A last minute equaliser snatched two points from ten man Darlington against promotion rivals Peterborough after Tommy Wright clawed a second half opener out of the blue to give the Quakers the initiative in a largely lifeless encounter.

The first half was testament to why Darlington find themselves occupying top spot in League Two as once again a staunch rearguard prevented Peterborough from tucking away one of the chances they created. But despite this Andy Oakes, returning for the injured David Stockdale, only had two saves to make; first a very confident stop low to his left from Charlie Lee's fizzing twenty-yard drive, a stop that seemed to spur Oakes on to put in a solid and composed display, two minutes in and five minutes later he sublimely tipped over Mackail-Smith's close range effort illustrating the sharpest of reflexes.

But the goalless scoreline masqueraded as a distraction from the otherwise sloppy and untidy first forty-five for the defence Alan White, Tim Ryan and in particularly Ian Miller were guilty of basic errors right throughout the half. In discrepancies that cost Miller his place just after the break, Xavier Barrau replaced him to make his debut with Rob Purdie reverting to full back.

The hosts did muster a handful of half chances created by some smart and intelligent one touch play and towards the end of the half by utilising the criminally isolated wingers, with Julian Joachim and Purdie both looking threatening with the ball at their feet.

Shwan Jalal in goal for Posh, incidentally a late replacement for Mark Tyler who got injured, like Pawel Abbott, in the warm up, didn't have a save to make though as even the attacking advances of White and, just before half time, Foster whose burst forward and one-two with Blundell was about the closest the hosts came to breaking through the sturdy rearguard of Craig Moran and the impressive Chris Westwood.

Peterborough started much the better but were reigned in somewhat by a ten minute walloping contest around the half hour with numerous rash challenges flying in from both sides, invariably needless ones at that, resulting in a couple of bookings from no nonsense referee. The second half continued to fail to arouse any great hope until the sixty-second minute when pretty much out of the blue Joachim flighted a ball into Wright on the edge of the six yard box and the target man managed to wrap his head around the ball from behind him and slot past Jalal who was caught out wrong footed.

It was Darlington's first meaningful effort at goal, and the first on target, but that's the predatorial instincts that have been bred into this squad of lions. It seems almost unthinkable that Joachim was destined for the door in pre-season given his supply has continuously been one of the greatest attacking threats Penney's side have come to rely upon in the early stages of the campaign. With just over quarter-of-an-hour remaining the lethargic pace of the game looked set to ensure a fairly easy ride towards another three points. That was until Xavier Barrau, on the pitch for little over twenty minutes, slid in late on Newton to get his second booking and a debut dismissal for the French winger.

Peterborough flung on George Boyd and Rene Howe to give them four recognised strikers on the field, one of which - Boyd, fired a fraction over the top after a neat swivel in the six yard box, his venomous strike would have given Oakes little to no chance had he hit the target. But Posh were left short at the back, even though they only had goalscorer Tommy Wright to contend with. This season's overall joint top scorer gave Jalal cause for concern, forcing the former Woking and Spurs stopper to full starch to cling to his half volley after brilliantly latching onto the hoof forward and shrugging off the powerful Morgan.

The lack of numbers proved costly as in the dieing seconds of normal time Mackail-Smith ran onto Purdie's half clearance across the box to blast into the roof of the net.
It was tough luck on Purdie who did excellently to make a last ditch tackle before unfortunately half hitting the clearance.With the scores tied and both teams unwilling to share the spoils the four minutes stoppage time made for a rip roaring affair with chances at both ends with Clark Keltie providing the final coup de gras rattling a deflected free kick against the post to mark the last act of the game.

For a vastly dull affair, unbelievably contested by two teams that have been bookies favourites for the title this season, the draw was probably a fair result and a fair reflection of proceedings. The extra man could have made a difference but it was a frustrating day for both sides who only came to the races in the late stages of the game.

Darlington: Oakes, Ryan, White, Foster, Miller (Barrua 53), Cummins, Blundell, Purdie, Joachim, Ravenhill (Keltie 58), Wright (Wainwright 86). Subs: Wainwright, Keltie, Palmer, Pocklington, Barrua.

Peterborough: Jalal, Newton, Day, Westwood (Howe 76), Morgan, Charnock, Hyde, Lee, Keates (Boyd 72), Mclean, Mackail-Smith. Subs: Whelpdale, Gnakpa, Strachan, Boyd, Howe.

Darlington bookings: White, Barrua, Barrua (sent-off for second yellow on 75 mins).

Peterborough bookings: Day, Charnock.

Goals: Wright 63rd min (1-0), Mackail-Smith 90th min (1-1).

Report by Garry Mann.