Darlington boss Tommy Taylor lamented his side's poor defending at Rochdale - and admitted his team played well only for the first seven minutes.

The result, and performance, were all the more disappoint-ing after two good displays against Hull and Halifax had seen the Quakers take six points over the previous weekend.

The good form shown in those games stalled shortly after taking the lead at Rochdale with some poor defending, and Taylor singled out Adam Reed for criticism after substituting him at half-time.

Taylor said: "Adam got caught quite a few times by Clive Platt.

"He got done for the first goal. There was only one area they could have put the ball into and that was in behind our defence.

"You've got to make sure you leave yourself a couple of yards by standing off the forward and leave yourself room so you can play it back to the goal-keeper.

"We defended well for the first ten minutes of the first half and that was it. After that we defended terribly.

"We only had Craig Liddle at the back who was putting his head in the way and doing his job right.

"At half-time I had a little bit of a moan about defending, getting in the right areas and covering people.

"It was a bit better in the second half but still not as good as it should be."

If Reed was to blame for Rochdale's first, keeper Chris Porter should bear responsibility for the last goal of the day.

A long-range effort bounced off the turf before reaching Porter, but the 22-year-old was unable to keep hold of the ball after saving the effort and the loose ball was slammed into the net by Paul Simpson.

But Taylor was not as harsh in his assessment of Porter as he was of Reed, saying: "It was the first time young Chris has let us down, so I'm not going to moan at him too much."

The Newton Aycliffe branch of the Darlington Supporters Club hold their monthly meeting tonight at the Iron Horse in Emmerson Way (7.30).

For the first time in three years the club has been unable to send a representative to attend.

But last night the branch were hoping that situation will be resolved.

Definitely available to answer questions will be members of the Darlington Supporters Trust.

Read more about Darlington FC here.