A stunned Richard Hodgson left Feethams in depressed mood on Saturday having contributed to Darlington's worst performance of the season.

The diminutive midfielder, substituted with just less than 20 minutes to play, cut a frustrated figure as he departed the changing rooms having failed to provide the spark so badly needed.

Hodgson fared no worse than his teammates, but admitted to feeling more annoyed than most.

"I wasn't happy," he admitted. "I think everyone was frustrated but when you're out wide like me and Con Mark Convery and then Wainy Neil Wainwright when he came on, you can get isolated out of the game.

"But you can't do anything about it because you've got to hold your position for the team to keep it's shape.

"I reckon it was the worst we've played all season. At least we got a couple of goals against Carlisle if that's any consolation."

Hodgson, who has become a regular in the starting line-up this season having spent time on the substitutes bench last year, found opportunities to weave his left-wing magic limited against Rushden.

The visitors started the day 12 places below Darlington and were visibly pleased with a point.

However, had Quakers clicked into gear at any stage, Rushden could well returned to Northamptonshire empty-handed. Hodgson lamented Quakers' display, saying: "A couple of times we've started slow and got better but today we just never got going throughout the entire game.

"We seem to play better against the top teams. I don't know why that is but we seem to start slowly against the teams further down the bottom."

One of Quakers' key weapons this season has been the flanks, but they weren't utilised on Saturday, much to Hodgson's disdain. Hodgson said: "In the last third, where Wainy is the most dangerous, he must've only got the ball a couple of times in the whole game. "We were hitting a lot more long balls today and it wasn't just coming straight back. So were running up trying to get the ball off the centre-forward's head, and running straight back again for the full match; it was frustrating.

"I don't think Rushden were a hard team to play against, I think it was just us, we never got started from the off.

"But, you've to say that we played terrible, the worst we've played and still managed to get a point that we didn't deserve."