Chorley 4 Darlington 1

After starting the season so brightly and full of optimism, Darlington are in disarray and enduring their worst run for five fears.

Last night’s 4-1 humbling at Chorley made it six games without a victory, Quakers’ worst league run in six seasons.

They were without three first-choice defenders due to injury - Terry Galbraith, Gary Brown and Chris Hunter – and it showed.

They trailed as early as the third minute at Victory Park, where only the hosts ever looked like being victors, as Chorley, managed by former Blackburn striker Matt Jansen, were too quick for Quakers.

Their passing was superior, they dealt with Darlington’s attacks easily enough and exploited slack defending to claim three well-deserved points.

Darlington manager Martin Gray admitted: “Chorley were good tonight, there’s no getting away from that, but the defensive mistakes we made meant we were 3-0 down at half-time and it’s very difficult to come back from that.

“We tried to claw ourselves back into the game, but unfortunately we left ourselves open and we got done on the counterattack again.

“I’m hurting tonight. Nobody is hurting at this football club more than me.

“We’ve worked very hard to get this club where it is today, and we’ve got a lot of work to continue. I want to be in the play-offs, that’s how it’s always been from day one.

“But we’ve got to be realistic. We’ve got a lot of injuries and there’s a lot of very good teams in this league. We’ve had a lot of games, we’ve done a lot of travelling.

“We’ve got to remain positive and look at the bigger picture.”

Liam Marrs and Kevin Burgess both lined up in defence, and with Darlington having been weak in midfield during their run without a win, Gray made two changes in the centre of the pitch, Leon Scott recalled for his first start since February, and he also restored Tom Portas to the starting XI.

The aim was to solidify the side, add some steel, but Quakers were 1-0 down after just three minutes, though the goal owed more to individual error than the tactical approach.

Dom Collins, reverting to the centre of the defence after a stint at right-back at Southport on Saturday, was wildly inaccurate with a back pass, conceding a needless corner inside the first 60 seconds.

The calamitous moment set the tone.

From the corner, Marrs cleared off the line, conceding another flag kick, and after its delivery this time Scott conceded a penalty for handball, striker Jason Walker converting.

“I’d like to see it again on video, because it didn’t look a penalty to me,” said Gray.

“The ball bounced up into his chest, it’s not a handball, but it got the game off to a bad start for us.”

The goal rocked Quakers, and they took over 20 minutes to recover from their poor start, a period during which Chorley came close to doubling their lead as they took advantage of Quakers’ game-plan going out of the window so soon after kick-off.

Adam Blakeman almost scored with a long-range strike, Adam Bartlett equal to it, and then Walker volleyed over.

Bartlett saved again from Blakeman when the left-back attacked space down Darlington’s right, Gray’s men taking until midway through the half to regain their composure, finally getting forward with some purpose.

There was little to show for their efforts, however, Chorley going 2-0 up on 32 minutes.

Nick Haughton dribbled through Darlington’s static defence and fired across goal, Matt Challoner turning home at the far post.

Before it became 3-0 Bartlett saved from Marcus Carver, who should've buried the chance, but Walker added the third before the break when he dinked the ball over Quakers’ keeper after playing a one-two with Carver through Darlington’s porous defence.

The situation almost worsened in added time, marauding left-back Blakeman seeing another long-range effort skim across the top of the bar.

A goal then would’ve killed off Quakers’ feint hopes, but Gray’s side gave themselves a chance of salvaging something when a double substitution worked almost immediately.

Harvey Saunders and James Caton were sent on after 56 minutes, and within 120 seconds the latter had crossed for the former to turn the ball home.

At 3-1, the goal came with enough time remaining to give Darlington a chance of a remarkable comeback.

For a while Darlington pressed, showing they had not given up, but eventually Chorley retook a grip on the game.

Josh O’Keefe hit the post from inside the penalty area, and he then beat Darlington’s offside trap and was one-on-one with Bartlett, Quakers’ keeper successfully charging off his line to narrow the angle.

Bartlett prevented the score being even higher, again Darlington’s best player, and he then leapt to his left to keep out Blackman, who seemed to be on a mission to score a wonder goal.

Instead, it was left to man of the match  Haughton to add the finishing touch, the midfielder bursting into the box to apply a tidy finish to pass from the left.

The defeat came five years to the day since Darlington lost 4-1 at Guisborough Town, at the beginning of a season that ended with Quakers winning the Northern League title with over 100 points.

That result instigated change – Joe Tait and Stephen Thompson signing – and Gray’s challenge now is to arrest the slide and, as he would say, get back to winning ways.