AND so it goes on.

Darlington’s dreadful record in cup competitions continues, last night succumbing 2-0 to AFC Telford United on a deeply disappointing night Blackwell Meadows.

The opposition scored twice early in the second half and then had a man sent off, but Quakers showed little sign of mounting a comeback and they limped out of the FA Trophy.

Not since 2015 have they won a cup tie of any note, their last success being in the Trophy against Mossley at Heritage Park.

Manager Tommy Wright has not overseen an upturn in fortunes having earlier this season exited the FA Cup at the first hurdle without scoring, losing at home to Bradford (Park Avenue).

His team have now won only four of their 19 games this season, and there were boos at full-time from frustrated fans.

The team lacked energy Telford were in control for the most part and Wright conceded the performance had not been good enough.

He spent close to half an hour in the changing room with the players after the game, and later apologised to the club’s supporters for the performance.

“There was nothing wrong with the first half, and there was a key moment when we hit the bar,” he said.

“But I’m really disappointed with how we reacted to the first goal. There was no pressure on the shot so it was bad defending.

“And the second goal flattened us. We had no hope, but then we got a lifeline with the second off.

“To play half an hour against ten men, we have not created enough. There was no tempo, a lot of sideways and backwards stuff, we haven’t really worked the keeper.

“We’ve only got ourselves to blame and I apologise for that.”

The tie had not captured the imagination of Quakers’ supporters despite the reduced admission, 770 being the attendance, though the team’s mediocre run of late was clearly a factor too.

They’d recorded four successive draws before last night, and those that stayed away did not miss much.

A Terry Galbraith free-kick looped into the penalty area and dropped for the recalled Simon Ainge, but he was unable to get direct it towards goal.

Ainge missed a sitter last Saturday, heading wide when unmarked in the closing moments of the 2-2 draw with Hereford, but he returned at the expense of Harvey Saunders.

Zach Hemming, on loan from Middlesbrough and with Boro coach Paul Stephenson in attendance, made his second save of the evening when he stopped a Daniel Udoh effort from inside the penalty area, as Telford took a grip on the game.

Out of the blue Darlington hit the bar. Ainge flicked on a header and Jordan Nicholson lobbed the Telford keeper from around 25 yards, but the ball rebounded off the underside of the bar and the moment had gone almost as quickly as it came.

A goal would have been tough on Telford as they had been on top, but a combination of Hemming and poor finishing meant it was 0-0 at half-time.

Darryl Knights lifted the ball over from a good position, and Amari-Morgan Smith scuffed the ball into Hemming’s hands after Udoh had taken the ball off Galbraith on the left.

Darlington finished the half with a flourish. Ainge headed into Wycherley’s midriff when he met Ben O’Hanlon’s high cross, and Luke Trotman tried a long-range blast that went over.

Just before the end of the half-time break fans were informed via the public address system that any replay, should it be required, would be on Tuesday.

So it was with predictable inevitability that the announcement was swiftly followed by two quick goals, James McQuilkin putting Telford ahead in 47th minute with a long-range effort.

The midfielder picked up the ball deep inside Darlington’s half, though Morgan-Smith handled in the build-up, before beating Hemming with a low drive.

And it was 2-0 moments later, Telford captain Shane Sutton heading home at close-range from a corner.

Quakers recovered 2-0 down against Hereford last week, but the Bulls are a poor side whereas Telford are third in the table.

Just after the second goal Ainge had a header on target, meeting an O’Hanlon cross, but Wycherley was equal to his effort and soon the Darlington No. 9 was replaced with Wright hoping to instigate a revival by sending on Saunders.

And within minutes Darlington were given hope when Telford were reduced to ten men.

At a break in play on 57 minutes referee Aaron Bannister was beckoned over by an assistant referee, leading to left wingback Steve Morley being dismissed for foul and abusive language.

Darlington’s reaction, however, was not good enough. They had more of the ball, but did not do enough with it.

Wright added: “We have shown before that we can come back, and we started to play more football when we did go 2-0 down, but for the majority of that time we were playing against ten men.

“We haven’t worked the goalkeeper enough, we haven’t created anything where you could say it was unlucky, it was a great save.

“You could say it was a lacklustre performance, the lads have been told that it was not good enough and it needs to be better.”

There was no last hurrah as Telford closed the game out well, getting men behind the ball and protecting Wycherley.

They were punished for their timewasting with Bannister adding seven minutes of time, but it mattered little as Quakers suffered a deserved defeat.

Darlington are now left to focus on improving their poor position in the league.