Source: Northern_Echo
Sheffield FC 2 Darlington 1
Sheffield FC 2 Darlington 1[LNB] MARC BRIDGE-WILKINSON and Adam Quinn stepped up their recoveries from injury last night as Darlington went down 2-1 at Sheffield FC.[LNB] The pair had both undergone summer hernia operations, and manager Mark Cooper was relieved to see each manage just over an hour at the BT Local Business Stadium.[LNB] James Walshaw scored his third goal in two games, but it was not enough to prevent Quakers slipping to defeat just four days after beating Middlesbrough 4-2 at the Northern Echo Arena.[LNB] Goals for Sheffield's Andy Gascoigne and Connor Higginson came either side of Walshaw's sweet first-half strike, but Cooper was not concerned with the result.[LNB] He said: Adam and Marc both came back tonight, it was important that we gave them an hour. Bridge Wilkinson looked clever with the ball, they're both getting to terms with it really.[LNB] It was about experimenting, giving the injured players some minutes on the pitch - that was more important tonight (than the result).[LNB] Sheffield, the world's oldest football club, who play in EvoStik Division One South - two divisions below Darlington - started well and deservedly took the lead when Gascoigne took full advantage of defensive hesitancy to drive home past goalkeeper Sam Russell.[LNB] But Darlington restored parity just eight minutes later when Walshaw struck, firing in from the angle past Sheffield goalkeeper Adam Billard.[LNB] Russell had to be on his toes four minutes before half-time when the dangerous David Graham struck, but Quakers' keeper tipped it around the post.[LNB] Cooper made four changes at the break, bringing John Campbell, Tommy Wright, Ian Miller and Phil Gray into proceedings, then used up all of his outfield substitutions on 64 minutes after Sheffield had took the lead through Higginson on 59 minutes, the striker firing high past Russell from the edge of the area.[LNB] It was to stay that way, despite the best efforts of some mischievous Darlington fans who had changed Sheffield's manual scoreboard from 2-1 to 2-3, then to 2-5 before the stewards noticed and restored the hosts' lead.[LNB] Meanwhile, Cooper felt the result would have been a different story had Walshaw played the full 90.[LNB] He said: Walshaw is our most productive player at the moment, I'm sure the Sheffield defenders would have been happy that we took him off at half-time. He took his goal well.[LNB] Youngsters David Ferguson and John McReady both saw about half an hour after the interval, and with Phil Gray a half-time substitute Cooper was concerned that his young charges did not show enough.[LNB] Cooper explained: We changed it around, we're trying to get people fit, changed the team at half-time and brought some young lads on.[LNB] That's what happens in preseason if we can keep our strongest 14 or 15 we can be fine.[LNB] We're trying to concentrate on what is beneath that 14-15 and to be honest, the younger guys that came on tonight weren't good enough.[LNB] Aaron Brown took part in the pre-match warm-up and Cooper revealed that the leftback will be involved alongside Bridge-Wilkinson and Quinn at Whitby on Saturday.[LNB] DARLINGTON (4-3-3): Russell; Madden, Quinn (Ferguson 64), Lee (Miller 46), Taylor (Gray 46); Chandler (McReady 64), Atkinson, K. Taylor; Bridge-Wilkinson (Smith 64), Walshaw (Campbell 46), Hatch (Wright 46). Sub (not used): Nixon.[LNB]
