Source: Northern_Echo
Darlington 4 Fleetwood Town 0
Darlington leapt four places up the table with a four-midable performance against Fleetwood Town last night.[LNB] Although Quakers overcame relegation-threatened Eastbourne Borough 6-1 three weeks ago, last night's 4-0 win against fellow promotion chasers was arguably the team's best display of the season.[LNB] From the moment Ian Miller scored after only 75 seconds Darlington were in command and it was 2-0 with only 12 minutes gone.[LNB] "It was a professional performance and from that point of view it was the best of the season because Fleetwood looked a really good team to me in the first half," said manager Mark Cooper, who declined to add to last night's reports that he is about to be unveiled as Grimsby Town's new boss.[LNB] "We had to be at our best to stop Fleetwood. We changed our system to stop them.[LNB] "We put our two forwards wide to press their full-backs and put Marc Bridge-Wilkinson further forward to occupy their centre-backs.[LNB] "I'm really pleased that we saw it through and it was a fantastic performance - I've told the players that was how to win a game."[LNB] An indication of how comfortable the night would be came when Quakers got went 1-0 ahead with less than two minutes played.[LNB] Aaron Brown's free-kick into the penalty area was not cleared and the loose ball fell to the unmarked Miller to tap into an empty net.[LNB] Darlington had the ball in the net again two minutes later, though this time it was Cooper who 'scored'.[LNB] The manager booted the ball in frustration and it landed 55 yards away in the net after Michael Smith had been adjudged to have fouled former Quakers man Sean Gregan.[LNB] It was Smith's strike-partner Liam Hatch who Fleetwood right-back Shaun Beeley needlessly challenged, when the Darlington striker was heading away from goal, to hand Quakers a penalty.[LNB] Bridge-Wilkinson slammed his spot-kick down the middle to give Quakers a 2-0 advantage.[LNB] Soon after the break the game's outcome was sealed with Bridge-Wilkinson again the scorer.[LNB] This time it was a magnificent effort from a narrow angle.[LNB] After Hatch had beaten keeper Scott Davies to a high ball, from almost on the byline the loose ball was slammed into the inside of the side-netting by Bridge-Wilkinson who has now scored nine times in 22 appearances.[LNB] Darlington's tenacious battling spirit was particularly impressive, a desire to chase what appeared to be lost causes, with Hatch a prime example. Smith was no different.[LNB] Soon after the third goal the teenager successfully challenged Davies for an aerial ball and won a corner, much to the Fleetwood stopper's frustration which earned him a booking for dissent.[LNB] Fleetwood finished a man light when, having already used all their substitutes, Beeley limped off and in the closing stages Quakers added the fourth.[LNB] John McReady, starting ahead of Gary Smith who has a thigh strain but hopes to play on Saturday at home to Cambridge, carried the ball forward, laid it off into substitute Tommy Wright's path.[LNB] His cross-shot fell to Smith who rolled the ball over the line for his fourth goal in his last four starts to put a gloss on last night's performance.[LNB] Chairman Raj Singh, who watched the game alongside special guest Sir John Hall, will hope last night's performance will encourage more fans to come along to the stadium when Quakers host Cambridge on Saturday.[LNB]
