The visitors went away thinking that they could have gained all three points, as they adapted to the bumpy pitch better than the home team.
Darlington assistant manager Terry Mitchell said: “I think it was the right result, I didn’t think we did enough to win it.
“In the second half, they had clearer chances than us, but we definitely couldn’t have thought that we should have won the game.
“Jack (Maskell) took his goal really well. He won everything because we had to go a lot more direct than we liked to, but they were the conditions we were playing in.”
Quakers enjoyed the early pressure on another bumpy pitch, and nearly took the lead on six minutes when Blair Adams, playing against the club where he spent five years, crossed to the far post where Matty Cornish headed wide.
The home side took the lead on eight minutes. Cedric Main won a tackle on the edge of the Shields box, and played the ball into the area for Maskell to run on and beat Kyle Seymour for his ninth goal of the season.
Shields nearly levelled on 12 minutes when Paul Blackett found space about 25 yards out and hit a right foot shot towards the bottom-left corner, but Peter Jameson pushed the ball around the post.
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The visitors slowly got on top despite the pitch, and Iestyn Hughes had two efforts, the first of which he put over the top, but with his second he forced Jameson into a good save at the foot of his post.
Blackett got his head to the corner, but Will McGowan hooked the ball off the line.
The reprieve was only temporary, because on 35 minutes MacKenzie Heaney played the ball over the top of the static Darlington defence for Will Jenkins to touch past the advancing Jameson.
The second half was delayed for a few minutes because an incident in the clubhouse, which meant that it had to be evacuated.
Shields nearly went in front on the hour, when Heaney’s cross from the right was touched away by Jameson, but Jenkins kept the ball in and chipped the ball towards the far post, but the ball drifted wide.
Jameson then had to be alert to palm away a free kick by Heaney that the South Shields striker whipped in from the left hand side.
Shields almost won the game on 82 minutes when a good through ball sent Blackett away, but defender Louis Storey just managed to get back and hold him up, and Blackett put the ball wide.
Quakers threw everybody forward late on, but all they could muster was an effort by Will Hatfield that Seymour saved comfortably.
