Kick-off: 19:45
Venue: Christie Park
Attendance: 2773
Referee: Drysdale, D

Live Commentary

90 mins

The ref has blown his whistle for full time.

85 mins

Darlington are replacing Tommy Wright with Clark Keltie.

82 mins

Garry Thompson is being taken off, Wayne Curtis has come on in his place.

80 mins

Michael Cummins is replaced by Rob Purdie.

75 mins

Morecambe are replacing Stewart Drummond with Garry Hunter.

74 mins

Simon Grand goes into the referees book for unsporting behaviour.

70 mins

Goal!! Darlington have scored with Gregg Blundell putting it in the back of the net.

65 mins

Michael Cummins is booked for unsporting behaviour.

63 mins

Goal!! Darlington have scored with Julian Joachim putting it in the back of the net.

62 mins

Pawel Abbott is being taken off, Gregg Blundell has come on in his place.

60 mins

Tommy Wright goes into the referees book for unsporting behaviour.

46 mins

The second half is under way with the score currently at 0 v 1.

45 mins

Half time whistle is blown by D Drysdale

28 mins

Goal!! Neil Austin scores for Darlington.

0 mins

It's 7:45pm on Tuesday, January 15th, the match has kicked off.

Match Report

Darlington maintained their play-off push with an excellent away win at in-form Morecambe.

The Shrimps were in many ways the architects of their own downfall as all three Darlington goals came from Morecambe corners.

Darlington cleared quickly and their pace and speed of thought on the counter was clinical.

After a bright start from the Lancashire side, the Quakers took the lead on 28 minutes when a Morecambe corner was cleared and five Darlington players swarmed forward with only two home defenders back.

Pawel Abbott was presented with the first chance which Shwan Jalal did well to save, but the ball broke perfectly for Neil Austin to score his first ever Football League goal after more than 150 appearances.

Morecambe were then denied on several occasions by Darlington keeper David Stockdale, who saved superbly from Craig Stanley low to his right and Michael Twiss, before Stanley was unlucky to hit the crossbar with a rising shot after a storming run.

The home side started the second half on the front foot with Stockdale again saving smartly again from a Twiss header and Garry Thompson's cross flashing across the area, needing only the slightest touch to get the equaliser.

These missed chances were punished when the visitors went two in front and again it came from a corner as Stockdale gathered the ball.

He cleared quickly for substitute Gregg Blundell and his square ball was expertly converted by Julian Joachim.

The Quakers then killed the game off 20 minutes from time with another speedy attack.

Joachim again received the ball in space on the right and he provided Blundell with the perfect chance to slot past the stranded Jalal.

Morecambe were denied a late consolation goal when the excellent Stockdale again foiled Twiss' close-range effort.

Morecambe Team

Darlington Team

Morecambe

Darlington

Corners

Fouls

Goal attempts

Shots off target

Offsides

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