Darlo's second successive away win was quite comfortable - but it came at a price.
Darlington boss Dave Penney adopted a 4-3-3 formation, and just as in the previous game at Notts County, it worked so well that Quakers really should have won by more goals.
Darlo took the lead after just 5 minutes, when Ricky Ravenhill was fouled as he burst into the box, and Guy Ndumbu-Nsungu tucked away the penalty. Taking his last spell at the Arena into account, he's now scored in his last four games for us.
The striker will admit that he should have scored at least one more before half time, particularly when Ian Miller nodded down a Neil Austin free kick to him six yards out, but he blazed the ball over the bar.
Fellow striker Kevin Gall should also have opened his account for Darlo in his last game on loan, although Dave is making enquiries with Carlisle boss John Ward about a second month. Gall burst through on the end of a Neil Austin pass and lobbed the ball into the keeper's hands, and in the second half, he threw his hands in the air in disbelief, when he could have scored a hat trick in the space of three minutes. Firstly under pressure he stabbed the ball wide from a Neil Wainwright cross, then the keeper somehow managed to stop his header from six yards. And on the third occasion, the woodwork stopped his looping header from dropping into the net.
Darlo got a deserved second on 67 minutes, when the Bury defence only half cleared a Gall corner, and Micky Cummins headed the loose ball into the roof of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Bury, who hadn't won at home since November, staged a late rally. After Elliott Bennett scraped the post when he was put clean through, Efe Sodje scrambled the ball home from an 87th minute corner for a consolation.
The three points that keeps us in third place came at a heavy price. Referee Andrew Hall didn't endear himself to Darlo by booking Ricky Ravenhill for a foul - which means the midfielder has now reached ten bookings and picks up a two match ban - and Neil Austin for timewasting, even though the ball was in the hands of team mate Ian Miller.Work that one out! Unfortunately, Austin is now banned for one match for reaching five bookings, so he must sit in the stand this Saturday at home to Brentford with Alan White and Tommy Wright.
Bury:Randolph ,Haslam ,Challinor ,Sodje ,Woodthorpe (sub Buchanan ,73 ) ,Bennett ,Scott ,Barry-Murphy ,Rooney (sub Hurst ,46 ) ,Bishop ,Adams (sub Yeo ,83)
Subs not used: Baker,Parrish,
Darlington: Stockdale ,Austin ,Foster ,Miller ,Brackstone (sub Wiseman ,82 ) ,Ravenhill ,Cummins ,Hodge ,Joachim (sub Wainwright ,46 ) ,sub Ndumbu-Nsungu (Abbott ,80 ) ,Gall
Subs not used Kazimierczak,Burgess,
