Lincoln City 3 Darlington 0

IF anyone was unsure about the gravity of Darlington’s plight then the manner of Saturday’s defeat at Lincoln City should leave them in no doubt.

Darlington were dire. It was 3-0 and would have been more were it not for some wasteful finishing by a managerless side who had previously lost three matches without scoring.

Following the midweek dismissal of Peter Jackson, the Imps rediscovered their ability to play as a team, whereas Quakers looked like a team of lost individuals, lacking in direction.

In the first half Lincoln tore Darlington’s shaky defence apart, the first goal coming from Rene Howe after only two minutes and he bagged the second before the break.

Chris Fagan completed the scoring on 55 minutes to put the cap on Quakers’ worst performance of the season and their first defeat at Lincoln since 1999.

It left manager Colin Todd furious. “It was a very inept performance,” he said. “This has opened my eyes.

“We’ve had a difficult period, but until now we hadn’t performed like that.

“I only played one player out of position, Matt Plummer at right-back.

“Everybody else was playing in their position where we are supposed to get the best out of the them.

“We have been found wanting in terms of passion, aggression, desire. We were never at the races.

“When you come to a club that has just sacked the manager the last thing you want is to allow them to get their tails up.

“But within two minutes we gave them a goal that we could have been prevented.

“We never controlled any part of the game and Lincoln dominated. Every time they attacked we looked vulnerable, unsteady.

“I don’t think anybody came out of the game with any credit at all.”

Although four of Darlington’s previous five league games had ended in defeat, occasionally there had been glimpses that provided reason for hope.

But Saturday was Darlington at their worst and they began by going a goal down due to slack defending.

Nathan Porritt’s missed tackle allowed Cian Hughton space to cross to Howe.

Unchallenged, he was able to volley home from ten yards.

Darlington were stunned and hardly emerged from their own half for the first 20 minutes.

But just as they began to make inroads, with Jordan Cook and David Dowson showing promise, it became 2-0 on 30 minutes.

Keeper David Knight’s vulnerability on crosses again came to the fore as he failed to deal with a tame Lenell John-Lewis delivery that allowed Howe to bundle the ball into the net.

Lincoln had already wasted several chances, and John-Lewis hit the bar direct from a corner, so Quakers clearly had to make changes at the break.

But Todd, clearly frustrated, could not wait any longer and two minutes before half-time hauled off the disappointing Porritt, replacing him with Josh Gray.

Todd explained: “Nathan wasn’t doing anything going forward and he wasn’t doing anything defensively. But to be fair to him, it could have been any one of 11.”

Darlington were 2-0 down at the break, just as they were during a trip to Sincil Bank in December 2005, when they recovered to draw 2-2.

Ten minutes into the second half another unlikely comeback seemed plausible when Dowson scored after latching on to Gary Smith’s through-ball.

But the ‘goal’ was incorrectly ruled out for offside, a decision which cost Quakers as within a minute Fagan completed the scoring.

On the counter-attack Jamie Clarke dribbled past a static Ian Miller and fed Fagan, who held off Mark Bower to score.

Todd sent on Curtis Main but it was too little, too late and the remainder of the half was uneventful.

With the points safe, Lincoln only occasionally threatened to fulfil their supporters’ wishes with a fourth goal, which they would have got had Howe not wastefully fired over from an unmarked position in injury time.

The match represented a reversal of last Tuesday’s meeting between the sides at The Northern Echo Arena, when Darlington deservedly won a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie 1-0.

The second round sees Quakers travelling to Leeds United early next month and it means the sides will face each other for the second time this season as they played a televised League Cup tie in August.

Todd would surely love access to the finances made from both games because the current side rapidly requires investment as, on current form, bottom of the table Quakers are heading for a relegation battle.

Matchfacts

Goals
1-0: Howe (2, Hughton’s rightwing cross was met by Howe’s ten-yard volley)
2-0: Howe (30, beat Knight to left-wing cross and then tapped home)
3-0: Fagan (55, composed finish from six yards after good work by Jamie Clarke)
Booking: Hutchinson (90, foul)
Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northampton) – Rarely noticed, always a good sign, but had to book Hutchinson for a senseless tackle in injury time 8
Attendance: 3,005
Entertainment: ✰✰✰

LINCOLN CITY (4-4-2)

Burch 5; Hughton 7, Kovacs 7, Swaibu 6, Brown 6; J Clarke 7 (Hutchinson 83), Kerr 7 (S Clarke 86), Butcher 6, John-Lewis 8; HOWE 8, Connor 6 (Fagan 20).

Subs (not used): Musselwhite (gk), Clucas, Adams, Miller

DARLINGTON (4-4-2)

4 Knight: Made some regulation saves but culpable for the Howe’s second strike
4 Plummer: Allowed John- Lewis to deliver the ball for Lincoln’s second goal
4 Foster: Made some good blocks in the second half, but Todd was disappointed with his showing
4 Miller: Too easily beaten by Jamie Clarke in the build-up to the third goal
4 Bower: Nowhere to be seen when Hughton crossed for the allimportant first goal but received no help from Porritt
2 Porritt: Any more showings like this and he’ll find his loan from Middlesbrough cancelled
5 CHANDLER: At least he tried to win possession and threw himself into tackles
3 G Smith: Frequently gave the ball away; not the same player he was on Tuesday against Lincoln
5 Cook: Showed a willingness to run at Lincoln but went off injured in the first half
5 Dowson: Had a goal wrongly ruled out and should not have been substituted
3 Gall: Worked hard but contributed very little other than a hugely optimistic 35-yard shot that went 35 yards wide

Subs J Smith (for Cook 38): Convery did well in midweek so Smith was a surprise choice to replace Cook 5
Gray (for Porritt 44): Unable to contribute much in an attacking sense but showed the commitment sadly lacking in Porritt 5
Main (for Dowson 64): Had an opportunity to shoot but dallied on the ball 5 (not used): Liversedge (gk), Bains, Convery, Bennett

MAN OF THE MATCH
RENE Howe – scored two and involved in the build-up to the third goal