Darlington 0 Marine 1

DARLINGTON have now lost three home games in a row after a lacklustre performance resulted in a 1-0 defeat to Marine and ended in acrimony.

Alan White was sent off after the final whistle following an altercation with a match official, believed to have involved making physical contact with an assistant referee.

The moment completed a miserable afternoon for the defender having also conceded the penalty from which Marine scored the winner to secure a deserved three points.

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Lloyd Ellams’ second half spot-kick left Quakers reflecting on a lack of cutting edge against a team which came into the contest having won only twice this season, but they had conceded only eight times and a strong defence kept Darlington at bay.

Darlington gave a full debut to new striker Lee Gaskell, signed from Ramsbottom United, but for all of their possession in the first half they failed to trouble goalkeeper Johnathon Ritchie and manager Martin Gray admitted his team was far from at its best.

“That was the biggest disappointment in the game, that the Marine keeper didn’t have any save to make at all,” said Gray, who selected Graeme Armstrong on the bench to make way for Gaskell.

“It’s the first time in a long time that we haven’t created any problems inside the 90 minutes.

“We had a good half a dozen players below par.”

While the hosts made a positive start, clear scoring opportunities were few, although Nathan Cartman did not make the most of a couple of half chances.

He was off-target with two headers and also shot over the bar with a shot on the turn, while Gaskell’s hold-up play was good his new team-mates did not create a chance for him, however, the early loss of Tom Portas was a blow.

After five minutes the midfielder suffered a hamstring strain, which will keep him out for a couple of weeks at least, and was replaced by hard-working Leon Scott.

After the break it was Marine who looked more likely to score, although White did have a close-range header blocked following a Thompson corner.

Thereafter, however, Darlington lacked intensity and were blunt. It was Marine who did the pressing with midfielder Carl Peers a central figure in their attacks, while tall striker Andrew Owens caused problems.

Jamie Menagh was unfortunate when he cut in from the left and hit a powerful dipping shot which skimmed the roof of the net, but Marine were given a penalty on 76 minutes when White shoved Lewis Codling from behind.

However, Gray said: “I was a long way from the penalty, the referee was a lot closer. The player was going away from goal, I don’t think it was any different to the push on Phil Turnbull in the first half. Alan’s reaction shows you how disappointing it was, but I thought it was a very poor game by the referee.”

Ellams scored, and a well-organised Marine defence did not look like conceding an equaliser.

Late on Quakers felt a Cartman shot was blocked by a hand in the penalty area, and Darlington’s day got even worse after the final whistle when White was red-carded following an incident with the match officials.

Having also earned two red cards last season, his suspension could be lengthy.

Gray said: “I didn’t see it. I’ll speak to him on Tuesday night in training and see what happened there.”

His team have now won once in six league and cup games, and Gray added: “We’ve got to regroup and that’s what I’ve said to the players. 'You’ve lost a game of football, you’ve lost three games in 12 this season. We’ve come into a new league and it’s not always going to be as easy as you’d hope it’s going to be'.

“It’s a learning curve and we’ll be better for it.

“I know my players and they know me, they know how we work together and I’m confident that we will be ready for our next game.”

Next Saturday Darlington are at Mickleover Sports.

Goal: Ellams pen (76, 0-1)

Bookings: A Owens (25, repeated infringements), Short (45, foul), Codling (55, foul); Thompson (55, unsporting behaviour), Mitchell (68, foul); Ritchie (78, time wasting)

Sending-off: A White (90)

Referee: Will Finnie (Newcastle)

Attendance: 1,171

Darlington (4-4-2): Jameson; Hunter, Burgess, A White, Galbraith; Youhill (Mitchell 58), Portas (Scott 5), Turnbull, Thompson (Armstrong 65); Gaskell, Cartman. Subs (not used): Provett (gk), Watson

Marine (4-4-2): Ritchie; Duggan, Nicholas, Willis, Short; Codling, Foley, Peers, Menagh; Ellams (White 82), A Owens. Subs (not used): Sharman, Wainwright, Hessey, T Owens