FIRST, the good news: Darlington remain fifth. Having secured a promotion in each of their previous two seasons, simply being among the pace-setters is an achievement for a fan-owned club that has had to deal with moving to a new ground and raising the not insignificant funding required.

The bad news, however, is that they simply can’t stop leaking goals and recent results are what would be expected of a team fighting relegation rather than one going for another promotion.

Two wins since the beginning of November is all Martin Gray’s men have to show since beating Harrogate Town 4-1 at the end of October, when Quakers were second after eight unbeaten matches, momentum seemingly overlapping from last season into this.

Expectations rose accordingly, but for the first time since 2012 momentum has ground to a halt.

Darlington have won only twice in 13 league and cup games, conceding 26 goals.

In 11 of those fixtures their defence has been breached at least twice, and another three were added to the tally on Saturday as Curzon Ashton helped themselves to three deserved points with a 3-1 win at Blackwell Meadows.

Curzon carved open a team vulnerable to counter-attacks, gaping holes created by Quakers’ kamikaze approach to defending.

Gray’s post-match assessment was familiar, bemoaning his players’ lack of concentration, although he did strike a different tone this time.

Sometimes terse in the aftermath of a poor result, this was a more measured reaction, the manager seemingly shocked at having witnessed how easily his team had been beaten.

“We conceded goals, not through great play where we’ve been carved open, they’ve come from a lack of concentration,” he said.

“I don’t think our keeper has had any great saves to make, or that they’ve had a lot of domination. Three counter-attacks led to three goals and it’s not good enough.

“We need individuals to be better at their roles because if not we’ll come under more pressure.

“We’re still among the top teams, there’s a lot of games to go, but we can’t continue the way we’re defending.

“I don’t want to come out and point fingers, I wouldn’t do that as a manager, but players in that changing room understand that things need to change.”

Gray did not rule out signing new defenders, but finances are tight.

Asked about new players, he said: “We’ve got to look at it. That’s our job, between now and next week, we’ve got to look at it.”

Curzon’s win was their second at Darlington following a 4-0 whitewash in 2014 en route to winning the Northern Premier League Division One North title, and three Quakers players from that sobering night started on Saturday: Gary Brown, Terry Galbraith and Stephen Thompson.

Leon Scott was also with the club back then, and he was again in midfield at the weekend.

Gray added: “Six or seven of them have come through the leagues with us. They’ve got to learn because if they don’t then they won’t get any game time. That’s what we’re looking at now.

“Can you improve your game by being more focused, by taking more responsibility, doing the basics right. If they do that then they give themselves a chance.

“We’re playing against better players who will punish you for your errors.”

There were plenty of them, including in the build-up to the first goal on ten minutes after a Quakers set-piece in opposition territory.

At the end of Ashton’s punt down the pitch was a weak header by Josh Gilles which fell to Matthew Warburton, who beat not fully fit Liam Marrs to the byline and crossed for unmarked team-mate Ryan Hall to score from close-range.

By the time the ball fell to Hall there were five outfield Darlington players inside the penalty area, centre-backs Brown and Kevin Burgess not among them having been unable to retreat in time.

Brown was later the victim of a dreadful decision by referee David Underwood, who booked the defender despite making a clean tackle on Hall. Brown later explained he’d been punished for using “excessive force”.

Curzon were comfortable for the reminder of the half, keeping a tame Quakers at bay, although Darlington began the second half with more fire in their belly.

But a few goalmouth scrambles came to nothing and the opposition went 2-0 up just before the hour thanks to another break-away goal.

Curzon cleared a Brown throw and, with Burgess AWOL, Scott’s back-pass was heavy and a kick by debutant keeper Ed Wilczynski was seized on by Chris Rowney, whose first-time pass left unmarked Warburton one on one and he made no mistake.

The same player soon made it 3-0. The move again began deep in Curzon’s half, Hall attacking the space created by Galbraith’s gallop forward, Brown then losing his footing which allowed the Ashton man time to pick out Warburton, again unmarked, to seal the points.

Nathan Cartman came off the bench and pulled one back with a header after a Phil Turnbull free-kick, providing some hope.

Darlington showed plenty of heart in the closing stages, but there was not enough quality to save the match.

Gray’s team on Saturday head to fourth-placed Chorley, and he added: “There’s no point screaming and shouting, they don’t need that.

“There’s no point braying them, we’re just trying to give them some direction.

“They’re already down, we need to pick them up, work on things and be better next week.”