JOSH Gowling says his struggling Darlington side need to be more resilient if they're to get out of trouble after the weekend win over Farsley Celtic was followed by defeat at Peterborough Sports.

Quakers went down 2-0 on Tuesday night, with their ninth defeat in 16 games leaving Gowling's side bottom of National League North and eight points adrift of safety.

Gowling was encouraged by some aspects of his side's performance at Lincoln Road, but said Darlington paid the price for not taking advantage of their first half dominance and going "rogue" in the second half.

Oisin Gallagher put the home side ahead in the first half before Cuba Meyer added a second 10 minutes after the break.

Gowling said: "I think we just have to find a way to be more resilient and keep doing what got us on top in the game.

"If we are going a goal behind we have to have a bit more resilience and belief in ourselves. We have some really good players and if we work together as a team and keep pushing we'll get back into games. That's what's lacking at the moment."

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Gowling added: "It was a missed opportunity. I thought we dominated the first half then they've scored from a breakaway on our set piece. They've had two chances in the game pretty much and scored them both. The second one, he just pretty much walked through us. That wasn't great.

"The second half got a bit scrappy. As soon as they scored the second goal, that's when you question things a bit. When you're 2-0 down and chasing, it's difficult. In the second half we didn't keep our shape well enough. We went a bit rogue.

"It's those little one per cents, tracking the runner or making a tackle or cutting off a pass. They're the bits we're falling short, those habits, and that's costing us."

Darlington are now preparing for the visit of Chester this weekend with Gowling still in search of his first home win.

He said: "We'll be back training on Thursday. I've probably give them a bit of a telling off in there but we'll be working on Thursday and looking to put it right on Saturday."

Chester head for Darlington on the back of four successive wins. They're only outside the play-off places on goal difference and have games in hand on all the teams above them.