Prior to Saturday's home game with Torquay, chairman George Reynolds called for Darlington fans to return to Feethams in order to provide transfer funds.

It appears not many listened to his comments because only 3,000 turned up - and at this rate he'll be lucky to see 2,500 at the next game when Macclesfield arrive a week tomorrow.

Heavy snowfall put the game in doubt and a huge effort was made to ensure the game was staged, but by 5pm all the fans and club staff who'd mucked-in were wishing they hadn't bothered. Torquay won with ease and make no mistake about it: Darlington were dire.

The defeat was justified reward for putting in undoubtedly the worst 90 minutes of football delivered by Quakers this season.

And, what made the defeat even more galling, was that prior to Saturday the Gulls had won away from home just once all season and were second bottom of the table.

This was dross of the highest order, indeed, yesterday morning some Sunday league teams will have managed more impressive performances than Quakers.

It's possible to use many different adjectives to describe this display, not all of them printable, but shocking, woeful, abysmal and pathetic will have featured in many pub conversations on Saturday night as disgruntled supporters drowned their sorrows.

Quakers were unable to create any meaningful attacks while they failed to prevent Torquay surging forward, especially in the first half when the visitors chalked-up 11 efforts on target to Quakers' zero. The entertainment meter registered zero and manager Tommy Taylor knew it as he called for the fans, many of whom deserted Feethams half an hour before the end, to be given a refund.

Much of the game was played-out to a chorus of boos and Torquay's second goal scored on the hour signalled the end of the afternoon for many Darlington supporters as they decided enough was enough - and Taylor says the players should repay the fans.

"A lot of people can't afford to come to a game of football but they scrimp and save to get a bit of money to watch the game," said Taylor. "We've got to give them far more quality than what we did.

"I'm disappointed with the way the players have gone about their business and I've told them as well. All the people at the game should be given their money back, and it's not the chairman who should do it, but the fans because it just stunk - it was terrible.

"I can't say much more about it than that, it was the worst game I've had since I've been here. I don't have to say too much about the performance to the players because there's 3,000 Darlington supporters telling them they've had a bad game."

Time after time Torquay surged into the Darlington area with Richard Logan seeing three one-on-one opportunities against Keith Finch go begging as the keeper made some good stops.

But Logan created the first goal after 24 minutes as he charged down Finch's clearance on the edge of the penalty area and the ball fell to Alex Russell 30 yards from goal who fired into an empty net. Chris Brandon wasted another chance when he stole the ball from Paul Heckingbottom but he forced his shot straight at Finch.

For the first 15 minutes of the second half Darlington were the better side but the only real chance fell to Barry Conlon who nodded a tame header into the hands of Kevin Dearden.

Sixty seconds later Russell was afforded the freedom of the six-yard box as Logan provided the cross for Russell to nod home.

Ian Clark pulled a goal back as he demonstrated how to successfully score in a one-on-one situation having been played through by substitute Mark Sheeran, but an equaliser never looked likely and Russell completed his hat-trick in injury time when he notched from the penalty spot after Finch hauled down Eifion Williams.

Taylor believed a lack of heart cost Quakers dear, and says the players arrived at Feethams in the wrong frame of mind.

He said: "They've turned up expecting to win this. They've been reading the papers saying that Torquay are not good, and they aren't good either, that's why they're second bottom of the table.

"I thought we were diabolical. The players had the wrong attitude and were second-best all over the field and if it wasn't for the goalkeeper in the first half we'd have been out of the game.

"But you can't expect to win without any bottle. There was no desire to win the game."

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