Marcus Maddison's fluke goal broke the deadlock for the Quakers before David Wheater doubled the visitors' advantage on the 24-minute mark, heading home from a corner.

Bradley Fewster halved the deficit for the hosts in front of 496 spectators, before Nicky Walker's drilled finish drew the Seasiders level.

Lee Bullock and Nathan Haslam made four changes to the side which claimed a 3-0 victory over Guisborough Town in the Mickey Skinner Memorial Trophy as Bullock himself came into defence for the absent Daniel Rowe, while Jake Hackett, Luke Hogg, and Aaron Haswell all returned to the starting eleven.

Darlington, who had three former Whitby players among their ranks, went close to opening the scoring in the opening stages as Jacob Hazel - last season's top scorer for Town - saw his powerful strike from a tight angle find the side netting.

In the 11th minute, the Quakers broke the deadlock through Maddison as the experienced former Football League midfielder's cross flew high up into the air, catching Shane Bland out as it landed in his net.

Hazel almost doubled the visitors' lead shortly after as the forward saw a fierce curling effort go too high over the crossbar giving Whitby a let off.

Darlington did grab their second goal of the afternoon in the 24th minute, though, as Wheater, who once received an England call-up when with Middlesbrough, headed home from Maddison's corner at the back post.

Darlington's hopes of keeping a clean sheet were eradicated in the 36th minute as Fewster got onto the end of Priestley Griffiths' ball over the top to beat the offside trap before he found the net with a powerful strike beyond former Scarborough Athletic goalkeeper Tommy Taylor.

In the second-half, Whitby missed a key opportunity to level matters as Fewster capitalised on a defensive error but he perhaps didn't do as well as he should have as Taylor made the save low down.

The Blues found themselves on level terms 17 minutes into the second half through Walker, who scored his first Whitby goal, when after some good link-up play with Griffiths was giving the opportunity to fire home from the edge of the area with Taylor unsighted.

The away side had plenty of possession in the closing stages without every seriously threatening Bland in the Whitby goal, Wheater going closest with a long-range effort which the goalkeeper had to acrobatically palm away.

This result meant that Whitby's unbeaten pre-season continued ahead of their final outing at Brighouse Town.

Whitby Town FC

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