If Darlington are to achieve anything this season then it appears they are going to have to do it the hard way.

Quakers have scored an unwanted hat-trick by losing their No. 1 goalkeeper, their best defender and their leading scorer in Sam Russell, Joey Hutchinson and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu.

Those blows, coupled with managing a young squad and having to cope with constant injuries has made David Hodgson's job tougher than it needs to be.

But at least he could console himself with the fact those disappointments were not entirely within his control.

Not putting a goalkeeper on the bench, however, was his own choice and on Saturday he paid for that risk as Darlington threw away their five-game unbeaten run.

They led at half-time thanks to a debut goal from Kyle Lafferty but following a rough challenge, keeper David Knight went off injured and was replaced by midfielder Phil Stamp.

It was a move that undermined Darlington's confidence and handed Notts County the impetus and, as the Magpies dominated, Quakers crumbled.

Last season Russell played in every game but luckless Darlington look set to turn to their fourth goalkeeper of the campaign.

Youngster Jack Norton should have been that man on Saturday as he would surely have been a better option than Stamp.

Stamp did not disgrace himself but the tame shot which put County 2-1 up would surely have been saved by a bona fide keeper.

"With all respect to Stampy, if we had had a proper goalkeeper then it would not have ended up 3-2, that's for sure," admitted Hodgson. "Had we had a keeper in goal we would have won."

That Norton was actually at Meadow Lane, to take part in the warm-up, made the decision not to include him in the final 16 even more frustrating.

Instead, five outfield players sat on the bench which, as Hodgson explained, does offer more options while it is rare for a sub goalkeeper to be required.

It had been five years and just over 300 matches since Darlington last called upon a substitute keeper - Andy Collett was replaced by Keith Finch in the FA Cup versus Southport - but in leaving Norton in the stands Hodgson is in the minority.

Most teams at the weekend named a sub keeper - Quakers were one of only 13 of the 76 teams in action that did not have one on bench duty.

It was only 11 days previously that Bossu was injured against Barnet, although he played on, so it is not as though Hodgson had not been warned.

But Hodgson defended himself, saying: "I can give a 100 examples over the last couple of years to show why we did not have a keeper on the bench. I had Bert on the bench earlier this season but that was because Sam was struggling a bit with an injury.

"I believe you should have as many options as you can for outfield players and we also knew the two new lads up front would tire and Clark Keltie is carrying an Achilles injury so we had to make sure we had fresh legs on the bench.

"The five on the bench were the only fit players at the club apart from the youth team. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. Stampy took that many goal kicks he ended up with a slight groin strain so that just about sums up our day."

Knight's injury was unfortunate, as was referee Trevor Parkes' decision not to discipline Jake Sheridan who inflicted the injury midway through the first period with a shoulder barge last seen in the 1930s.

After taking the blow to his hip, the 18-year-old was in pain and struggled with his kicking but continued to the break by which time Quakers were well on top.

With Keltie spraying passes around Darlington moved the ball well, looking dangerous on the attack and new striker Paul Hopkins was unlucky not to score when his flicked, near post header hit the far post following Carlos Logan's cross as the nippy forward impressed.

The hosts had plenty of possession and forced seven corners to Quakers' zero by the half hour but it was Hopkins' strike-partner Lafferty who got the day's first goal.

In the final minute of the half a right-foot volley following Logan's in-swinging corner was an impressive way to score his first goal in professional football.

At the start of the second half Stamp was mocked by the home crowd who were clearly buoyed by the sight of the 5ft 10ins Teessider between the sticks, but it took County ten minutes to test the novice keeper with an in-swinging corner.

Matt Clarke dealt with that but 60 seconds later the defence allowed Steve Scoffham to dribble into the area and he fired his shot across Stamp.

From here, with Hopkins tiring and Lafferty off with cramp, Quakers rarely constructed a decent attack as the hosts controlled the game.

For all their possession County failed to test Stamp until the 82nd minute when Dan Martin's weak 16-yard effort trickled past the makeshift keeper into the net.

It was a killer blow and five minutes later it was game over as Shelton Martis conceded his fourth penalty of the season after upending Liam Needham. Stamp almost saved Julien Baudet's spot-kick but the ball went under his feet.

Darlington showed determination and from a 20-yard free kick Logan curled over the defensive wall and past keeper Kevin Pilkington who made a hash of the save but the equaliser was not forthcoming leaving Hodgson to reflect on what might have been.

He said: "The result shows that we have been beaten and it takes Notts County above us in the table but Notts County are not a better side than us, not a chance in hell.

"I am confident we will bounce straight back next week."

In signing Lafferty and Hopkins last week, Hodgson again proved how simple he finds it to bring in players at short notice and if Knight's injury is as bad as feared then Hodgson will have to work his transfer magic again.

Result: Notts County 3, Darlington 2.

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