DARLINGTON 2,

ALDERSHOT TN 0

DARLINGTON may be in administration, but they delivered on the pitch on Saturday, beating Aldershot who were visiting the north-east on the back of two successive wins.

The Northern Echo Darlington Arena can hold 27,000 spectators, but therein lies the club's main problem as they struggle to maintain a state of the art stadium on gates averaging under 3,000 in these straitened economical times.

With back-to-back wins of their own, the Quakers are nine points off the play-offs, although their main priority must be to regain financial security.

Goals from Curtis Main and Danny Carlton were enough to complete victory over Aldershot who, it is fair to say, did not enjoy the rub of the green. The visitors were convinced that teenager Main's effort – on the stroke of half-time – should have been ruled out for offside.

Aldershot, true to form, showed plenty of attacking intent and carved out the first decent chance of the game after 20 minutes. Andy Sandell's shrewd ball put Jake Robinson clear on goal and although Darlington skipper Steve Foster managed to close down the on-loan Brighton striker, Andy Oakes still had to make an important save in the home goal.

Darlington quickly countered and the crossing ability of Franz Burgmeier, their Liechtenstein international, caused problems for keeper Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz.

Oakes was the busier keeper, though, and the ex-Derby County man made an excellent save when tipping over a venomous free-kick from Sandell.

He followed up with an important double save from John Grant, keen to follow up his midweek brace at Rotherham.

But it was Darlington who made the vital breakthrough as the half went into injury time.

A Burgmeier corner was only half cleared and Alan White headed the ball to Main, who appeared to be in an offside decision, and the 16-year-old, making only his second start of the season, finished coolly with his left foot.

Gary Waddock and Martin Kuhl made their feelings felt after what transpired to be the turning-point of the game. Early in the second half, Darlington manager Dave Penney withdrew the youngster and switched to a 4-4-1-1 formation.

The Shots responded by replacing the influential Sandell with Marvin Morgan and playing three up front.

Danny Carlton, now the home side's lone striker, almost caught Ruiz out with a long-range lob.

Kirk Hudson went close at the other end, but the visitors were struggling to break down Darlington's defensive formation. Morgan shot wide when he should have done better after being set up by Dave Winfield's perfectly weighted ball.

Then, on 72 minutes, Darlington grabbed the killer second goal.

After a neat passing move inside the box, Ricky Ravenhill played in Carlton who glided the ball in off the far post.

Morgan wasted another good opening before Carlton contrived to miss an absolute sitter. But a third would have been hard on Aldershot who played better than the score suggests.

"We played extremely well in the first half," said Gary Waddock. "But their goal just before half-time changed the course of the game – and my talk at half-time. I felt we had coped well with everything until that goal. It changed the game."

Darlington: Oakes, Valentine, White, Foster, Ryan, Burgmeier (Poole 70), Kennedy, Ravenhill, Purdie, Main (Griffin 54), Carlton. Subs (not used): Kazimierczak, Miller, Riley.

Aldershot: Jaimez-Ruiz, Blackburn, Charles, Winfield, Straker, Hudson, Chalmers, Davies, Sandell (Morgan 56), Grant, Robinson. Subs (not used): Soares, Hylton, Newman, Cochrane. Booked: Winfield, Robinson.

Attendance: 2,532.

Referee: Andy Haines (Tyne & Wear).