Darlington's embattled boss Mark Cooper has been handed a huge boost with chairman Raj Singh announcing: Changing the manager now is not the answer.

Saturday's humiliating defeat at Bath City, who recorded their first win of the season against a lacklustre Quakers, heaped more pressure on Cooper.

His team are 16th having won one of their last eight games and Cooper is understood to have feared the axe.

But Singh yesterday mounted a staunch defence of the man he appointed in June last year.

He referred to Darlington's poor start to last season and insisted that stability is what the club requires.

He said: "I've had a really good, productive chat with Mark this afternoon and we're both convinced he can turn things around.

"Our result yesterday was unacceptable and we apologise to our fans for our bad form, especially those who made the long trip to Bath.

"But changing the manager now is not the answer. We've been trying to build some stability at this club and, slowly but surely, we've made a lot of progress since Mark's appointment last summer.

"He's assured me he's the right man for the job, and I'm fully behind him. You tend to find the clubs who enjoy success have backed their manager through rough patches.

"I cast my mind back to last season when we went through a bad spell, fans were calling for the manager's head after the Hayes and Yeading home defeat, then we got a point at Mansfield and won at Wimbledon before beating Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup.

"So we showed last season how you can turn things around when you hit a low ebb and we have to do the same now.

"It's important for everyone to get behind the manager and for the players to know we're all fully behind the team.

"We accept that the pressure is on to get results now, but we're all relishing the challenge. I've said so many times before that adversity can bring togetherness and we all need to face this challenge head-on.

"I've had a long, hard think about it and I'm convinced we'll get through this. We did it last year and ended up winning the club's first-ever trophy at Wembley. That was only five months ago."

Some supporters have called for Cooper to go, but Singh pointed out: "We could have a change of manager, go ten games without a win and where does that leave us?

"After the emotion of defeat has settled down we need to take a realistic outlook and think sensibly, and a knee-jerk reaction is not the answer.

"So the resounding message to everyone now is let's get behind the manager and the players, and together we'll get through this."

Now that they have received the chairman's backing, Cooper and assistant Richard Dryden will oversee training today in preparation for tomorrow evening's game at Stockport County.

Cooper believes his own position has now been strengthened, though he admitted Darlington's start to the season has been poor.

"I'm not going to walk away and I was never going to walk away from the club," said Cooper. "Myself and Richard want to get it right."

"Fair play to the chairman. By doing this he has put a marker down which is quite a refreshing outlook in football today. The chairman must be pretty level-headed and realistic.

"What it also does now, I think, is there's one or two players thinking 'damn, he's staying' and will now know that instead of me going they are more likely to go.

"On paper we're a good team, but they weren't on Saturday. It was the same team, apart from Jamie Chandler, as last week, but it was poor.

"The majority of the players are letting the fans and the club down. If I am going to stay they are going to have to be looking over their shoulder now. They've either got to knuckle-down or we'll replace them.

"I don't want to make excuses, we've just got to be better and if the players don't want to do it then they'll have to go because we've played 14 games now and it's not been good enough."

However, with Paul Arnison having sustained a suspected broken ankle at Bath and Graeme Lee picking a suspension, Darlington will be struggling for defenders at Stockport.

Cooper added: "Whichever way you look at it we need to bring in reinforcements, we need to bring a couple of players in.

"We're short on strikers, but they can cost a lot of money and we've got a bit of a defensive crisis now.

"Arnison might have broken his ankle, Graeme Lee, Ian Miller and Ben Purkiss are out, but Aaron Brown [thigh] might train on Monday."