear-cut penalty.”

Moors forced three corners in the opening 16 minutes without any real success, and Quakers scored from their first after the Moors defence had stopped a run by Andrew Nelson.

The ball was floated over from the right by Matty Cornish for summer signing Maskell to come storming in unmarked and head powerfully into the top corner.

Moors responded with a driven free-kick by Reece Staunton which keeper Peter Jameson saved at the foot of his post, then Fletcher broke down the left and pulled the ball back into the six-yard box where Corey McKeown couldn’t get a touch.

Will Hatfield though nearly made it 2-0 when a corner was cleared out for him to hit a low drive that Moors debutant keeper Henry Popple, the replacement for the injured Brad James, saved low down.

Moors felt aggrieved for the first time in the game just before half-time when Staunton floated the ball into the box where Ramshaw and Jameson collided as they both went for the ball, but the referee, much to Moors’ anger, pointed for a goal kick.

Just on half-time, Moors nearly scored when Callum Ross set up Glen Taylor, whose clever touch seemed to be going in until Jameson fingertipped the ball away.

In the second half, Moors defender Dan Myers charged forward and fired over the bar as Quakers were content to hold them at bay.

Hatfield was denied for the second time in the game by Popple when a corner fell to him on the edge of the area, before there was controversy over a second penalty.

There was a scrappy period of play on the edge of the Moors box before Hatfield broke free and went down when challenged, with referee Claussen pointing to the spot, Moors claiming that the challenge was outside.

Maskell stepped up for the penalty, but Popple guessed correctly and blocked his effort to his left.

That encouraged Moors for one final push, and when Fletcher went into the area and went down with defenders around him, they loudly claimed a penalty, but the referee decided that he’d dived and booked him, although Moors pointed to video after the game that he’d been tripped.

And there was more agony for Moors in the last minute when Scott Barrow cleared an effort off his own line.