DARLINGTON’S defensive deficiencies continue to a cost a team whose form is in freefall and action is needed to stop the rot.

After what was a good start to the campaign, results suggest that the step up in class after promotion is starting to show.

Yet Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to in-form Nuneaton Town at Blackwell Meadows was harsh.

They deserved a point and looked to have got it when Dave Syers levelled in the 90th minute, but they pushed forward and in doing so invited their opponents to snatch victory.

It means Quakers have won only once in their last ten league and cup matches, a period during which Darlington have never been outplayed but it’s a bleak run during which they have conceded an average of two goals per game and dropped from second to sixth.

Clearly something needs to be done before Quakers’ match this weekend at Blackwell against Gloucester City and manager Martin Gray knows it.

“One thing’s for sure, I will be making changes,” he said after Saturday’s loss.

“I met the chairman recently and asked if there is scope to bring players in. I worked really hard last week and I’m very confident of bringing players in if it all goes to plan.

“We need to start scoring goals. We need to improve competition.”

The newly-built changing rooms staged their first post-match inquest as Gray tore into his players afterwards.

“He opened up and we fully deserved it to be fair,” revealed midfielder Phil Turnbull, the balloon having been burst on his 30th birthday celebrations. “When you get back into the game and you like you’re going to get a point you close the game out.”

Gray admitted: “It hurts and it feels like the world has fallen apart. You’re scratching your head and you’re asking questions about individuals.

“It’s down to indiscipline and naivety, but I was delighted with the performance, we just need to be more clinical in front of goal.

“Their keeper made some fantastic saves from Leon Scott and Harvey Saunders. That’s what the keeper is there to do, but these were big saves.

“Kevin Burgess should’ve scored, Nathan Cartman was through twice, Mark Beck headed wide after about five minutes – you’ve got to be more clinical in front of goal.

“The longer the game goes on at 0-0 the opposition are more likely to have an opportunity. We could’ve been two or 3-0 up and cruising if we’d taken our chances.”

Scott had the pick of the chances in a drab first-half that Darlington edged, Christian Dibble tipping his header onto the post after a Josh Gillies cross, while Burgess fired wide on the turn.

Scoreless at the break, the second half started with Cartman and Gillies both firing wide, but 13 minutes in Nuneaton took the lead after Gary Brown conceded a penalty.

He brought down Reece Stych with a rash tackle, Joe Ironside scoring from the spot making it 22 successive matches in which Quakers have conceded.

Gray had no qualms and was also unhappy with Brown for a challenge later in the game that led to Nuneaton’s Tom Elliott requiring treatment.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be honest about things and that has cost us the game,” said Gray.

“It’s what you would see on a Sunday morning. He had two or three mad moments and, for me, he was so lucky to stay on the pitch.”

Sunday league standards rubbed off on the referee too, Gareth Rhodes booking Mark Beck for having the temerity to stand near Dibble as he attempted to punt the ball.

Dibble dropped the ball to suggest he had been impeded and Rhodes fell for it.

With the final stages approaching Gray replaced Cartman with Saunders, a Staindrop teenager formerly with Darlington RA, and with his first touch almost became a local hero.

Dibble denied him by pushing wide a shot that looked destined for goal.

However, Nuneaton nullified Darlington for most of the second half, Tommy Wright’s men happy to sit on their lead which they held until the final minute when right-back Chris Hunter, selected as Liam Marrs has an ankle injury, hoisted forward a ball which Syers did well to glance home.

It was his fifth goal for the club, four of them as a sub, and it meant relief for Quakers.

With their fans right behind them, Darlington went in search of a winner and paid the ultimate price, Nuneaton delivering a sucker punch in the 94th minute to make it seven wins in a row.

Jordan Nicholson, on loan from Peterborough United, got the winner, rifling past Peter Jameson after Turnbull had been outjumped by Ironside to a high ball when Burgess was higher up the pitch going for glory.

“We got back into the game at 1-1 which we deserved, but then we’ve not done the basics right,” concluded Gray.

“Everybody is wanting to win the game, we’ve pumped balls forward and we’ve been done on the counterattack.”

Had Darlington defeated AFC Fylde on November 12 Darlington would have been only a point off the top, yet that gap is now 14 points.

Fylde are long gone. Nine points clear of second-top Kidderminster, they’ll have the title won long before the season’s end, by which point Darlington hope to still be in play-off contention.