AFC Fylde 2 Darlington 2: FA Cup fourth qualifying round spot remains up for grabs

Having trailed early in the second half, goals from Taelor O’Kane and Charlie Jolley had looked to have secured the Coasters’ place in the final qualifying round.

However, a late goal from Aidan Rutledge means a replay in the North East on Tuesday will now decide who goes through to the next stage.

There was little to separate the two sides in the opening 45 minutes, though Darlington’s Peter Jameson palmed away Luca Thomas’ curling effort before denying Danny Ormerod from close range.

Darlington also had opportunities, Cedric Main missing the target with a header and the unmarked Jack Maskell squandering the best chance of the half as he fired over from point-blank range.

Just after half-time, Fylde earned a corner but saw Darlington break quickly on the counter with Charlie Lennon whipping a brilliant effort past Zac Jones to break the deadlock.

The Coasters were back on level terms moments later as O’Kane slotted past Jameson to bring them back into the contest.

Looking to take the lead, Fylde saw Ryan Colclough’s free-kick graze the side netting before Jolley, a half-time substitute, cut inside and slotted home to make the score 2-1.

Darlington had an opportunity to get straight back on level terms but Alex Healy-Byrne’s heroic challenge denied Main, who had looked to be one-on-one with Jones.

Danny Mayor and George Wilson were introduced with 20 minutes left to play as Fylde looked to cement their lead and progress to the next round.

They almost made it 3-1 when Jones picked out Jolley, who brought down the ball beautifully but was unable to lift it over Jameson for what would have been his second goal of the afternoon.

With five minutes added, Darlington threw everything at the Fylde defence and were able to level in the third of those.

The Coasters were unable to deal with a ball inside their area and it was eventually scrambled home from close range by Rutledge to set up a replay.