Final Score: Durham City 0 Darlington 4

A MIX of relief and delight met Darlington's welcome return to form at Durham City.

After almost a month without a win and with the biggest game of the season just days away, anything other than a convincing win would have given Quakers further cause for concern.

Momentum had dipped. Two unexpected defeats to lowly opposition as well as a couple of postponements had stilted excitement while their advantage at the top of the league ebbed away.

Their belief is now back and so too is their seven-point lead over Spennymoor Town following Saturday's 4-0 win at Durham - as convincing as the scoreline suggests and exactly what was required ahead of Moors' visit on Wednesday.

"We had to get back to winning ways and I'm delighted with the way we reacted," said manager Martin Gray after seeing his team record a first clean sheet in 15 games.

"I said after losing at Aycliffe last week that we'd have a reaction, I demanded it.

"We had to start well, we had to come out of the blocks straightaway and we did. Because of that, it gave the players the confidence and belief that they needed.

"The performance was very good for the whole 90 minutes because we controlled the game from start to finish."

Darlington looked the likely winners from the moment Terry Galbraith scored an eighth-minute penalty.

Awarded after centre-back Graham Irving had felled David Dowson, the spot-kick was Quakers' tenth of the season, nine of them successful.

Galbraith notched in his second appearance for the club, in which he was shifted to centre-midfield.

He excelled as part of Gray's reshuffle, which also saw Leon Scott move to left-back, Amar Purewal return to the forward line and Stephen Thompson go to left-wing.

It worked a treat. Thompson's strength and close control saw him frequently dribble past his ex-team-mates while Purewal, also playing against his former club, scored twice.

Gray said: "We changed a few things around and I thought Leon adapted really well. He's played there before.

"Terry went into midfield and some of his play was excellent. You can give him the ball and he won't get flustered."

The changes will have given unbeaten Spennymoor something to think about, though it is highly unlikely Quakers will enjoy as much possession as they did on Saturday.

They were on top for the bulk of the game but, as in the defeats at Team Northumbria and Aycliffe, they wasted chances.

So it was just as well that new keeper Mark Bell was in top form. He made the first of several good saves when he denied Scott Fenwick by leaping to his left after right-back Stephen Harrison had been caught out by a crossfield ball.

Bell, who joined from West Auckland last week, further enhanced his reputation at the beginning of the second half when impressively keeping out Craig Ellison as Durham threatened.

Citizens' assistant manager Ian Skinner admitted Bell's contribution was crucial.

He said: "At 1-0 we got them in at half-time and told them that we were still in the game. We asked them to start brightly in the second half, which we did and the Darlington keeper made a really good save.

"He made a few saves and I know it was his debut so he's come in and had a good game.

"If that one in the second half had gone in it would've been a different game, but on the day Darlington were the better team and deserved the win."

Two goals inside five minutes sealed the points. Thompson charged through a clutch of Durham players before Dowson stole the ball and lashed high into the net, and it was 3-0 when Purewal back-heeled the ball home after a Galbraith pass.

Gray sent on Adam Nicholls and Michael Sweet, a Darlington-born striker on loan from Gateshead, and both were keen to make an impact.

Purewal made it 4-0 with his 14th of the season by side-footing home from ten yards after meeting an Adam Nicholls pull-back following a neat Galbraith pass, while a nicely-struck Sweet effort was off target in the closing stages.

"I told the lads to keep doing the right things, not to get anxious and start having shots from silly areas, keep trying to work the ball into the box," Gray added. "Some of the goals and the attacking play was great.

"The difference compared to recent games is that we took our chances and kept a clean sheet.

"We didn't give the opposition a goal to hang on to, which is what we have been doing. Taking chances and keeping clean sheets is what we've been talking about."