Darlington 0-0 AFC Wimbledon

Terry Brown reserved special praise for debutant defender Jamie Stuart after the stalemate at Darlington today.

Wimbledon earned a solid point in the north east but they know a win against Luton on Wednesday night is now vital to keep hold of pole position.

They are three points ahead of Crawley but have now played three games more than their nearest rivals.

Brown's team were on the backfoot for long periods of the game this afternoon and the boss was happy enough to return to London with a point.

And he had praise for new boy Stuart, the centre-half, who was purchased from Rushden & Diamonds on Thursday night.

Brown said: “Jamie was fantastic, as were a few of our players today. He showed the fans why we decided to bring him here and I think he will quickly become a crowd favourite.

“I thought he was magnificent for us. We wouldn’t have got a point without him, because we had two young lads alongside him, and his experience was invaluable - as it will be for the rest of the campaign.

“He is a leader in every sense of the word and every side needs those type of players in their team and in their dressing room.

“It would have been tough if either side had lost and on reflection a point was probably about right.

“You would argue they had the better chances but you sometimes expect that coming to the former Football League clubs.

“The hard pitch made it difficult. We thought that the surface would get easier, but in fact it got worse. All in all I don't have too many complaints.”

Darlington manager Mark Cooper said his side were unlucky not to do the double over Wimbledon, following on from October's well deserved 2-0 success at Kingsmeadow.

Only poor finishing from young striker Curtis Main and good goalkeeping from England C man Seb Brown prevented the Quakers securing a second scalp this season.

“We missed too many chances and you can't do that against league leaders, no matter what division it is in,” Cooper complained.

“I won't moan and groan about the pitch and use it as an excuse for not winning the game. The ref was happy to give the game a chance. Nobody moaned, and the players got on with it.”