Darlington 1 United 3

United boss Paul Buckle gave his thoughts after United's important 3-1 win away at Darlington: 'We knew it would be a difficult game, at home Darlington have pushed well above us in the league so we knew it would be a tough game and we gave them full respect. We worked hard this week in training, we knew the surface wouldn't be great and we worked on two banks of four and try to counter which worked for us in the first half although we made it a touch difficult in the second period.

'We have been working extremely hard on set-plays and reaction to the second phase and Mark (Ellis) did well. I think he got the first header in and when the ball dropped down he finished well.

'We were disappointed to concede the goal and credit to Darlington who had a go but we dug in and after they scored we started to press the ball and show a bit more urgency. We created chances and on a better surface I'm sure Mustapha (Carayol) would have stuck a couple more of those chances away. The penny is starting to drop now with Muzzy and some of the younger players. It is a squad game and the bench is very important, Elliot Benyon came on and played his part and so did Scott Rendell so everybody should be ready to be involved. There are one or two who are disappointed they aren't playing at the moment but there is a good team spirit and we are now on a very good run.

'The supporters have travelled 350 miles to follow us again today and the least we can do is go over and show our appreciation, they were fantastic again and we thank everyone of them because they drove us on today and we are going to need a bit more of that between now and the end of the season.

'We have shown that we can compete and cope and today was a valuable three points.'