Match Report: Gateshead 1 Darlington 1 (From The Northern Echo)

Liddle’s men show strength of character

12:23pm Tuesday 27th December 2011 in Darlington FC Match Reports By Craig Stoddart, Deputy Sports Editor

Darlington’S contrasting fortunes on and off the pitch show no signs of stopping as they continue to produce good results in adversity.

Yesterday’s 1-1 draw at Gateshead made it one defeat during Craig Liddle’s eight league games in charge, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s late penalty securing a well-deserved point.

Although they dropped a place to 12th, their form compares favourably to the previous eight games when they lost five, yet for all the improvement on the pitch there is a lot of uncertainty off it and there are fears among the squad that they will not be paid when they are next due to receive their wages this week.

Bridge-Wilkinson and Kris Taylor were not paid in November, with many others receiving only a percentage of their salary and that led to Ian Miller’s exit last week, while Jonatan Sanchez-Munoz has followed.

Although the Spaniard was not integral, his exit hardly assisted Liddle who had only 14 senior players available at the International Stadium.

Gateshead make the return trip to The Northern Echo Arena on Sunday, and Darlington will be in confident mood following yesterday’s showing, but Liddle fears further departures.

He said: “If we can take four points from these two games, with four points I would be thrilled as that would keep us in contention for the play-offs, but if I’m honest I don’t know what sort of side I’m going to be able to put out.

“We’ll have to see what happens on Wednesday.

“I’d like to think I could field that side again, but with all the off-field problems there’s every chance that we could lose one or two more and then we’d be relying on the kids a little bit too much for my liking.

“I’ve had a couple of texts from the chairman while he’s been away. He’s back on Tuesday and I’m led to believe he’s coming into the ground on Wednesday, so by the end of the week we should know a bit more where we stand.”

Further disintegration may cut costs, but it would clearly also reduce Quakers’ chances of closing in on the play-offs.

The players are clearly doing their utmost and Sam Russell is among those who would not be short of interest, should he decide to leave.

He made an early save to deal with a Martin Brittain free-kick, while Graeme Lee headed wide a Bridge-Wilkinson free-kick as the sides traded chances in what was an even game.

Hatch declared his availability an hour before kick-off after suffering a knee injury last week, which perhaps explained why he was not at his best. His first sight of goal was an off-target effort after being played in by the impressive John McReady.

Taylor began the move from centre-back where the midfielder and occasional fullback slotted in for Miller – a position he played in as a youngster.

A dreadful pass by Gateshead centre-back James Curtis fell to Dale Hopson whose attempted lob was clawed away magnificently by keeper Tim Deasy, and soon after the keeper blocked Jamie Chandler’s shot when one-on-one.

There had been six shots to either side before the break with the Heed on target only once, but the hosts’ next effort produced the first goal.

Eight minutes after the restart Brittain curled a freekick, conceded by Lee for fouling the otherwise uninvolved Jon Shaw, over the wall.

It was a classy finish out of keeping with a lacklusture start to the second half.

Darlington took some time to click into gear in the second half and eventually they produced patient, passing buildup to open up the Tynesiders’ defence.

Chandler, the natural replacement for Miller as captain, revelled in his new role.

Tracking back to dispossess James Marwood with a clean tackle typified the new skipper’s energy and soon after came the leveller.

Just after the 80th-minute mark Bridge-Wilkinson collected McReady’s pass before being felled by Chris Carruthers and referee Richard West pointed to the spot and produced a red card.

It was Bridge-Wilkinson’s fifth successful spot-kick in as many attempts this season.

That a player who was not paid in November played such a significant role, as did Taylor who did not look out of place alongside Lee, should send message to Singh that these players are of huge value and deserve better than to go unpaid.

Darlington finished strongly against the Heed’s ten men, but they were unable to produce a winner, meaning they remain without a Boxing Day victory since 1997, but Liddle was more than pleased.

“I’ve given the lads a couple of days off because I think the deserve it,” he said.

“I’m chuffed to bits with the performance because, if I’m honest, I was a little bit concerned because the players have gone through a lot.

“You do have that little bit of apprehension and wonder if the wheels are going to fall off, but we played some great stuff at times and couldn’t fault anybody.

“After the effort and commitment they put in, I can’t fault any of them. We started the second half slowly, but once we got going there was only going to be one winner.”