‘Unprofessional’ Quakers struggle at part-timers (From The Northern Echo)

‘Unprofessional’ Quakers struggle at part-timers

9:30am Monday 6th September 2010 in

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HAVING done his brother a favour in helping Darlington use Chelsea’s plush training ground on Friday, it is safe to assume John Terry will not be wasting any more free weekends watching Quakers following their embarrassing failure to beat nine-man Eastbourne Borough.

The Chelsea skipper was among the crowd at Priory Lane to watch his sibling, Paul, captain Mark Cooper’s side on their first visit to the East Sussex outfit. No doubt he will have been as horrified as the 150 or so Darlington fans who looked on in dismay as their team contrived to draw with an opposition who were two men light for almost an hour.

Playing with that advantage following the dismissals of Neil Jenkins and goalkeeper Rikki Banks in quick succession, Quakers failed to build on Chris Senior’s first goal for the club on the cusp of half-time.

With the part-time outfit having no keeper among their substitutes, midfielder Matt Smart donned the gloves, yet was underemployed as the visitors failed to turn their numerical superiority into the expected glut of chances and goals.

Having strongly criticised the performance against Grimsby last month, this latest misfiring display is likely to prove the final straw for Cooper, who had demanded more from his strikers in the build-up to the game.

Such was Cooper’s incredulity at his team’s inability to take all three points it was left to his assistant, Richard Dryden, to address Quakers’ shortcomings and promise changes for the visit of Forest Green on Saturday.

“He doesn’t want to come [and speak] in case he says something he’ll regret in the heat of the moment,” said Dryden.

“You go 1-0 up and, realistically, if you’re a side with anything about you, you should have the game won against nine men. I can’t remember their keeper making three or four saves.

“We were unprofessional and there will be changes coming up. We’ve given people a lot of chances but if they’re not hitting the target other people will come in.”

With Richard Offiong likely to be sent back to Carlisle when his loan ends and Tommy Wright sidelined for up to six weeks because of a calf injury, those changes are likely to mean an opportunity for Curtis Main.

The out-of-favour striker has played just four minutes of football this season and last week was on trial at Bury.

“It’s a great move if it comes off for him, but at the moment we need somebody who is going to stick the ball in the net,” added Dryden.

“There’s crosses coming in and balls going into the box but nobody seems to want to get on the end of them. If there are boys who don’t want to get in there I don’t care who they are; if they’re not scoring they’ll come out of the side and we’ll put someone in who wants to get in the box.”

Senior did just that when he dived to head in Paul Arnison’s right-wing delivery two minutes before the break, by which point the hosts were severely undermanned.

First to walk was Jenkins on the half-hour mark, the left-back shown a straight red for a stern challenge on Gary Smith, swiftly followed moments later by Banks.

Racing out to meet a hopeful ball forward from the returning Liam Hatch, Banks was deemed to have gathered the ball outside his area with Senior bearing down on him.

A goal and two men to the good, the stage was set for Darlington to go on and win at a canter against a side which had lost its last two matches.

A warning that Quakers could ill afford to relax, however, arrived in the shape of two efforts from Jamie Taylor either side of the break before Michael Smith, having been set up by substitute Josh Gray, squandered the chance to secure the points when he was thwarted by Smart with just the goalkeeper to beat.

With the home crowd urging Eastbourne on, they punished the visitors for a casual second-half. Taylor met Matt Crabb’s corner with a free header.

“We stepped off the mark and thought we had the game won,” continued Dryden.

“Enough encouragement was given at half-time to say we hadn’t won the game yet we started sloppily in the second half again.”

Match facts

Goals:

0-1: Senior (43, dived to head in Arnison’s right-wing cross

1-1: Taylor (69, header from a corner which Russell failed to keep out)

Bookings: K Austin (10, foul); Crabb (40, dissent); Arnison (90, dissent) Sendings-off: Jenkins (30, serious foul play), Banks (32, deliberate handball)

Referee: Michael Bull (Essex) – Angered the crowd with the red cards, though perhaps had little choice with the second dismissal 6

Attendance: 1,464

Entertainment: ✰✰✰✰

DARLINGTON (4-3-3):

5 Russell: Will be disappointed he did not keep out Taylor’s header

6 Arnison: Provided the cross for Senior to open the scoring; one of few players to emerge with any credit

5 Hone: Given a difficult afternoon by Taylor despite the lone striker’s lack of support

5 Clarke: Had to be on his toes against Taylor; lack of communication with Hone almost proved costly

5 Austin: Offered little as an attacking outlet on his comeback from a thigh injury

6 G Smith: Delivered a fine cross for Hatch in the first half and was victim of the lunge from Jenkins

: Like his midfield partners and strikers, he failed to extend the stand-in goalkeeper

5 Terry: Never looked like making it three goals in as many games

6 Senior: Industrious as ever up front and scored his first Quakers goal

5 Hatch: Other than one header wide the striker made little impact

5 M Smith: Showed some neat touches early on but confidence took a hit after key second-half miss.

Subs:

J Gray (for Chandler 56)

Offiong (for Hatch 56)

McReady (for G Smith 81)

(not used): Main, Brown

EASTBOURNE BOROUGH (4-4-2): Banks 3; Austin 5, Elphick 6, Langston 6, Jenkins 3; Treleaven 6 (Brinkhurst, 84), Smart 6, Weatherstone 5 (Brown, 88), Crabb 6; Atkin 3 (Johnson 35, 6), TAYLOR 7. Subs (not used): Baker, N Crabb MAN OF THE MATCH

JAMIE Taylor – A thorn in Darlington’s side despite his understandable lack of support.