The Pilgrims suffered defeat on the road after conceding twice within the opening 22 minutes at Blackwell Meadows, with David Wheater and Jack Lambert on target.

United reduced the arrears on the hour mark through Elliott's first away penalty of the campaign, but the Pilgrims' hopes of a comeback were hit further when captain Luke Shiels received a straight red card for a foul on Jake Cassidy.

Boston, with an unchanged XI on show, fell behind in the fifth minute when WHEATER got a touch on Lambert's corner to the near post to guide the ball past an unsighted Marcus Dewhurst.

United's afternoon got worse 17 minutes later when the Pilgrims only partially cleared a Danny Rose corner and LAMBERT crashed home a long-range effort from 20 yards, again with Dewhurst having his line of sight impaired by surrounding bodies.

Kevin Dos Santos wasted good chances before and after the break for the hosts - with United halving the deficit in the 60th minute when ELLIOTT converted from 12 yards having been fouled himself, although doubt persisted whether the infringement actually fell within the penalty area.

Elliott saw a later header hit the crossbar, while Fraser Preston forced a flying save from Tommy Taylor at the death, but United were down to 10 men by this point after referee Paul Cooper had adjudged Shiels' foul on Cassidy was worthy of a straight red card.

Dewhurst made the save of the match to deny Cassidy a clinching third in the closing stages.

Darlington (4-2-3-1): Tommy Taylor; Kallum Griffiths, David Wheater (Danny Ellis 90), Jake Lawlor, Ben Hedley; Adriano Moke, Danny Rose (Alex Purver 85); Kevin Dos Santos, Jake Cassidy, Jack Lambert (Junior Mondal 83); Cameron Thompson. Subs (not used): Tyrone O'Neill, Nathan Lowe.

Boston (3-5-2): Marcus Dewhurst; Tom Platt, Luke Shiels, Brad Nicholson; Femi Seriki, Brad Abbott, Shane Byrne, Andi Thanoj (Fraser Preston 46), Joe Leesley; Jordan Burrow (Ntumba Massanka 57), Danny Elliott. Subs (not used): Scott Duxbury, Connor Shanks, Ben Sault.

Referee: Paul Cooper.

Attendance: 1,474.

PIC: Oliver Atkin.