A Rivel Mardenborough equalising goal six minutes from time extended Darlaston's unbeaten League run to seven games against an excellent Highgate United team.

Without a league game in three weeks Darlaston boss Dean Gill made five changes from the side that beat Market Drayton Town in their last league game. Lewis Gill, Josh Jones were suspended and Ryan Winwood unavailable, Kieron Miller and Liam Smith dropping to the bench. Jack Downing and Zac Foster both made their debuts, Mitch Botfield made his seasonal league debut, midfielder Jake Pearson retuned from holiday whilst skipper Alex Foreshaw returned after injury.

Highgate demonstrated why they had won their last three league games with an excellent team performance. Aaron Williams was a class above whilst the League and Division's top scorer Ryan Harkin was an attacking threat all game with some superb runs and a superb touch.

For Darlaston Zac Foster impressed at full back and Jake Pearson was outstanding in midfield with some excellent interceptions and tackles which regularly thwarted the Highgate attacking play. The game became a chess match with midfield and defenders generally on top restricting clear chances, neither keeper forced to make a save of note in the opening 45 minutes.

The second half followed a similar pattern with the two evenly matched teams trading blows but without threatening goal too often.

Highgate took the lead on 53 minutes with an unusual and somewhat controversial goal. Another bizarre refereeing decision caught Darlaston out of position. The ball hit the referee in the centre circle and instead of awarding a drop ball to Darlaston he dropped the ball, some 15 yards from the incident, rolling the ball another 20 yards into the path of a Highgate defender. Highgate broke superbly with some excellent passing play, setting up Charlie Shaw to break into the penalty area to clip the ball beyond keeper Jack Myatt.

The goal unsettled Darlaston who felt quite rightly aggrieved and for several minutes they were somewhat disjointed as Highgate pushed forward in the hope of delivering the killer second goal. That did not come, Darlaston regained their composure as the game once again became a tense even affair both teams cancelling each other out.

Darlaston pushed forward for the equaliser, Highgate keeper Reece Francis making good saves from Dominic Dell and Mardenborough. A mistake at the heart of the visitors defence allowed Dell to break clear, the referee turning down penalty appeals following a challenge by keeper Francis.

Harkin and Ethan Muckley continued to look threatening for Highgate but keeper Myatt was well protected by Podmore and Foreshaw and was not called into action.

Following a period of pressure the equaliser came six minutes from time. Mitch Botfield and Rivel Mardenborough exchanged passes twice to open up the Highgate defence near the edge of the box, Mardenborough finally converting with a low drive to Francis's right from 16 yards.

Following the game Darlaston boss Dean Gill reflected "That game absolutely reflected what this league is all about. Highgate are an excellent side, very well managed and with some players of the highest quality. Both sides had to work their socks off for 90 minutes to earn the right to play.

They have several players who would walk into any team in our Division and indeed most teams at the level above. Aaron Williams has played League football and also in the National League. He showed his quality and class all game. Even as an opposition manager his movement, quality on the ball and passing range was a pleasure to watch. Similarly, Ryan Harkins has already scored 30 goals this season and you can see why, his touch and movement is first class.

Highgate have been doing well in this Division for eight seasons and this is our first. There is a massive step up in class from last season and today was another example of that. We are learning fast and with just four defeats in 23 league games, and being just 3 points off second place with games in hand is magnificent for us. The support today was superb and I hope our supporters realise the quality of player and teams, including managerial knowledge of players as well as tactical know how, in this Division is much higher than we are used to.

That said I thought Zac Foster and Jack Downing both had good debuts and our back four and midfield were excellent restricting them to a few half chances. Rivel and Dom upfront kept their defenders occupied and overall probably neither side did enough to secure all three points. A draw was fair."