Source: Northern_Echo
Quakers fluff lines in final rehearsal
The next time Darlington head so far south they had better significantly raise their game otherwise there is going to be nothing but disappointment at Wembley.[LNB] Manager Mark Cooper has made much of saying his players have a dual aim in the closing weeks of the campaign: a place in the FA Trophy final XI and a new contract.[LNB] Performances such as Saturday's, however, suggest that some are already resigned to their fate.[LNB] Perhaps they feel that their Wembley place is assured, while others may suspect their future, either at or away from The Northern Echo Arena, is already certain. Hence lackadaisical displays like Saturday's, when it appeared Quakers felt there was little at stake.[LNB] They were 3-0 down at one stage to relegation-threatened Hayes & Yeading before clawing it back to 3-2.[LNB] It was 2-0 after only 28 minutes thanks to some sloppy defending that infuriated Cooper.[LNB] He said: "It was a decent comeback, but we should never have been in that position to begin with. The manner in which we conceded the goals was ridiculous.[LNB] "There's not a lot more I can do about it right now; it's not until the end of the season that I can make changes.[LNB] "The players are making it remarkably easy for me to make decisions about their futures.[LNB] "Players are in the comfort zone big time. We've tried everything to guard against it, but for some of them they'll get their big day out at Wembley and then that might be it.[LNB] "After this I've even less doubt in my mind now about the team for Wembley. There's probably seven or eight players that pick themselves, but after that it's up for grabs."[LNB] After making wholesale changes for the 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Histon last Tuesday, Cooper reverted to a stronger line-up, with only four players surviving.[LNB] Two of those were centre-back pairing Ian Miller and Adam Quinn, but both came in for criticism from the manager, who saw his team fall behind after only ten minutes at Church Road.[LNB] Whereas Miller can use his speed to quell danger, Quinn is not blessed with pace and so striker Elliott Buchanan took the ball past the static defender before pulling the ball back for Bradley Pritchard to slot home.[LNB] Rather than acting as a wake-up call, keeper Sam Russell then had to make two good saves.[LNB] First Buchanan turned in Quakers' penalty area past Quinn and unleashed a low shot that Russell did well to save, then the keeper pushed wide a 20-yard drive from Jamie Hand, who had been left unmarked at a corner.[LNB] The second goal came with Pritchard the provider. He latched on to Hand's cross-field pass, cut inside Aaron Brown and played in Buchanan, who dinked the ball beyond Russell. It was no more than Darlington deserved.[LNB] However, they started the second half brightly, with John Campbell and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson both seeing shots saved, but from Hayes' first attack of the second period they made it 3-0 and game over.[LNB] After a swift counter-attack up the right, Steve Masterton played in the unmarked Sam Rents to blast past Russell, leaving Cooper livid with his defence.[LNB] "I don't know what the centre-backs were doing," he raged. "For the first goal Quinn has got done for pace, for the second Brown was turned inside out and for the third I think the Hayes player was their only man in our box but he was unmarked, so he scored.[LNB] "We definitely need some new defenders in to drive us forward. We need leaders. I keep saying it and people are probably sick of hearing me say it, but we haven't got enough leaders at the club, so that's where we'll be spending our money in the summer."[LNB] Striker Michael Smith, a first-half sub for Chris Senior, missed an open goal after rounding keeper Lee Harrison, but he was let off the hook when Darlington scored twice inside four minutes.[LNB] The first was an own goal after Greg Taylor's right-wing cross was turned goalwards by Bridge-Wilkinson and although Harrison saved, centre-back Adam Bygrove inadvertently turned the ball over the line.[LNB] Soon it was 3-2, with Taylor scoring his first for the club.[LNB] Bridge-Wilkinson's flighted free-kick was met with a towering Miller header which rebounded off the bar, but Taylor was on hand to smash home from close range.[LNB] The quickfire double handed Darlington the initiative and should have set up a tense finish. But they lost their attacking drive and did little to test the home defence in the closing stages.[LNB] Quakers went into the weekend aiming to record three successive league wins for the first time. Instead Hayes & Yeading completed the double over Darlington, having won 1-0 at The Northern Echo Arena last October.[LNB] Hayes' form has picked up of late, Saturday's win being their fifth in seven matches. But in front of only 432 supporters at a ground that would not look out of place in the Northern League, it would be difficult to say the day was anything other than one of the lowest points of Quakers' season.[LNB]
