Tommy Wright: 'We were the better team'

It was 1-0 at home to Chester, a not particularly impressive team that came into the fixture with one of the division’s worst away records.

Yet the play-off chasers did enough to beat a Quakers team that had a lot of the possession, particularly in the second half, but were lacking in creativity, a cutting edge in the final third.

They were not threatening enough, kept at arm’s length by a well-organised team of grafters.

The Quakers supporters in attendance deserve credit for showing patience, though a sense of apathy pervades having seen their team win just five of their 20 home matches this season, losing ten, and are 17th in the table.

Manager Tommy Wright was upbeat post-match, saying: “I was proud of the players, I don’t get the sense of disappointment and the lads gave me everything hence the fact they all stayed on the pitch because I thought we looked a threat.

“I believed we would get a goal but the lads fell short. We have lost 1-0 at home, but the lads gave everything.

“We were the better team, we were the ones that I thought dominated the game but we’ve been beaten 1-0 and it’s not the first time I’ve said it and it probably won’t be the last time.

“Other than their goal I don’t think they’ve really troubled us. I think Jake Turner had a quiet evening, and the lads gave a good account of themselves.”

After an opening period low on entertainment, there was a burst of activity which began with Simon Ainge conceding a corner by clearing ball under pressure from inside the six-yard box.

From the resulting corner Akwasi Asante, scorer of a hat-trick when Chester beat 3-1 Darlington in December, was unable to get a clean header on the ball, and in clearing the danger Stephen Thompson alarmed Darlington supporters when trying to dribble out of trouble, bringing a bit of jeopardy to proceedings.

Chester goalkeeper Grant Shenton could claim the first shot on target, unintended, however, after a mammoth clearance downfield, one that Turner claimed comfortably.

Neither goalkeeper was overly exerted, with Shenton well-protected by his defence. With the recalled Harvey Saunders waiting to pounce, Chester’s Dan Livesey slid in to clear Jordan Nicholson’s pass into the danger area after breaking down the left.

And Saunders passed up an opportunity when Simon Grand miskicked an attempted clearance, but the chance was gone as almost as soon as it came, Livesey clearing.

A super save by Shenton stopped Ainge scoring a header, tipping over after Nicholson had crossed, and at the other end Turner had to be alert when catching Matthew Waters’ deflected effort from 20 yards.

The only goal of the game came from a Chester free-kick, one that owed that something to both good planning and good fortune.

Luke Trotman had conceded the kick, one that saw Chester hoodwink Quakers with an act of deception, pretending their set-piece routine had gone wrong before eventually Gary Roberts passed to Anthony Dudley, he played in Asanti who got his attempted shot all wrong, but the ball fell kindly to Grand to force home at close-range.

Wright: “Asanti was unmarked in our 18-yard box, that’s not switching off, that’s just not doing a job.

“It was a scruffy pass, it was a scruffy touch and it was scruffy finish that floated in off the upright. I thought it was a very fortunate goal, I wouldn’t say it was well-worked because it was scruffy.”

It caught out Quakers and was enough to give the play-off hopefuls a half-time lead, though Darlington would have levelled before the break had referee Adam Williamson not given a foul against Ainge when he headed home by beating Shenton to Nicholson’s high cross.

Wright’s view was: “That’s the way the game has gone, you can’t challenge goalkeepers any more.

“If a goalkeeper spills the ball you can’t jump into them, the game has changed from when I played and from when Simon Ainge was starting out.”

Darlington were much-improved at the beginning of the second half. Kicking towards a vociferous Tin Shed, they moved up several gears but without forcing the opposition goalkeeper into action.

There was an almost a spectacular own goal by Grand, however, the centre-back intercepting Thompson’s ball across goal by connecting with a bullet header that Shenton did well to save, showing sharp reactions to keep his side 1-0 ahead.

And Shenton again saved from a team-mate when Livesey miskicked on the edge of his own area when attempting to boot clear Nicholson’s grasscutter, the deflected shot rolling through to the goalkeeper.

For the bulk of the second half Chester, a goal to the good, did not do any attacking themselves, but they did not need to giving Darlington’s failings in the final third.

Omar Holness, on his home debut, from around 25 yards was well wide with a shot, and Nicholson should have had a shot by tried passing to Wilson Kneeshaw and Chester cleared.

Wright was happy with his team’s efforts and chose not to make any substitutions, so new signing Osagi Bascome remained on the bench.

In the dying seconds Darlington had a rare shot on target when Saunders had a crack, but Shenton was equal to it to condemn Quakers to yet another defeat to Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, the managerial duo who have so often been Darlington’s nemesis in recent years.