In the end it was mission accomplished – a vital and hard-won three points which takes Aldershot Town back up to 8th place – but with a bit of the luck which always seems to dessert struggling teams, Darlington could have snatched a draw.
Having weathered an early storm, from which the hosts perhaps should have taken the lead, Aldershot apparently had the game sown up by half-time with close-range strikes from Aaron Brown and Marvin Morgan.
Donnelly's floated free-kick was headed onto his own post by Arnison and when the rebound fell at Brown's feet he was left with a simple tap-in from three yards. Then, on 41 minutes, Jackson's superb turn and burst of speed took him past White to feed Morgan for another simple finish, with Darlington left appealing in vain for offside.
The second half, however, was an increasingly fraught affair. Substitutes Gray and Main galvinised their team-mates but Darlington continued to lack the vital dash of quality that their pressure required against a Shots side who seemed to switch off long before the final whistle.
Arnison's cross, from space created by Anthony Straker’s wayward positioning, flew past Jaimez-Ruiz after bouncing off a huge divot in the final five minutes and set up an unnecessarily frantic closing period.
Darlington forced a couple of late corners yet still struggled to find a finishing touch; the fine lines between success and failure have rarely been more evident but it can only be a matter of time before Darlington’s relegation is confirmed. The Shots, meanwhile, look to the other end of the table with increasing optimism.