Darlington 0 Bradford PA 1.

Darlington manager Tommy Wright admitted that he was demoralised after Quakers were beaten at home for the second successive season in the FA Cup.

Quakers have now gone four years without a win in the FA Cup – West Auckland was the last occasion when Quakers won in 2014 – and there was a growing feeling of inevitable defeat as Quakers stumbled after Bradford took a first half lead, and with it a big step towards the £9,000 prize money.

Quakers created enough chances to force a replay, but they didn’t have a sharp enough cutting edge in front of goal, especially in a much better second half when they dominated possession.

“The result has demoralised me and Whitey, and it’s demoralised the fans because you dream of having a Cup run, “said Wright, “and then we’ll get the disappointment and the jealousy when other people step up and have their FA Cup days.

“It’s the way that you lose games, and for me, you can’t play like that in the first 45 minutes and expect to get anything from a game of football.

“We looked better in the second half and we created some good chances, but even then the team’s cohesion didn’t seem great, and I don’t think our big players stepped up when we needed a spark.

“We set high standards, and we’ve proven that this team can be a good team, but for some reason the inconsistency is showing more often than we obviously want. Good teams have off days, but we seem to be having too many of them.

“For 45 minutes, I thought we were sloppy and lazy out of possession. People seemed to be waiting for somebody else to do the ugly side of the game. When opposing teams attack, too few of our players seem to like doing the ugly side of the game. Good teams need a good balance of that. We can point fingers at the shape, at people playing, at people not playing, but we’ve got to find a way of winning. We’ve got to get this team functioning better, and move on to this Saturday’s game against Stockport County.

“This will take a few days to sink in. We set up in two different systems. We started with a shape that gave us options on the pitch for the players that were fit at the start of the game, but those players didn’t produce. The second half was a lot better as a flat 4-4-2 when David Syers came on.

“We shouldn’t be having these conversations on a regular basis about us not having a settled team on the pitch. We’re eleven games into our season, but we still haven’t started.

“We’ve got to bounce back in the league. We are six points away from where we should be. The plus point is that we’re going to have bodies back and we’ll be able to pick the team we want to pick, and we’ll have more options on the bench. At least on the injury front, things are starting to pick up.”

Quakers were below par in the first half, and didn’t really put the Bradford defence under any real sustained pressure, even though their keeper, Jack Atkinson, was making his first team debut.

Bradford’s Nicky Wroe put a good chance from a left wing cross over the bar from ten yards, while Darlington midfielder-turned-defender, Liam Hughes, charged forward from the halfway line and forced Atkinson into a good save low down.

The keeper was tested again with a shot on the turn by Stephen Thompson, but Quakers faded and Bradford took over.

Jake Beesley should have done better when he headed over the bar from a right wing cross when he outjumped keeper Jonny Maddison, then Wroe nearly beat Maddison with a long range effort.

The visitors took the lead on 24 minutes when left back Danny Lowe intercepted a crossfield pass, ran forward as Luke Trotman slipped, and fired left footed past the stranded Maddison.

Hughes had a shot on the turn deflected over at the other end, while Nicky Clee forced Maddison to save his diving header at the foot of the post.

The introduction after the resumption of David Syers for Alex Henshall almost brought an immediate improvement, with Atkinson pushing a left foot shot from the sub wide of the post.

Bradford nearly made it 2-0 on the break though when Beesley held off Galbraith to get into the box, but Maddison saved at his feet.

Quakers pushed Bradford back after that, without looking all that convincing. Ainge had two efforts blocked, Reece Styche was off target, Syers had another scrambled off the line, and Thompson curled one wide.

And in the last minute, sub Harvey Saunders missed the chance of a replay when he agonisingly headed Thompson’s right wing cross wide of the post.

Thompson said; “We know that we were shocking and all over the place. We can’t give a team a goal start and give something for them to hang on to. Our finishing wasn’t up to scratch including my own.

“We weren’t clinical enough in front of goal. We know our finishing wasn’t good enough from a few of us. We had chances in the second half, but couldn’t score. Hopefully we’ll get a reaction for the Stockport game on Saturday.”

Darlington: (4-1-3-2) .

Maddison, Trotman, Hughes, Galbraith, O’Hanlon; Elliott, Henshall (sub Syers 46), Nicholson (sub Saunders 80), Thompson, Styche, Ainge.

Subs: Glover, Aaron Burn, Lycett, Alderson, Stansfield.

Booking: O’Hanlon.

Bradford Park Avenue (4-4-2).

Atkinson, Ross, Lowe, Wroe, Killock, Havern, McKenna (sub Toulson 80), Branson, Beesley, Dawson (sub Spencer 69), Clee (sub Johnson 64).

Subs: Toulson, Knight, Nowakowski.

Attendance 1039.