Source: Northern_Echo
Darlington 1 Macclesfield Town 0
THE BBC commentator on Saturday nights Football League Show reckoned the bizarre own goal scored by Darlingtons Jeff Smith will appear on a football bloopers dvd as he handed Macclesfield Town victory by inexplicably turning the ball into his own net.
It cannot be long before his goal achieves infamy on YouTube, but there is nothing funny about Darlingtons plight.
It just gets worse and the sooner chairman Raj Singh can make an appointment that can inspire a revival the better, because bottom of the table Darlington are in dire straits.
Last week Singh said he expected to take a fortnight to replace Colin Todd, but Darlington could have a new man in charge in the next 24 hours ahead of the weekend trip to third-placed Dagenham.
Applicants have included Peter Beardsley, Craig Hignett, Kevin Richardson and Alan Kernaghan, while Steve Staunton and Gary Brabin are also in the frame.
Richardson and Hignett were present on Saturday, with Hignett accompanied by Gary Pallister.
Staunton, first-team coach at Leeds United under Gary McAllister in 2008, was also interested in the recent vacancy at League Two rivals Rotherham and appears to be front runner at The Northern Echo Darlington Arena.
Caretaker boss Craig Liddle ruled himself out of the running, citing his age and lack of experience as key factors.
For the time being the 37-year-old would prefer to concentrate on his position as the clubs head of youth and he said: Im not going to hide from the fact its not my time for the job. Im far too young and inexperienced for this sort of role.
All Im doing is a job for the club until Im told otherwise. Me and Neil Maddison know where the team is short and if the new manager wants our input wed gladly give him it.
But he will come in, have a look at things and will need to do things quickly.
Although there is plenty of the season left, whoever is made manager faces a daunting task to save Darlington, who are eight points adrift of the third bottom position, having lost nine of 11 games.
If the table is not enough to demonstrate how tough it will be, then perhaps the new manager should watch a dvd of Quakers first half performance on Saturday. It was utterly appalling.
They lacked a presence up front, the midfield was nonexistent and huge gaps appeared in a shaky defence.
A decent side would have humiliated Darlington, who were thankful for the Silkmens failure to take three simple chances.
Ben Wright and Nat Brown both headed wide from good positions and John Rooney demonstrated why he is not at the same level as elder brother Wayne by side-footing wide with the goal at his mercy.
Darlington did their scoring for them after Macclesfields Colin Daniel played a ball across the six-yard box to the far post, where Smith intended to put the ball out for a corner. Instead he rolled the ball between keeper and post.
Liddle defended Quakers makeshift left-back, saying: Basic defending is that you open your body up so you can see the ball and the man you are marking. He got that wrong but Im going to defend him because hes a midfielder, not a full-back, and hes doing a job for the club.
There were murmurs of boos at the break, but by fulltime the fans were applauding the team off after a much-improved second half, but Quakers missed chance after chance, just as they did in the midweek defeat to Rochdale.
Striker Kevin Gall fired across goal instead of passing to the better-placed Darlington-born midfielder Dan Groves, who himself headed over from a central position and sub Curtis Main twice wasted scoring opportunities.
He shot over the bar and headed against the post before the closing stages saw captain Steve Foster, thrown forward in last-ditch attempt to equalise, shoot wide and Ian Miller head off target.
Liddle reflected: We created chances but we havent got that belief or composure to stick the ball in the net. Myself, Maddo or whoever comes in cannot put that belief into players. Theyve got to have that belief themselves.
The first half wasnt acceptable. It wasnt anywhere near good enough and we need a few more leaders out there. Fozzy voiced his opinion afterwards and rightly so.
We cant afford for the gap to get any bigger because well soon need play-off form just to stay in the league. When you havent won in 11 games that would be a huge ask.
So the sooner a new manager comes in the better.
