Darwen made it three wins on the bounce – but left it very late with this rather fortunate victory over East Lancashire rivals Nelson.

Although Darwen had the edge on play in the early stages, the visitors took the lead on the half hour.

A free kick awarded inside the centre circle was launched into the Darwen penalty area.

Jerome Matthews climbed to back-head the ball, which looped over the grasp of Adam Chester to dip under the bar.

The goal seemed to inspire confidence in Nelson, who set up several threatening attacks, onlythwarted by last-ditch tackles by defenders and a couple of good stops by Chester in goal.

The home side’s best chance of the half fell to Bobby Langford, who latched on to a ball just inside the Nelson half, well clear of defenders.

As he approached the left side of the box, keeper Carl Busby came out to narrow the angle and managed to turn the striker’s shot away for a corner.

With less than five minutes of the second half gone, Steve Lee eventually beat Nelsons’ offside trap to race clear. Busby advanced a few yards from his goal line as Lee struck a fierce drive from 20 yards out, but he managed to get both hands over his head to push the ball over the bar.

The match turned with five minutes to go when Langford was upended in the Nelson box.

A penalty was given, and Gary Brown made no mistake from the spot.

Nelson’s misery was complete on 90 minutes. Danny Banks found Anthony Harkness on the wing.

He fired a ball into the Nelson penalty area where Ben Stanford volleyed into the roof of the net.