TOMMY WRIGHT will be relieved he does not have to visit Blyth Spartans again this season after suffering two defeats there inside a month.

Saturday was his first game in charge of Darlington, a new beginning for himself and the club, though he could be forgiven for feeling a sense of familiarity at Croft Park.

In his penultimate match as Nuneaton Town manager three weeks ago Wright’s team lost 6-3, despite having taken the lead, and it was a similar story on Saturday.

Darlington led 1-0 at the break, having played well in the first half, but Blyth scored twice early in the second half to tip the game in their favour, leading to Quakers’ third defeat in succession away from home.

“My teams were deservedly leading both games and felt very comfortable at 1-0, but then they have been blown away by quick break-away goals, and goals change games,” said Wright.

“We missed some good opportunities to score and we were a bit sloppy at the back, so it was a case of deja vu, but there’s plenty of positives for me and now we go on to another hard game next Saturday.”

Wright would prefer to focus on the positives and there were some, despite a defeat which leaves Quakers in 13th position.

Using a 4-5-1 formation, they played good football in spells, striker Nathan Cartman linking up well with the midfield, and they stayed strong defensively to limit Spartans’ sight of goal before the break.

But the loss of Dom Collins to injury at half-time was crucial, as were the individual errors which led to Darlington’s downfall.

“In the first half I thought we were spot on. We had the wind blowing against us so we thought we’d done the hard part. We were forced to make a substitution at half-time which probably derailed us a little bit,” admitted Wright, who sent on Kevin Burgess for Collins.

“To start the second half like we did was a big kick in the teeth.

“We made a bad decision about playing the ball behind, we dwelt on the ball and got done on the counter-attack.

“The lads are honest. They’ve held their hands up and said it was individual errors, and that we’ve shot ourselves in the foot today. But there’s something to work on.”

It was soon after the restart when Leon Scott, the stand-in left-back, dwelled on the ball in the opposition half, nimble winger Jarret Rivers pinching possession and feeding the pacey Adam Wrightson, who got between Burgess and Terry Galbraith to fire home.

It is remarkable to think that Ian Watson, one of four former Quakers in Blyth’s line-up on Saturday, was deemed not good enough by Martin Gray two years ago.

The equaliser cancelled out Dave Syers’ goal on the half-hour mark. It was from a Josh Gillies corner, Andrew Cartwright’s fluffed clearance falling to Syers, who took a touch and then smashed the ball beyond former Quaker Peter Jameson.

It could have been 2-0, Syers seeing a half-volley go over after a Tom Portas cross.

At the beginning of the second half Jameson received a warm reception from the 500 Darlington fans behind the goal, who had made plenty of noise but were silenced when Wrightson made it 1-1.

And it became 2-1 when Sean Reid headed home at close-range. Scott had needlessly given away a foul for his third trip of the day on Rivers, Darlington did not deal with Dale Hopson’s free-kick before Robbie Dale delivered an inviting cross for Reid.

Jameson provided a reminder of his abilities when he made two excellent saves to keep his team ahead. He was quick off his line to deny Gillies, and then blocked at close-range from Syers after a Galbraith free-kick.

That was as close as Quakers came to equalising, and it was all over on 81 minutes when Dale made the most of Darlington’s defensive deficiencies.

He latched on to Wrightson’s through-ball and twisted flat-footed Burgess into the ground before lashing high into the net.

Darlington had gone from being ahead at half-time, knowing they would have the strong wind at their backs after the break, to being 3-1 down, leaving Wright to wonder what to do next.

At least he has seen the team’s frailties at first hand, although signing new players is not his immediate objective, he says, but the continued absence of Gary Brown is a concern.

“It could have been 2-0 at half-time and in the second half we missed some really good opportunities to either extend the lead or get back into the game,” said the new boss.

“There are plenty of positives. Some of the football we played in the first half was a joy to watch, and some in the second half too.

“But we probably took our eye off the ball a little bit. We were exposed by Blyth’s strengths, which we knew about, so that’s probably the most disappointing thing.

“The lads are disappointed. I’ve told them that I don’t want to dwell on things too much, but at the same time I want them to learn from it.

“What’s probably more frustrating is that we’ve gone back two weeks, so it’s back to the drawing board.”