DARLINGTON are still without a home win in three matches this season, but it wasn’t for the want of trying when they were beaten 2-1 by Macclesfield at Blackwell Meadows.
Quakers gave everything in the closing stages of the game for an equaliser, but they were left to rue the concession of two poor goals that leaves them with one win from five matches ahead of Monday's Bank Holiday trip to second-bottom Radcliffe, who are one place below them in the table.
The difference in the second half was Macclesfield sub Danny Elliott, whose pace stretched the home defence as he scored twice.
Quakers assistant manager Terry Mitchell said: “It was a real improvement on some of the work that we’d put in in training. We went in front in an area that we thought we could expose them in, and Dylan [Stephenson] took his goal really well.
“Their sub is a top player, who is coming back from injury. He scored a goal that we’re disappointed with and should have done better.
“We had a right go when we went 2-1 down, but the question that Steve [Watson] and I asked, was 'Why we didn’t play like that straight after half-time?'
“The referee didn’t lose the game for us, we’ve got to be better and score more than our opponents, and we’ve got to defend slightly better. We’ve got a lot of players injured, but we’re not far away.”
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Macclesfield forced three corners in the opening ten minutes which keeper Bobby Jones dealt with, while Kai George side-footed a over the bar.
Quakers gave themselves a boost by taking the lead on 15 minutes when the Macclesfield defence and keeper Christian Dibble dallied over a Toby Lees through ball and Dylan Stephenson nipped in and side-footed home.
Macclesfield won two more corners but didn’t really threaten apart from a chip by Amman Dyer which landed on the roof of the net.
Quakers played with plenty of spirit, and Tom Henson put a twisting header over the bar from a Ben Hedley cross.
But Quakers started the second half slowly and let Macclesfield into the game. Elliott, who came on at half-time, used his pace to set up George, who side-footed over, but he made no mistake with the equaliser on 56 minutes when the Darlington defence was sucked into the centre-circle, and the ball was played through for Elliott to stroke the ball into the bottom-left corner.
The game turned in the 68th minute. Stanton made a good run through the middle and laid the ball off for half-time sub and new signing Ethan Fitzhugh, who curled a left-foot shot against the post with Dibble beaten.
A few minutes later, Fitzhugh curled a free-kick over for Toby Lees to head wide.
Macclesfield won the game on 75 minutes when Quakers gave the ball away, and Dyer got away down the right and fired the ball across the six-yard box for Elliott to turn home.
They nearly got a third when George hit the post from another Elliott pass, but that set the scene for a rousing finish by Quakers.
Sub Aidan Rutledge had a point-blank header saved by Dibble, who went full length and tipped a low shot by Hedley around the post.
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