Darlington 2 Boston United 1

Scorer: Wheater 4 mins, 1-0, Lambert 22 mins, 2-0, Elliott 60 mins, 2-1

Attendance 1474

Two first half goals set up Quakers for their fifth successive home win and put them closer to the play offs.

David Wheater opened the scoring after 4 minutes then Jack Lambert added a second by the midway point in the first half to put Quakers in control.

Boston rallied in the second half and pulled a goal back. Even though they had a man sent off, they piled on the pressure but Quakers held on well.

Quakers took the lead on 4 minutes, a low corner kick was curled in by Jack Lambert into the near post, and skipper David Wheater flicked the ball in past the keeper.

Ben Hedley then received treatment for a for a foul by Femi Seriki, who was booked.

Boston had a chance on 8 minutes, a free kick was curled in from the left and nodded down for Brad Nicholson to fire over the top.

Wheater conceded a corner as Seriki tried to break through, then Kallum Griffiths shepherded the ball out under pressure from Seriki again.

A move right to left ended with Ben Hedley’s cross going just past the far post.

At the other end, Danny Elliott tried his luck with a left foot shot from the edge of the box that Taylor allowed to go wide.

Griffiths found Cameron Thompson on side with a ball down the right, but Thompson’s low cross was cut out for a corner.

Quakers went 2-0 up on 22 minutes . A corner from the right by Danny Rose was headed away as far as Jack Lambert, who wrongfooted a defender 25 yards out and lashed a right foot shot into the bottom corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Jake Cassidy did well to force a corner on 39 minutes which was floated by Rose over to the far post where Kevin Dos Santos miskicked on the corner of the six yard box.

It was nearly 3-0 on 45 minutes. Lambert found space on the right, and squared the ball for Dos Santos to strike a first time right foot shot just wide of the right hand post.

Half time 2-0

Adriano Moke covered his defence well at the start of the second half when Boston tried to break and he put in a sliding tackle.

Quakers nearly scored on 57 minutes. Tom Platt had a header cleared off the Darlington line, but Quakers broke quickly down the right through Thompson, who put a great ball into the middle that Dos Santos couldn’t turn in.

Boston were given a penalty on 60 minutes. Rose was adjudged to have committed a foul just inside the area, and the referee awarded a penalty which Elliott converted.

The visitors nearly levelled on 75 minutes, when a corner came in from the right and Ntumba Massanka headed just over.

Boston were reduced to ten men on 78 minutes when Luke Shiels was shown a straight red for a tackle from behind on Cassidy on the halfway line.

Quakers defended well after that, and it was nearly 3-1 when Mondal found Dos Santos with a good reverse pass and he set up Cassidy whose low shot was well saved by Dewhurst.

But Boston piled forward, and keeper Tommy Taylor made a very good save from Massanka.

In stoppage time Wheater went off injured and had to be replaced by Danny Ellis, who headed away a corner as soon as he came on.

Final score: Darlington 2 Boston 1

Team:

Taylor, Griffiths, Wheater (sub Ellis 90+1), Lawlor, Hedley, Rose (sub Purver 82), Moke, Dos Santos, Lambert (sub Mondal 84), Thompson, Cassidy

Subs: O'Neill, Lowe

Boston: Dewhurst, Platt, Shiels, Thanoj (sub Preston 46), Burrow, Elliott, Abbott, Leesley, Byrne, Seriki, Nicholson

Subs: Duxbury, Shanks, Massanka, Sault

Booking: Seriki

We'd like to thank DAFTS for being our match sponsors

https://dafts1883.wordpress.com/

And Controlled Access for being our matchball sponsors

https://www.controlledaccess.uk/

and the Arthur Wharton Foundation for being our special sponsors:

https://arthurwhartonfoundation.org/