FIRST, the good news. Darlington are sixth, just outside the play-offs and with five matches to go there is every chance they could finish inside the top five.

In the immediate aftermath on Saturday, however, when they were trounced 4-1 at AFC Fylde, few could reflect positively on the low point of the season, on and off the pitch.

Quakers had climbed to fifth, while Fylde’s form had been indifferent. Yet the league leaders brushed aside a team who were a distant second best.

Fylde inflicted the heaviest defeat Darlington have suffered since March 2014, a 4-0 loss to Curzon Ashton, who went on to win the title and Quakers contested the play-offs.

Will history repeat itself? Fylde will win the title, of that there is little doubt, as they are now nine points clear after second-placed Kidderminster Harriers lost on what was a pivotal day.

Full-time Fylde, the beneficiaries of private investment, have a brand new set up at Mill Farm, appear well-equipped to follow in Fleetwood Town’s footsteps and remain on course to reach the EFL by 2022, which is their ambition.

Whereas Quakers are in their first season at this level and, in contrast, after 41 league games still do not know what their best team is.

The superb playing surface looked ideal for fleet-footed Josh Gillies, an invitation to use his creativity on the flanks in a 4-4-2.

Yet he dropped to the bench, Darlington choosing a trip to the league leaders to experiment with David Ferguson in a front-three to the left of Mark Beck and Stephen Thompson.

The approach backfired, however, and Martin Gray carried the can.

“I’ll take that one on the chin,” said the manager, who recalled fit-again Kevin Burgess, moving Terry Galbraith to left-back. “Tactically it was my fault, I got the personnel and formation wrong. It’s something I’ve got to learn from myself.

“The players carried out their instructions, but it was the wrong formation. It’s down to me, this one.

“It’s rare that we do it wrong, but this one we did, and I hold my hands up.”

His team had chances, however, mainly early in the second half, but were unable to equalise a terrific opening goal, a volley from outside the penalty area on eight minutes by Sam Finley after Darlington were unable to clear their lines.

Gray said: “Reflecting on it, we had chances. Terry Galbraith at the back post tried to dink it over the keeper instead of putting it under his body, Mark Beck had a header, Kevin Burgess had a header. They were in the second half, and in the first half David Ferguson was in but put it wide.”

Ferguson’s chance came after half an hour, by which stage Fylde were well into their stride and looked dangerous whenever they attacked. Were it not for Adam Bartlett then the losing margin would have been greater.

The goalkeeper was quickly off his line to block from James Hardy, then gathered the loose ball from Bohan Dixon’s feet, while minutes later he scooped the ball from Danny Rowe toes when the striker looked certain to score.

“He was man of the match,” said Gray. “We could’ve been 3-0 down at one stage if it was not for him.

“He had a couple of one-on-ones and stood up well, he put in a big performance, so that was a big plus.”

Early in the second half saw a spell of pressure for Darlington, Burgess heading wide after meeting a Galbraith corner, but it meant nothing when Fylde doubled their lead on the hour, Rowe firing home after a cross from the left.

Before play could resume there was a brief interruption as a handful of morons among the 600-strong Darlington contingent had thrown plastic bottles at Fylde goalkeeper Rhys Taylor, something referee Aaron Jackson will surely include in his report to the Football Association.

Darlington’s desperation to take something from the game was made abundantly clear as Gray put Brown up front alongside Beck and substitute Harvey Saunders, while Gillies came on to play on the right of midfield.

He played some dangerous balls into the box, one of them seeing Beck head straight at the keeper, and eventually Quakers were rewarded for plugging away, Brown heading home after a Galbraith corner on 79 minutes.

This time the morons, who seemingly attach themselves to Darlington whenever there’s a big away game, ran onto the pitch and again threw objects at Taylor, causing another delay and more embarrassment for the club as well as Quakers’ well-behaved supporters, some of whom nobly attempted to be peacemakers to restore calm.

After the match Taylor said he had been spat at. Darlington are now under pressure to ban this unruly element, the sooner the better.

They were soon silenced as, within seconds of the restart Fylde made it 3-1, Rowe playing in Dan Bradley to score, and it was 4-1 when Rowe reached 42 goals for the season from the penalty spot.

Burgess had handled and was sent off, though only after the referee had ignored a linesman flagging for offside.

But Gray said: “The ball came off one of our lads, so the referee made the right decision. He overruled the linesman straight away, the linesman will not have seen the deflection from where he was.”

Looking for a positive after a dreadful day, Gray added: “That was always going to be a tough game, but we’re still sixth and we’ve got five games to go.

“Three of those games at home, win them and maybe take another point and we’ll be about there.”