Source: Northern_Echo
Hatch gets Quakers off to winning start
Darlington 1 Braintree Town 0[LNB] Disappointing Darlington's first game of the season may have been, yet they came through it successfully to get their season started on the right note.[LNB] Those were the sentiments after beating Braintree Town 1-0 at The Northern Echo Arena, as Quakers experienced a strong sense of deja-vu because the same verdict was reached a year ago after a similarly off-key curtain-raiser.[LNB] They defeated Newport 1-0 at home at this stage 12 months ago, Liam Hatch the scorer, and manager Mark Cooper reflected then: "It was massively important to get off the mark, no matter how we did it, no matter what it took to get three points.[LNB] "We've done it and now we're up and running. The opposition probably feel they deserved something, but that's football."[LNB] He could easily have made the same comments after Saturday's game.[LNB] Again playing against the previous season's champions of the Conference South, Darlington were not at their best, scoring only once, and again Hatch was to thank for grabbing the vital goal.[LNB] Key differences this time, however, are that Braintree, unlike Newport, are a part-time team - they travelled to the North-East from Essex on Saturday morning - while Darlington's expectations are now much higher.[LNB] A year ago, post-relegation, a year of stability was required. But these days a top-five place is the aim and Cooper knows that standards must be raised, starting with tomorrow's trip to Fleetwood, hence his moderate response to victory.[LNB] Asked what the plus points of the performance were, there followed an awkward five seconds of silence, before he delivered a pithy answer that said a lot for his mood: "Three points."[LNB] He had handed debuts to five of his eight summer signings, the latest being keeper Scott Pocklington who was on the bench, but they toiled against a semi-professional outfit.[LNB] Cooper refrained from using the oft-used 'need time to gel' line, pointing out: "They've had five weeks to gel. I wouldn't call it a new team, five new players in the side today, so I wouldn't use that as an excuse. The only excuse I'd use was that we didn't work hard enough.[LNB] "I told their manager they deserved something out of the game. It's a tough league, if you switch off for one minute you get punished and they did today.[LNB] "We played Newport last season and they should have got a result. We stuck at it, we didn't really look like conceding, but attacking-wise we need to be better."[LNB] Despite having spent five hours on the road on Saturday morning, Braintree looked sharp before the break, while Darlington were sluggish.[LNB] Inside the first 20 minutes keeper Sam Russell was twice called upon. First he saved with his feet as midfielder Kenny Davis got a shot in, then he tipped the ball over the bar after Ben Wright's turn and shot inside the penalty area.[LNB] Braintree, in orange shirts which merely emphasised the comparisons with Newport, swarmed forward as they sensed an upset. Russell did not have to make another save, but marauding left-back Aswad Thomas came close as he fired narrowly wide from the edge of penalty area.[LNB] Darlington improved after the break, though not drastically, and were within inches of scoring. Hatch struck a post from a central position 20 yards from goal, Pat O'Connor blocked Kris Taylor's follow-up, then Marc Bridge-Wilkinson clipped the top of crossbar with a curling effort.[LNB] Clearly unhappy, Cooper took action, replacing Bridge-Wilkinson and Jamie Chandler with Ryan Bowman and John McReady as the manager switched to a 4-4-2 formation.[LNB] "We needed to create a goal and Jamie's more of a defensive midfield player and Bridgey is still trying to get his fitness back," explained Cooper. "We know McReady can go past people and we added a bit of pace with Bowman."[LNB] His speed almost directly resulted in a freak goal by turning a lost cause into a half chance.[LNB] Bowman closed down Braintree keeper Nathan McDonald's clearance and the ball ricocheted past the keeper but trickled the wrong side of the post.[LNB] The point Braintree had settled for appeared within their grasp until Hatch's late strike.[LNB] With seven minutes to play he sprayed the ball out to the left, Taylor returned a pinpoint delivery and there were sighs of relief all around as the unmarked striker nodded past a keeper who should have made a save.[LNB] However, if it was not for Graeme Lee's goal-line clearance the Essex side would have levelled five minutes into injury-time, the defender heading away Matt Paine's header into the arms of a relieved Russell.[LNB] Cooper added: "I didn't underestimate Braintree and I made sure that the players didn't either.[LNB] "The one thing I can't do for the players is to get them to run about. I can get them fit, organise them, get them together. But they've actually got to go out and say 'right, I'm going to work harder than the player I'm up against today'.[LNB] "If we have eight or nine players doing that we'll win the game, because we've got more ability."[LNB] [LNB]
