Former Darlo favourite Robbie Blake proved he's still got what it takes at the very top, scoring a late equaliser for Bolton against Birmingham on Sunday in his third game for the club after joining them in the summer. Paul McGeary takes a look back at Blake's career…

Born in Middlesbrough in the early spring of '76, Robert James Blake got his first break in league football when he was promoted from Darlington's youth team at the age of 18 and went on to make 82 appearances for the Quakers - including the 1996 play-off final defeat to Plymouth at Wembley - scoring 23 times.

To the fans, Blake, a then centre-forward, was a popular figure and there were mixed feelings when just three weeks after his 21st birthday, he became a Bradford City player, with manager at the time, Chris Kamara, paying David Hodgson £300,000 for the services of someone who had cost the cash-strapped club nothing.

At the time, the Bantams were building a team ready for an assault on the Premiership and in Blake's first full season, he netted eight times in 38 outings as City - now under the stewardship of Kamara's number two, Paul Jewell - finished in 13th position.

The following year, Blake was joined at Valley Parade by big-money signings Lee Mills (£1m from Port Vale), and Isiah Rankin (£1.3m from Arsenal) as well as high-profile names Stuart McCall, Lee Sharpe and Dean Windass.

Blake and Mills formed a formidable partnership, and their 40 goals saw City promoted in second place behind champions Sunderland. Blake's 17th - and final - goal of the campaign was the strike which sealed victory against Wolves at Molineux to secure the runners-up spot ahead of Birmingham City and Ipswich.

The 1999-00 season will go down as a memorable year for Bantams fans as the club miraculously survived relegation from the Premiership courtesy of Dave Wetherall's header against Liverpool on the final day of the season, but for Blake there was less joy, as he started a mere 15 times, with almost the same again coming from the bench.

Blake netted just four times - two in the league - and the following campaign, found himself sent on loan to David Platt's Nottingham Forest, back in what was then Division One. This despite grabbing two goals in City's short Intertoto Cup adventure.

Blake notched just once in 12 games for the Tricky Trees - of which one was a home League Cup defeat to former club Darlington at the City Ground - and upon his return to the Premiership, he grabbed four more goals in 22 games as City inevitably did suffer the relegation they had avoided just 12 months previous.

Back in the second tier, Blake found his scoring boots again, and after 12 goals in 30 games, Bradford were forced to accept, due their crippling finances, a £1m offer from Burnley and Blake reluctantly left for Turf Moor.

Ironically, in his 10 outings for the Clarets during the remainder of the 2001-02 term, Blake failed to find the net, although a hernia problem did contribute to his lack of form and fitness.

Blake's three-year spell in the North-West yielded 46 goals in 130 games, including a return of 22 in his second season with Stan Ternant's men. Following the arrival of Steve Cotterill at the helm, and a further 13 goals, Blake was to move on once more during the 2005 January transfer window, with Birmingham offering the Teesside-man another bite at top-flight football, paying £1.25m for his services.

Competing with international strikers Emile Heskey and Clinton Morrison at St Andrews did not prove easy for Blake - who was now playing as an attacking midfielder - and after just six months and 13 appearances in the Second City, Steve Bruce sold Blake to Leeds United for a cut-price £800,000.

Season 2005-06 started well for Blake in the Championship with the Elland Road outfit, and having scored his first goal in just his second game, he went on to net a further 10 times as the Yorshiremen reached Wembley under Kevin Blackwell.

Blake was a half-time substitution this time during the play-off final, but suffered a similar woe as he had done with Darlo 10 years earlier, as Leeds crashed 3-0 to Watford, missing out on a return to the Premier League.

The 2006-07 year was another forgetful season, not just for Blake but for employers Leeds, as they were relegated to League One, despite Blake's return of 10 goals.

The exodus began, and Blake followed the likes of David Healy and Richard Cresswell out of the Elland Road door and he found himself back across the Pennines with Burnley in a £250,000 deal.

Blake again hit double figures, netting 10 times for Steve Cotterill's men and in the following season, added another nine as the Clarets secured promotion back to the big-time with a Wembley play-off victory over Sheffield United.

Blake played 69 minutes at the home of football, as he finally overcame his Wembley hoodoo!

Blake played in 34 of the Clarets' games during their one, and only, Premier League season, but he will fervently be remembered for volleying the winner at Turf Moor in late August, when Burnley defeated Champions Manchester United 1-0.

Blake also netted in a North-West derby at Ewood Park, but Blackburn ran out 3-2 winners as Burnley's form crumbled in the latter half of the campaign, and they suffered relegation.

Blake's three years at the club were up, and despite interest from Preston and Hearts, he followed former Clarets manager Owen Coyle in making the short journey to Burnley's bitter rivals Bolton on July 1.

Blake has featured in three of the Trotters outings this season, and on Sunday got another Premier League goal under his belt, when his superbly taken free-kick on 81 minutes rescued a point for Wanderers, who were 2-0 down with just 10 men going into the final stages.