Darlington's defeat on Saturday typified just how ironic football can be.

Two months ago, a depleted Darlington side, hit by injury and suspension, put themselves on the road to a potential clash with Newcastle with a satisfactory 1-0 win at Aggborough in the first round of the FA Cup.

But with Darlington almost back to full-strength on Saturday, albeit for the absence of Craig Liddle and Barry Conlon, it was the Harriers who were under-strength with several players out of action.

But since last November, Harriers' form has improved dramatically, and on Saturday it certainly showed while Darlington were well under par. The fact Quakers failed to register one shot on target says it all.

No matter how ironic Saturday's loss was, Darlington can't afford a repeat showing against Peterborough tomorrow night, otherwise, Quakers might as well kiss goodbye to a clash with Newcastle right now.

In short: Quakers were very unimpressive as Tommy Taylor's side put in their weakest performance since the 3-0 defeat at Shrewsbury in November and as could be expected of a man who has raised expectancy levels since arriving in October, Taylor was not impressed with his team, and singled out Ian Clark for Harriers' goal.

"Clarky played a square-ball, Hecky got pulled out of his position to help him out and they've got in to score.

"And the irritating thing is, I was going to bring Clarky off about five minutes before that because he wasn't having a good game."

But it's unfair to pin-point Clark because most of the side let themselves, the manager and the fans, down. Each of the team have performed to a much better standard this season and the players, and Taylor knows it.

"Kidderminster were the better side, no complaints at all. None of our midfield ever got past our forwards and it just shows me that we need more pace in midfield. We had nothing in midfield and I'm very disappointed."

Taylor denied his players had their minds on tomorrow's match, and blamed the fact his team has scarcely been in action over the last month while Kidderminster have played throughout the recent poor weather. But it can be argued the players should have been playing for place tomorrow night.

"The players haven't been thinking about Tuesday any more than they should because they had a job to do, simple as that," said Taylor.

"There will be a few missing after today because mentally and physically there was a few of them not strong enough.

"What happened had nothing to do with Tuesday. The best team won but I'm upset with the way we conceded the goal, it was a stupid goal from our point of view."

Kidderminster were by far the best team. They kept possession for long periods, were quick going forward, tested Andy Collett on several occasions and, most importantly, dealt with Darlington's limp attacking forays.

Having switched to a 4-5-1 in order to combat Kidderminster's threatening 4-3-3 formation, Quakers' attack was tame from the off although Danny Mellanby could have done better when he fired wide early on when presented with a one-on-one from 18 yards.

With no target man to win knockdowns, Mellanby was always going to be an isolated figure, and the switch back to 4-4-2 with young Mark Sheeran playing up-front did little to rectify the situation.

Quakers simply couldn't cope with Kidderminster who impressed with their fast-flowing football but they should've been ahead by half-time but David Brightwell made two goal-line clearances in as many seconds.

Taylor's side were always looking to frustrate and contain their opponents but had Jan Molby's side scored more than a single goal there'd have been few complaints.

If nothing else, Taylor is always honest in his opinions, and at Aggborough, he didn't disappoint.

"We were rubbish," he admitted. "They'll be getting a kick up the backside before Tuesday.

"Truthfully, we were lucky to be level at half-time because they were far better going forward than us.

"We haven't tested their keeper at all. We had a free-kick in the last minute. Danny should've scored in the first half when he was through and Clarky fouled their keeper once at a corner and that is about all we did in 90 minutes of football - and that's just not good enough."

In the dying seconds Simon Betts rubbed salt into the wounds with a rash tackle which earned him red card via a second yellow, meaning he'll miss either a match with Luton or Newcastle in two weeks' time.

On Saturday's showing, it'll be the Luton game he'll miss.

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