A spot of early Christmas shopping would have been a more worthwhile - and probably more enjoyable - exercise than enduring Darlington's worst performance of the season on Saturday.

Many left after the third goal with still 20 minutes to play; at full-time the rest must have wished they had stayed away from the Williamson Motors Stadium altogether.

After all, people have better things to do with their time than spending an afternoon in freezing temperatures after shelling out up to £15 for the privilege of watching a performance which could be described as insulting to the fans.

Not many would pay to watch a Sunday league team, but most of those in action on the Hundens Lane mudbaths yesterday morning would've given Lincoln a tougher test. Quakers should be thankful they weren't playing a good team otherwise Sam Russell would've picked the ball out of his net more than just the three times.

Quakers were rarely threatening and a late, and weak, Alun Armstrong shot was greeted with ironic cheers - while the Imps didn't have to work for their goals; they were gifts courtesy of poor Darlington defending that would have had the East End club's gaffer seething, nevermind the always forthright David Hodgson.

Predictably livid post-match, Hodgson succinctly described Quakers performance when he blasted: "I'll sum it up in a word: garbage. What they did was diabolical.

"The best thing that happened was the referee blowing the final whistle - it was horrendous."

He questioned the team's attitude, saying: "Whenever we come up against teams with the desire and the hunger for the win we can't live with it because we can't scrap so we get turned over.

"If Yeovil really want the win and are up for it on Tuesday I can guarantee that we'll lose because we've got too many players who can't scrap and battle.

"We're not up for a fight. A performance like that has been coming for the best part of three weeks.

"It has been building up and I knew it was going to come."

Uncharacteristically Hodgson did not strike the animated figure he so normally does at pitch side, instead he saved his vitriol for after the match when he, again, made it clear that players will be leaving unless standards rise.

"Players will not be staying at this club with those type of performances and no other club is going to want them," he said.

"They must think I'm joking but I don't know how many times I have to tell them that their futures depend on every performance they put in."

Seven are out of contract in the summer but it was not the first time in recent weeks that Hodgson has threatened a mass-clear out however, it would appear his words have fallen on deaf ears.

It would seem the man often credited with being a great motivator - especially last season when he so effectively galvanised a team on the slide - is finding it difficult to jolt his squad into action.

A rollicking may have the desired effect once in a while, but maybe a squad can grow weary of such man-management tactics, leaving them anaesthetised to such mind games.

Since August, Hodgson has criticised his team with regularity and most frequently has called for more consistency.

But having only twice kept the same starting XI from the previous game, and tinkered with formations too, it is easy to have some sympathy with the players who surely need time to find form and get used to personnel changes.

On Saturday, Hodgson ditched 3-5-2 for 4-4-2, bringing Craig Russell in from the cold to play left-midfield, reintroducing Joe Kendrick from the bench to play behind him, while Ryan Valentine was dropped from league duty for the first time this season but it did not have the desired effect; Lincoln should have scored after just three minutes.

Richard Butcher made a pig's ear of his one-on-one with Sam Russell, but the chance did provide a warning sign.

Darlington wasted their first scoring opportunity as Clark Keltie headed off target just before the 20 minute mark, it proved to be one of the team's few chances Quakers were unable to provide strikers Armstrong and Clyde Wijnhard with any service throughout the game.

City's Peter Gain saw Russell tip his 20-yarder on to the post but it wasn't long before the opening goal; nine minutes before the break an unmarked Simon Yeo received a right-wing cross which he mis-kicked but it was still enough to beat Russell.

Only once this season have Darlington salvaged anything after going a goal down - the 2-1 win at Oxford last month - so when City scored a second on half-time it appeared to be all but game over.

Marcus Richardson was afforded as much as space as he wanted down Quakers' left to meet a cross-field ball before beating Sam Russell - cue booing at half-time from some very unhappy supporters.

Darlington continued to lack a creative spark, losing possession easily through wayward passing as Lincoln held control until going in for the kill on 70 minutes.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher dribbled 40 unchallenged yards before laying off the ball to the unmarked Butcher who scored past Russell - cue not only more boos, but a mass exodus.

And it could have been 4-0 were it not for a terrific Brian Close sliding tackle that stopped Richardson in his tracks - a challenge that would earned some hearty applause had the remaining home supporters not been feeling thoroughly miserable by this stage.

By the time Neil Maddison volleyed over in the dying seconds many were already home, perhaps thinking about the Christmas shopping still to be done - next time some won't be back, and nobody can blame them.