FOR Sale: one professional football club, several previous owners, spacious surroundings and comes with one frustrated manager.

Darlington chairman Stewart Davies may want to carefully consider his choice of words when advertising the club to prospective buyers.

At the end of a week in which former Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale visited the Williamson Motors Stadium for a first viewing, Quakers boss David Hodgson cut an unusually downbeat figure on Saturday.

Utter deflation is perhaps the best way to describe Hodgson's reaction to arguably their worst performance of his third reign.

Ridsdale is reportedly ready to step back into the game, but if he had been at Neasham Road on Saturday, he would have frowned, made his excuses and slipped away with a shudder.

The body work may be gleaming, but the performance certainly wasn't up to scratch at the weekend as Quakers succumbed to a Notts County side, which had lost its previous three games, without scoring a goal.

Consistently inconsistent, with 15 games to go few would like to predict which side of seventh place in League Two Quakers will finish.

The form table would suggest a play-off spot at least, given Quakers had matched top-of-the-table Yeovil Town point-for-point since the tenth game of the season before 4.45 pm on Saturday.

But where Yeovil set the early season pace to establish their place at the top of League Two, Quakers are among 13 teams - down to in-form Oxford in 16th - competing for four play-off spots.

And while Davies prepares to open discussions with potential buyers during the coming weeks, there promises to be as much intrigue on the pitch, with third-placed Swansea visiting the WMS a week tomorrow, before Yeovil arrive in town next month.

But before then Hodgson and assistant manager Mark Proctor will gather their thoughts for this weekend's trip to Wycombe Wanderers.

And there is every chance that Quakers will revert to Proctor's favoured 4-4-2 formation at Adams Park.

While Hodgson had no qualms with his back-three at the weekend, there seemed to be little cohesion across midfield, especially after Adrian Webster limped off early on with a recurrence of a hamstring strain.

And Hodgson was clearly disgruntled with the manner in which his side responded to David McGurk's 21st minute opener.

"After we scored the first goal it was an absolute shambles," admitted Hodgson. "At that point we have to dictate and dominate play, but we just didn't and we let them back into it.

"Our defenders gave little away in the first half and I couldn't really see them scoring.

"For a side sitting in seventh before the game, we should have had control from the first minute until the last, but that desire just wasn't there.

"If it wasn't for our defenders playing so well we would have been battered."

Despite McGurk's first goal of the season on only his second start of the campaign, Quakers' first-half offering left fans far from impressed.

"It doesn't help the players when they are booed off and that did disappoint me," said Hodgson. "Of course, they do have a right to have a go, but it certainly doesn't help. When they're not playing well they need the support more than ever.

"I can't defend my players after that kind of performance, but what I will do is make sure they're aware of what's at stake here.

"We had a chance to cement our place in the top seven and we blew it."

After scoring on his full debut at Bury the previous Saturday, Dutch winger Bobby Petta came close to marking his home bow with a goal when his cross-cum-shot shaved the top of the bar as County keeper Saul Deeney looked beaten.

At the other end Paul Bolland was only inches away from giving County their first goal in 281 minutes of football when he acrobatically volleyed wide of Sam Russell's goal.

Deeney then had to be alert to hold on to Craig Hignett's turn and volley in the 19th minute following a patient build-up by the home side.

But just moments later Deeney was left stranded as McGurk headed home at the back post from substitute Craig Russell's cross.

While McGurk marked his return to the side with his first goal in 11 months, the strike was crafted by the persistence of Craig Russell.

So often made the scapegoat when things aren't going to plan, the former Sunderland striker answered his critics in the best possible way.

With half-time approaching there were appeals for a penalty from the visitors when on-loan striker Mark Stallard clashed with Sam Russell, only for referee Carl Boyeson to wave play on.

The keeper then showed good reflexes to tip a David Pipe effort over the bar shortly after the interval.

However, there seemed little he could do when the same player levelled in the 59th minute. Shane McFaul picked out Pipe in the box, whose initial effort was only partially blocked by the Quakers keeper, before following up to poke the ball home.

And after veteran defender Mike Whitlow and Glynn Hurst were both denied by point-blank saves from Russell, Kevin Wilson added a second for the visitors in the 67th minute.

Stallard turned Rob Ullathorne's searching free-kick on to Wilson, who was unmarked to lash the ball into the net.

Alun Armstrong summed up a miserable afternoon in injury time, scuffing wide with Clyde Wijnhard screaming for the ball in the centre.

"I spoke to Alun at the end and told him he wouldn't have deserved it if it had gone in," said Hodgson. "I was disappointed with Alun's and Clyde's contribution.

"They weren't the only ones to blame because there were several other individuals who didn't perform."

Quakers may perform better away these days, but even Hodgson knows there is plenty of fine tweaking and tuning required between now and Saturday's trip to Adams Park.

Result: Darlington 1 Notts County 2.

Read more about the Quakers here.