If caretaker boss Mick Tait had a pound for every time his side were hard done by he'd be able to buy a new striker by now.

And while it remains common practice for most managers to contrive any old excuse in their post-match accounts Tait it seems has plenty of evidence to back up his claims.

On Saturday for instance his side were good value for a draw - a win even, given the amount of efforts they had as they laid siege on the Southend goal in the second half. But by then the damage had already been done.

It was the loss of inspirational skipper Craig Liddle 35 minutes into the first half which proved crucial to the outcome of a game which had threatened to crawl to a standstill prior to his injury.

Liddle was left nursing a nasty cut above his lip after an accidental clash with Blues striker Mark Rawle and despite all the efforts of physio Steve Collins and a tub of Vaseline the defender was sent down the tunnel to receive stitches.

Anticipating a swift return, Tait gambled with ten men, but by the time Liddle was joined by the rest of his teammates in the dressing room at half-time they were figuring out how to pull back two goals.

First Kevin Maher poked home Gavin Strachan's deflected shot after 40 minutes.

Then Neil Jenkins added a second two minutes later when he headed home a cross from Strachan, son of Southampton manager Gordon and a summer target of Chris Turner's Sheffield Wednesday.

"When you're the manager you look at yourself and look at what you could have done differently on the day," reflected Tait.

"I thought 'should I have put a sub on when Lids went off?'"

In hindsight the answer may have been 'yes', but it's perhaps a measure of how important the skipper is to the side.

He added: "I trusted the players because they always work hard and I thought they would do it.

"But then they get two midfield runners in and get two goals in the time he was off the pitch.

"You're left kicking yourself thinking 'I should have put a sub on'.

"I think most managers would have done what I did trying to get Lids back on the pitch."

Tait had hoped to get a little longer out of Liddle, but revealed the intervention of the referee and a wondering finger soon put paid to that.

"I spoke to the ref after we plastered him with Vaseline, but he still wanted him off the pitch," said Tait.

"He actually touched Lids' face and opened it up again.

"If he'd have left it alone we could have had him on the pitch for at least another five.

"We thought he'd only be off for five minutes, but the doctor couldn't find the needle, couldn't find the anaesthetic and seemed to take an eternity

"In the end it's cost us the game."

And when Liddle did eventually emerge for the second half any hopes Quakers had of quickly reducing the arrears were soundly dealt with by a Southend side which defended deep and in numbers.

Ian Clark, a first half substitute for groin injury victim Danny Mellanby, was handed a rare opportunity to impress, but rarely got a sniff with Leon Cort - brother of Newcastle striker Carl - outstanding at the back for the home side.

And when Quakers did find a way forward, mainly down the left through the impressive Tom Newey, Cort was on hand to snuff out any danger.

It was Newey who almost pulled a goal back for Quakers when he picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area before seeing his effort deflected over the bar.

Substitute Neil Wainwright then had a shot deflected wide before Nicholls came within inches of finding the net with a curling effort which just cleared the angle of the post and bar.

And with time running out Liddle glanced a header wide from a Neil Maddison free-kick.

"It's disappointing, but it's the rules which have beaten us today," said Tait.

"We've fallen asleep twice and we've lost the game because of it.

"We can't get away with that kind of thing and as we've seen today we've been punished."

The defeat leaves Quakers seven points above the relegation zone with five games remaining with fellow strugglers Shrewsbury the visitors to Feethams this Saturday.

Result: Southend 2 Darlington 0.

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