Darlington 0 Blyth Spartans 0

Darlington must travel to Blyth Spartans on Tuesday for an FA Cup replay after goalkeeper Peter Jeffries pulled off a tremendous penalty save to deny Terry Galbraith.

Galbraith’s spot-kick early in the second half was well-struck and would have given Quakers the lead after what had been almost an hour of dull play.

But Jeffries was equal to it, leaping to his left and pushing the ball onto the post to complete an eye-catching save.

It was just not Darlington’s day. Including the penalty, three times they hit the woodwork, substitute Ryan Noble being responsible twice as the hosts upped their game in the second half in an attempt to avoid a reply.

They could not manage it, the game ending 0-0, and it means Martin Gray’s men will not have a free midweek before facing league leaders Salford City on Saturday at Heritage Park.

“Blyth will be the happier team,” reflected Gray, who rested Leon Scott and Alan White due to slight injuries and returned Gary Brown to centre-back, where he was excellent.

“I’m a bit disappointed because we could’ve done with the tie being put to bed today and we should’ve done after the amount of chances that we created.

“We did ever so well in the first half. We started the game solidly, we didn’t test the keeper much, but had one or two half-chances. Blyth had a spell just before half-time when they got back into the game, but they didn’t really cause us any big problems.

“The second half performance was fantastic. Their keeper made a fantastic save to stop the penalty because there was a lot of pace on the ball and he tipped it onto the post.

“We hit the post twice and we were dangerous at set-piece. The deliveries from Galbraith and Adam Mitchell were really good.”

Having hoped a bumper crowd would be enticed by a Sunday afternoon Cup tie, during the first half there was little to entertain the 1,051 attendance.

Anyone having a snooze after their Sunday lunch would not have missed much as there was little incident of note, neither team troubling the keeper.

Graeme Armstrong blasted wide after Stephen Thompson beat his man down the left and pulled the ball back, while Thompson volleyed off-target.

Blyth, who kept former Darlington midfielder Paul Robinson on the bench, wasted a great chance when Robert Dale lifted the ball over the bar with only the keeper to beat from 16 yards.

It was an escape for Darlington, who lifted their game after the break.

Centre-back Nathan Buddle got a foot in on Mitchell just as the winger was about to shoot after Armstrong had flicked on Jameson’s kick, and then Galbraith’s penalty was saved on 53 minutes.

Neal Hooks had fouled substitute Noble. At the break David Dowson was subbed with a hamstring concern, having replaced Amar Purewal on the half-hour and the injuries annoyed Gray.

He said: “You don’t expect to make two subs by half-time, both due to the reoccurrence of injuries. We’ll have to have a look at that and see what the problem is.”

Shortly after a false fire alarm on the PA system, there was panic in the Blyth penalty area when Noble twice hit the post.

Firstly after being played in by Armstrong, and then from a tight angle after good work by Thompson and Galbraith created space.

Darlington were onto their fourth strike-pairing of the day when Armstrong was replaced by Liam Hatch, though Chris Hunter looked like he needed to come off following a dreadful challenge by Daniel Hawkins.

The defender hobbled on for the final five minutes after treatment.

“It was an horrendous challenge, a leg-breaker and a straight-red,” fumed Gray. “It’s a good job Chris’ foot was off the ground. The gash on his leg is horrendous “The referee had a good view of it and he insinuated to me that he might’ve got it wrong.

“The Blyth player was competing, the ball was there to play for, but not like that with studs up. I’m just pleased Chris hasn’t broken his leg.”

Although Darlington had been the aggressors in the second half, Blyth’s Arran Wearmouth almost won it when he hit outside of post in fifth minute of injury time.

“They had a chance in the last few seconds after a poor clearance by us. It would’ve been horrendous if they scored,” added Gray.

“It’ll be a tough game on Tuesday. They’ll be on their home patch so we’ve got to set ourselves up right and have a game-plan. It’s a game I’m looking forward to.”