Darlington 1 Bradford City 3

ONE of the unwritten rules in football is that ex-players always return to haunt their former employers.

They may have struggled to hit a barn door when they were on the payroll, but give them the opportunity to put one over former team-mates and invariably they deliver.

It can work from one extreme to the other. Grab a crucial goal against your former club or concede a penalty against them.

Not very often does that occur in the same game. But on Saturday it did.

Once the darling of some Quakers' fans and the target for many in his two spells, Barry Conlon played both hero and villain. Luckily for Bradford, the Irishman was villain first, before turning hero later.

Conlon became somewhat of a cult favourite at Darlington, and scored more goals than any other League Two striker over the course of his first three seasons for Quakers.

On Saturday Conlon, quite literally, appeared to give his former club a helping hand in their quest for automatic promotion.

When Clark Keltie despatched the resulting penalty, it looked like being an unhappy return for the striker.

It was looking that way until he started the move, which led to Bradford's equaliser early in the second half.

And inevitably, moments later, Conlon claimed the customary goal against his former employers, putting away a cross from another former Darlington player, Paul Heckingbottom.

Joe Colbeck joined in on the old boys act later in the game by putting the game beyond Dave Penney's men with Bradford's third.

The only get out of jail card for Quakers is that Hereford weren't in action at the weekend and a win at Barnet tomorrow night will guarantee a place back in the top three.

Failure to gain maximum points at Underhill could leave Darlington with a huge mountain to climb - Hereford will have two games in hand on Quakers.

Saturday's defeat means Darlington have now taken just five points from a possible 18, which is more relegation than promotion form.

That alarming statistic coincides with Darlington's worst defensive spell of the season.

"It worrying that we've conceded nine in four," said Penney.

"Keeping clean sheets was our strength and we've got to get back to doing that.

"We've got to have some characters now and deal with the pressure of winning games now."

And how Quakers could do with someone like Conlon for the remaining six games, with Penney's striker options down to the bare bones.

Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu pulled out of the starting XI just minutes before Saturday's game with an Achilles injury.

Gregg Blundell and Tommy Wright missed out through injury and Penney revealed they are unlikely to be fit in time for the Barnet game too.

And the Quakers boss is now facing the prospect of being without Richie Foran for the next three games following his red card.

It's safe to say these are difficult times for Darlington. Things had started so well after Keltie put away the 11th minute spotkick following referee Darren Drysdale's harsh decision to penalise Conlon for handball as he attempted to control Julian Joachim's cross.

There appeared to be little intent but Conlon admitted: "As the ball came across me it just seemed to brush off my stomach and grazed my arm. I think I was hard done by." Craig Nelthorpe enjoyed a lively opening 45 minutes on his Quakers debut as the home side dominated following Keltie's strike.

The Doncaster Rovers winger caused Bradford no end of problems with his pace and trickery, as well as a keen eye for goal. His 25-yard effort in the 32nd minute was the closest Darlington came to adding a second goal in the first half.

But that was as good as it got as the second half belonged to Conlon.

First, a trademark chest down and pass released Peter Thorne down the left. His cut back found the feet of the unmarked Tom Penford who made no mistake. And then Conlon made up for his earlier indiscretion by heading home Heckingbottom's cross in the 63rd minute.

"The fans were brilliant to me at Darlington and it was great coming back," said Conlon.

"They gave me a bit of stick in this game, but you know you must be doing something right when you're getting stick." To rub salt in the wounds, Colbeck added a third in the 79th minute.

The winger, who made six loan appearances for Quakers earlier this season, was then on the receiving end of a two-footed lunge from Richie Foran, whose frustration in front of goal had clearly got the better of him.

There was little option but for Drysdale to dismiss Foran and complete a miserable afternoon for Penney's men.

But it was one to remember for Conlon, who even had the audacity to catch a lift back home with Quakers keeper David Stockdale.