Darlington 1 Albion 2 IT has been a long time coming, 78 days to be precise.

But now Lee Steele has finally made his mark with Albion.

The lively Liverpudlian has been desperately unlucky since his summer switch from Shrewsbury.

A prolific pre-season wasn't quite enough to force his way into the starting line-up at Southend on the opening day.

Steele injured an ankle as a second half substitute in that misleading defeat.

By the time he regained full fitness manager Micky Adams had switched with great success to a 4-3-3 formation, which only left room for Bobby Zamora as an orthodox striker.

A frustrated Steele found himself stuck on the bench and restricted to a series of late appearances.

That all changed at Feethams on Saturday, thanks to a combination of Charlie Oatway's misfortune and Adams' courage.

A thigh strain forced Oatway off in the closing stages of the first half.

The obvious thing for Adams to do to keep the system in tact was bring on Steve Melton, Oatway's replacement in previous matches, in a straight swap in the middle of the park.

Instead he boldly threw on Steele as an extra attacker alongside Zamora and changed to 4-4-2.

"I thought there were goals to be had," Adams said and my how his adventurous approach was rewarded.

Darlington were getting on top in the second half when the elusive Paul Brooker, brought on seven minutes earlier in place of flu victim Zamora, darted free down the left.

He crossed low for Steele to steer in his first goal for the club from close range.

It could not have come at a better time because Darlington were threatening to turn an entertaining contest, played in difficult conditions, on its head.

Nathan Jones gave Albion a dream start. Just four minutes were on the clock when the Darlington defence failed to deal with a cross from Gary Hart.

Jones, who enjoyed a purple patch last month of four goals in six games, found himself with space inside the box to drill in his fifth of the campaign.

Pouring rain, a swirling wind and a saturated pitch were hardly conducive to controlled football, but Albion passed the ball much more accurately than Darlington in an impressive first half.

They were in charge until a lucky break allowed the home side back into the game.

Matthew Wicks, another flu victim along with skipper Paul Rogers, blocked a shot from Richard Hodgson inside the Albion area.

The ball broke obligingly for Glenn Naylor to tuck home his fifth goal in the last six games.

The Seagulls generally had their backs to the wall after that and nobody did more to make sure of only Darlington's third home defeat since May 1999 than Michel Kuipers.

The big Dutchman was in commanding form in circumstances designed to embarrass goalkeepers.

Both early on and then crucially just before Steele's clincher, Kuipers somehow kept out Adam Reed headers from Stuart Elliott free-kicks.

He also did well to deny teenager Thomas Butler on a couple of occasions late on, especially when the loan midfielder from Sunderland struck a shot from long range which swerved viciously.

Adams said: "Give Kuipers credit, he was excellent.

"It was a better result than performance. We really had to work hard for it. We started off very well and were unlucky to go in at 1-1, but in the second half Darlington dominated. If we had lost I wouldn't have been surprised.

"We had a nine hour journey on Friday and if ever there was an excuse to lose a game that was it, but my players are mentally strong."

Referee Uriah Rennie gave Darlington boss Gary Bennett indigestion by ignoring appeals for a penalty towards the end, when Wicks supposedly handled from another Elliott free-kick.

"Everybody in the ground saw it," Bennett claimed. "But there is no point complaining to the referee these days.

"We didn't have the luck in front of goal. Brighton only had the one chance in the second half and we were punished."

Now Steele will surely get the chance to punish lowly Carlisle from the start at Withdean on Saturday, with Oatway serving a one-match ban.