INJURY-HIT Darlington are still without a point in four home matches after they lost 2-0 to King’s Lynn.
Quakers have dropped to sixth from bottom of the National League North table with six points, all of which have come from two away wins.
They were without four central-midfielders because of injury at the weekend, which meant that teenagers Jonah Lowes, on his return debut on loan from Carlisle, and Sam Hetherington were paired together. Mark Beck was also missing up front so he was replaced by Aidan Rutledge, while Ben Hedley was made the fifth skipper of the team in seven matches so far this season.
As a team, they played with plenty of spirit and effort, but once again conceded two poor goals.
Manager Steve Watson said: “Nothing seemed to go our way, but it’s my job to keep us going with who we’ve got and try and get a positive reaction.
“We don’t seem to be able to get a run going, and we don’t seem able to break the duck at home this season, I don’t think we’ve been outplayed by anybody.
“Big moments in the game have to be managed better by us, we have to make better decisions. We made a mistake before half-time, and King’s Lynn had something to hang on to. Key moments and big decisions are going against us at the moment.”
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Quakers started with plenty of spirit and Ethan Fitzhugh, playing on the right, forced a good save out of Ronnie Hollingshead at his near post before Rutledge headed a left-wing corner just wide.
Dylan Stephenson put an overhead kick just over the bar before the Linnets took the lead just before half-time.
Brad Walker was penalised for a foul just outside the area, and Jesse Nzabueze found the corner with a well-placed free-kick.
Quakers had a good spell in the second half in which they could have equalised. Rutledge crossed for Sam Hetherington to fire over the bar, then Fitzhugh crossed for Hetherington to volley perfectly towards the top corner, but Hollingshead saved.
Linnets defender Josh McCammon nearly put a header into his own net on 68 minutes, but five minutes later, the visitors went 2-0 up when Tom Scott was allowed to run unchallenged at the Darlington defence and slip the ball through for Carlton Ubaezuonu to slide past the advancing Bobby Jones.
Quakers nearly pulled one back, but Rutledge’s effort came back off the bar, then sub Tom Henson was booked for simulation in the area late on when he claimed he was tripped.
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