It was inevitable that two in-form teams would spend the opening period of the game entrenched in something akin to a game of chess.
Both sides seemed cagey, unwilling to show the opposition their strategy. A wickedly deflected shot that had Darlington keeper Simon Brown back-tracking to tip the ball over the crossbar in the 10th minute was the sole action in a quiet opening.
Then the game exploded after 13 minutes when referee Scott Mathieson consulted his assistant after an altercation between Darlington captain Steve Foster and Lincoln's Romanian forward Adrian Patulea ended with a straight red card for Foster and the league leaders were reduced to ten men.
It could have been worse for the hosts a few minutes later when Lincoln defender Danny Hone was left in a heap after a challenge from Richie Foran on the edge of the City area.
The City fans behind the goal howled for Foran's dismissal. Thankfully sanity was restored after treatment for the City man and Darlo remained just the one man down.
Darlington sacrificed midfield playmaker Franz Burgmeier in the 23rd minute for defender Tim Ryan.
The game settled down and in the 37th minute Darlington defender Alan White headed a Rob Purdie corner over the bar from eight yards out.
The second half began with a bang as Darlington took the lead in the 47th minute. A long ball out from Ryan found Foran who moved down the left before sending a low cross into the path of Liam Hatch.
The on-loan Peterborough man calmly sidefooted the ball into the far corner past Rob Burch.
The visitors responded with a long-range effort from Patulea that went well wide of Brown's goal on the hour mark and in the 69th minute captain Scott Kerr saw his curling free-kick plucked out of the air by Brown in the Darlington goal.
The Quakers made sure of all three points in the last minute of the game when Foran raced clear to steer Gregg Blundell's pass past the stranded Lincoln keeper.