Quakers pay the price for their nightmare start

They were 2-0 down inside the first ten minutes and then 3-0 after an hour, but a heartening fightback from the young side meant the final score was 3-2, but a patched-up Quakers never recovered from losing their captain in the warm-up.

Graeme Lee was unable to start and that meant a late reshuffle that affected Darlington who a day earlier also lost left-back Aaron Brown.

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Interim manager Craig Liddle, who retired seven years ago, revealed that he would have stepped in for Lee had he not completed a five-mile run after training with the youth team yesterday morning.

He said: "In hindsight it was probably a stupid thing to do, to go for a run, but we didn't know we were going to lose Graeme.

"Bearing in mind we lost Aaron to injury on Monday, when Graeme suffered a recurrence of his knee injury I was starting to think 'why us, what have we done to deserve this?'

"It just seems like it's one thing after another.

"We played some good stuff in spells, but when you're two goals down so early you're right up against it. Would we have conceded those goals had Aaron and Graeme been playing? Probably not.

"There were too many young lads in the team because of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. They are bound to make mistakes, but they are learning. We are asking them to do a man's job."

Belief will have suffered when Lee limped off and confidence will have shattered when the lowly opposition took a two-goal lead.

Keeper Jordan Pickford enjoyed a fine debut in Saturday's defeat to Fleetwood, but he was central to both of the early goals.

After four minutes Julian Owusu latched on to a cross-field pass but as he broke into the penalty area Pickford, on loan from Sunderland, clattered into the forward and Louie Soares made no mistake from spot.

The start soon became disastrous as within 120 seconds Daniel Wishart added a second and again Pickford was involved.

In front of Fulham's former Darlington keeper David Stockdale who attended to show his support for the crisis-torn Quakers, Pickford's throw was intercepted by Wishart who dribbled unchallenged before striking a low shot into the corner.

As poor as Darlington's form has been of late, having lost three in a row without scoring, nobody expected such a scoreline against second-bottom opposition.

But their supporters remained upbeat, vocally backing their side throughout. The attendance of 550, well over Hayes' average, was bolstered by hundreds from the North-East packed behind the goal Quakers defended in the first half.

Darlington were at least competitive for the remainder of the half.

James Gray fired in a low effort comfortably dealt with by keeper Carl Pentney before a fine run by Dale Hopson saw him slalom between Tom Cadmore and Dwane Lee before being crowded out in the penalty area.

Hospson was meant to be on the bench but he was called on to replace Lee with Scott Harrison moving from forward to centre-back.

The teenager was one of nine of Quakers' 16 that are either in the youth team or have come through the ranks at The Northern Echo Arena.

Just before the break Pickford showed his true ability with a fine save.

The pacey Soares took the ball beyond Paul Arnison and crossed to the far side of the penalty area where right-back Yassin Moutaouakil drove a powerful low shot that Pickford did well to save from close range.

Having not scored two goals in their last four games combined, salvaging a point in the final 45 minutes appeared unlikely.

However, only a goal-line clearance by Jamie Hand stopped Kris Taylor from pulling a goal back 12 minutes after the restart.

Taylor's close-range header was blocked and, typically, Hayes & Yeading soon added the third goal.

Tom Collins ran unopposed for two lengths of the pitch up the left before firing past Pickford.

It could have been worse too. Phil Walsh screwed a shot horribly wide - it was not the sort of finish that his dad, Darlington player Alan, was known for.

The fightback began in the 81st minute when youngster Jamie Barton scored his first goal for the club, three days after making his debut.

Ryan Bowman fed the substitute out wide and, in only his second appearance, he carefully floated the ball over the keeper into the corner.

Another teenager, Danny Lambert, made his senior debut and he created the second in injury time. He pulled the ball back from the byline for Bowman whose shot was blocked by the keeper but the ball rebounded in off Pele to add some gloss to the scoreline.

The defeat sees Darlington drop two places to 18th, two positions and two points above the relegation zone.