THE fact large sections of the Feethams crowd left early last night said a lot about Darlington's defeat to Cheltenham, as the Quakers' faint play-off hopes all but disappeared.

Darlington couldn't argue with the result - their third home League defeat of the season - as the Quakers constantly gave the ball away and wasted the few scoring chances they had, including a penalty. If the result didn't finish any dreams of finishing in the top seven, the first-half performance certainly did.

Darlington looked a poor side against a team who are only on the fringes of the play-off zone themselves.

Cheltenham were in command from the moment they opened the scoring after five minutes after keeper Keith Finch conceded a penalty.

Manager Tommy Taylor, who was with his players in the dressing room for half-an-hour after the game, admitted his side put in a below-par performance.

"I said to them that if they can walk away from their teammates and say they've given 100 per cent, that's good enough for me," he said. "But I went round them individually and there were a few who said they could have given more.

"If I had a few more bodies there's a few of them wouldn't be playing on Saturday.

"It was a disappointing performance, we gave away two goals on Saturday and we've done it again tonight.

"Barry (Conlon) should've scored from six yards but he put it over and when he went clean through, Adam should've told him he had more time but he didn't."

Admittedly, Cheltenham rarely threatened in the second half, a half when Mark Ford missed his second penaltyof the season.

One of Darlington's problems has been conceding late goals, but after just five minutes the visitors took the lead with a Mark Yates penalty - and Quakers had only themselves to blame.

Phil Brumwell, recalled to the team at right-back in place of the dropped Mark Kilty, opted to allow a long clearance to bounce past him towards Keith Finch, but with Tony Naylor chasing, the keeper brought the Cheltenham forward to the ground and up-stepped Yates to convert.

Soon after Barry Conlon registered what will go down as one of the worst misses in his career when scooped an eight-yard shot over an open goal when it looked harder not to score.

But as the half progressed Quakers chances grew rarer, and Cheltenham took a 2-0 lead shortly before the break when Alsop headed into the net following a right-wing cross.

Darlington were gifted an excellent chance to reduce the defecit five minutes into the second half when the tricky Adam Rundle, one of few Quakers to emerge with any credit, was fouled in the penalty area by Chris Banks, but Mark Ford failed to repeat Yates' first half spot-kick as the Quakers midfielder prodded his effort far too close to keeper Steve Book.

*An unnamed 6ft 4ins Sunderland central defender plays in the reserves at home to Grimsby tonight, while a meeting with chairman George Reynolds this afternoon may shed some light on the manager's transfer budget. But striker Iyseden Christie, 25, won't be joining Quakers from Orient before the sides meet at the end of this month

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