A 91st minute winner from Darlington’s talisman, Patrick McLaughlin handed his side a dramatic 3-2 victory at The Eyrie, condemning Bedford Town to a second consecutive winless weekend under Harry Smart in National League North.
Despite taking a first half lead and looking the more polished side on the day, Bedford Town couldn’t make their relative dominance count, taking just two of their many opportunities and failing to negate the threat of the Quakers on the counter.
With Bedford Town losing frustratingly to Tyrone Marsh’s Oxford City 1-0 and Darlington losing to Worksop in the sides’ respective curtain raisers, a first win of the season was pertinent for each team to get off the mark in league.
It was clear that the Eagles fancied themselves on home turf as they burst out of the traps from the first whistle, finding avenues of attack as if it were second nature.
Early chances marginally evaded Reading loanee, Reece Evans and Josh Castiglione as the Eagles’ final pass left a little to be desired.
The first moment of contention in the game stemmed from a loose Darlington back pass.
Eno Nto exploded into life to intercept the pass on the right flank. He charged into the box and was nudged to the ground by Walker; contact which the referee deemed to be legal.
Dreadful injury time
Nto would return to the fore not long after his penalty incident, this time as the scorer of the first league goal of the Smart era.
Eagles marquee summer signing, David Hicks sprayed a searching lofted pass from his own box in the direction of Nto on the right wing. Nto brought it down excellently, breezing past Tom Bryant before bundling the ball past keeper Jones at the second time of asking.
Nto’s opener marked the 40th minute of the game, leaving the Quakers with a mountain to climb were they to respond before half time.
And climb they did.
Just two minutes after Bedford’s goal, a wayward pass in the Eagles’ defensive third handed possession to Patrick McLaughlin.
With precious little in the way of support, McLaughlin faced up to Ryan Doherty. Opting to go outside the Bedford defender on to his left foot, McLaughlin then lashed an effort into the roof of the net to equalise.
A minute into time added on Darlington were at it again, taking advantage of a complete capitulation from Bedford Town.
This time McLaughlin was on corner duty. He curled the ball in towards the near post, almost beating Laurie Walker who was forced to punch the ball away.
Ellis Stanton gathered the botched clearance just ten yards from goal, striking low and hard into the bottom right corner with the help of a deflection off Junior Gyamfi.
The complexion of the game had flipped entirely in just six minutes, much to the frustration of the Eagles dugout.
The start of the second half was reminiscent to that of the first half; Bedford looked a sharp attacking threat with Moncur and Franklin leading promising attacks.
During a sustained attack on the Darlington goal, Gyamfi was brought down on the edge of the box just as he was about to pull the trigger.
The ensuing free kick gave Bedford Town a clear sight at Jones’ goal, something they hadn’t had since Nto’s first half exploits.
George Moncur stood aside allowing the left foot of Joe Payne to guide the ball under the wall and into the bottom left corner, bringing the score to a nail-biting two apiece.
McLaughlin has the last laugh
With Bedford going full throttle for a winner in the closing third of the game, gaps did begin to appear for the visitors.
Dylan Stephenson rattled the woodwork before Stanton had a shot which looked destined to be his second of the afternoon blocked by Walker.
Truly clear-cut opportunities came few and far between for Bedford Town, the best of which fell to Moncur who couldn’t beat Jones with his low driven effort.
Despite that, Moncur was the best Eagles player on the day, dictating all of their attacks with his signature skilful style.
As the second 45 minutes dragged on, Darlington began looking far more goal-hungry, as if they had been conserving energy.
Just as the board went up to indicate an additional three minutes, Patrick McLaughlin received the ball from the left wing as he turned inwards on the edge of the penalty area.
McLaughlin then struck a perfectly curling effort with his weaker right foot, finding the right hand side of the net and earning his team the spoils.
While it was jubilation for McLaughlin and company, for the Eagles it brought back memories of last season’s stoppage time woes which were all too frequent.
Bedford don’t have to wait long for their next opportunity to pick up a first win of the campaign, as they play again on Tuesday (18 August) at home against Buxton; a side who have won and drawn their opening two fixtures.
