DARLINGTON’S play-off hopes suffered a blow when they were hammered 4-1 at AFC Fylde today.

As the scoreline suggests, they were second best at the league leaders, the likely title winners now enjoying a nine-point gap ahead of second-placed Kidderminster Harriers, who lost to Halifax.

Quakers drop a place to sixth, overtaken by Chorley, while Salford and Stockport also won on a bad day for Darlington.

They trailed 1-0 at the break and only briefly had hope of taking anything from the contest when Gary Brown pulled one back to make it 2-1, but Fylde soon restored their advantage.

The division’s leading scorer Danny Rowe had his first sight of goal on six minutes from a free-kick on seven minutes.

Conceded by Stephen Thompson when he helped out in defence and tripped Sam Finley, Rowe’s effort from the corner of the penalty area hit the defensive wall and bounced away for a throw-in, but Darlington were unable to clear the danger.

Soon Finley put Fylde ahead with a terrific strike, a volley from outside the penalty area after Darlington’s Gary Brown had cleared the ball.

Brown was partnered at the back by Kevin Burgess, who returned after missing three games through injury.

He replaced the benched Josh Gillies, Martin Gray moving personnel around in a 4-3-3 formation.

Terry Galbraith was at left-back with David Ferguson further up the left flank, providing support for Mark Beck.

However, a strong Fylde defence kept Quakers at bay for much of the first half. They reached the penalty area for the first time on 13 minutes, a Thompson cross leading to a Ferguson header landing on the roof of the net.

Goalkeeper Adam Bartlett was at fault for at goal on his debut last weekend at Gainsborough Trinity, but he was on top of his game at Fylde.

He was quickly off his line to block from James Hardy, although the Fylde man's touch had been poor, and then the goalkeeper gathered the loose ball from Bohan Dixon’s feet.

Ferguson had Quakers’ first shooting opportunity just after the half-hour mark, getting down the left but instead of shooting across goal he smashed the ball wide, and then Bartlett was needed again.

This time, with Rowe advancing and only the keeper to beat, Bartlett scooped the ball away as the striker tried to take the ball around him.

Fylde looked dangerous whenever they attacked, getting forward with pace, and a nicely-timed tackle by Liam Marrs was needed to stop Dixon from shooting on the edge of the penalty area.

And then Andy Bond, playing as a sitting midfielder, made a break from his deep position, going on a run that took him into the penalty area had a shot which went narrowly wide with only Bartlett to beat.

Josh Falkingham fired just over from the edge of the area after good work by Ferguson and Beck during a spell of pressure for Darlington at the beginning of the second half.

Falkingham won a free-kick, fired into the penalty area by Phil Turnbull, and then came two corners in succession, the second one seeing Burgess head wide at the back post after meeting a Galbraith corner.

But it meant little when Fylde doubled their lead on the hour.

They attacked down their left, a cross was not cleared and Rowe pounced to score his 41st goal of the season.

Darlington’s desperation to take something from the game was made abundantly clear with the tactical tweak and substitutions Gray made.

He put Brown up front alongside Beck and substitute Harvey Saunders, while fellow sub Josh Gillies was on the right of midfield, and the winger played some dangerous balls into the box.

From one of them Beck headed straight at the keeper, but as Darlington tried to salvage something from the game inevitably gaps were being left at the back.

Fylde hit the post with a Dixon header after a corner, the ball coming back and into Bartlett’s hands, and then the keeper saved from Rowe.

From a corner Darlington gave themselves hope when Brown scored, heading home after Galbraith curled in an inviting ball, but it was only the briefest glimmer of a comeback because Fylde soon scored again.

Within 60 seconds they went up the other end and made it 3-1 through Dan Bradley after a pass from Rowe, who helped himself another goal from the penalty spot in the dying stages.

It was given after Burgess slipped and accidentally handled, an unfortunate moment for the defender, especially as a linesman had flagged for offside seconds before the penalty was awarded.

But referee Aaron Jackson spotted that the ball had taken a touch from a Darlington player, hence no offside, leaving Rowe to score his second goal of the day, taking his tally to 42 for the season.

Goals: Finley (8, 1-0), Rowe (60, 2-0); Brown (79, 2-1); Bradley (80, 3-1); Rowe pen (86, 4-1)

Bookings: Bond (34, foul); Brown (90, foul), Dixon (90, unsporting behaviour)

Sending-off: Burgess (85, handball)

Referee: Aaron Jackson

Attendance: 2,365

AFC Fylde (4-4-2): Taylor; Hughes, Langley (K Kennedy 75), Collins, T Kennedy; Hardy (Hughes 46), Finley (Morgan 87), Bond, Dixon; Rowe, Bradley. Subs (not used): Daniels, Blinkhorn

Darlington (4-3-3): Bartlett; Marrs (Hunter 50), Brown, Burgess, Galbraith; Syers, Falkingham (Saunders 67), Turnbull; Thompson (Gillies 56), Beck, Ferguson. Subs (not used): Wilczynski (gk), Cartman