'It’s a kick up the backside for us'

There was no hard luck story at Farsley Celtic, no blaming the poor playing surface after a 3-1 defeat in which Quakers trailed 3-0 by half-time.

The players and manager Alun Armstrong took the result on the chin, conceded their performance had not been good enough and had a two-hour training session in Durham on Monday evening as they sought to iron out Saturday’s issues.

“Hopefully it’s a kick up the backside for us,” admitted striker Adam Campbell, who struck a frustrated figure, reluctant to discuss his goal by him and instead focused on the team’s poor first-half display.

“Everyone was bitterly disappointed in the changing room, we all held our hands up because we knew it wasn’t good enough in the first half.

“There was no finger pointing and blaming anyone, everyone we saying we were not good enough. That shows the character we’ve got in the group, nobody was getting singled out and we’re going to pull together to put it right.

“At least we don’t have to wait another week to put it right. We were in training on Monday and then we’ve got the game on Wednesday to try and put things right.”

Individual errors rather than impressive play by Farsley was Darlington’s undoing, which made for a disappointing day after what had been a promising pre-season.

Campbell added: “I can see why people might think it was complacency, but I don’t think it was that at all. It was a couple of mistakes here and there and it snowballed.

“We didn’t manage the game properly and we didn’t pull ourselves together at the right time.

“When the third one went in half-time could not have come quickly enough. Once everyone said their piece we calmed ourselves down, dusted ourselves off and I think the fans appreciated the second half performance.

“We showed what we could do going forward, we were solid at the back, people put their mistakes behind them and we got on with it.”

The second half was certainly an improvement with Darlington showing plenty of creativity, albeit against a team satisfied with their three-goal lead, and Campbell marked his debut by getting on the scoresheet from outside of the penalty area.

He added: “It’s nice to get your first goal in the first game, it breaks your duck, but it would’ve been much better if we’d won 1-0 and I’d scored.

“But we got beat 3-1 and it’s not good enough and if we’re going to do anything in this league we need to do a lot better than that.”

Gateshead, who started their season with a 0-0 draw at home to Southport, are now managed by Mike Williamson, the former Newcastle United centre-back who was a regular at St James’ when Campbell was making the breakthrough in 2012-13.

Campbell made his senior debut during a Europa League tie in Greece against Atromitos, when Williamson played too.

Tynesider Campbell added: “I’ve got a few mates at Gateshead, the manager and a couple of the players so it’ll be interesting to see a few old faces but once the whistle goes you put all friendships aside.

“Willo is a good lad, a top pro, and I wish him all the best in his first job as a manager, but hopefully on Wednesday we can put a dent in his record.”

Campbell 24, returned to the North-East this summer after spending the previous four seasons at Notts County, Morecambe and Carlisle United.

“I had a few things in the pipeline higher up, but I met the manager and he sold Darlington to me,” Campbell explained.

“He told me how we were going to play with the front four, we’re going to be attacking o the front foot, pressing high and that’s exactly how I want to play.

“Once I’d met the manager it was a no-brainer.”